Kitty Deschanel

Thank you to everyone for wishing me a happy birthday. I work with the best people - this German chocolate cake they surprised me with is so tall that it didn't even fit in its bakery box! They said that's not how you cut a cake. I said I'm old now so can cut a cake any damn way I please.  Stabby-style it is. My amazing work peeps (am I now too old to call my friends 'peeps'...) prepared an Italian birthday feast for us to share in our break room.  Fancy organic salad, a lasagna made from scratch (even the sauce - go Christie!), and ooey gooey, cheese-filled breadsticks.   Nothing can top that, right? Somehow the food was topped! I stepped away from my desk for a moment and when I returned, there was a tiny gift bag. Inside was a pair of Maggie Simpson socks. I ripped off my boring, professional black socks and swapped them for the pink and yellow cartoon baby socks. If you don't know, I love The Simpsons. And if you don't know that, we've clearly never

SN has been restoring a '73 Corvette, which spent decades outside in rusty pieces prior to coming into our possession. I'm not a fan, as this car has been "almost done" for 2 years. It is affectionately (not-so-affectionately, if you ask me) known as 'Money Pit'.  Our neighbors may have spotted us stranded near The Triangle grocery store recently. Despite my pleas to take our Chevy Volt instead (think of the gas savings, SN!), we took the Corvette to brunch at Greenside Cafe. I'm sure everyone who was enjoying a quiet Sunday morning stroll through our mountain community just loooved hearing the roar of the engine.  We dined on huevos rancheros chicken-fried steak and something called a 'hen grenade,' which involves freshly prepared hollandaise sauce ( photos of our meal here - so good), then returned to the Corvette to discover we were locked out.  The keys that had worked to get there no longer worked. Money Pit is a real jerk. It was especially

Remember the 1963 GMC truck we purchased after attending the Street Rod Nationals? SN has been diligently restoring this disaster of a vehicle, which is currently in pieces scattered around our garage and yard. I thought you might enjoy seeing Before photos. Restoration of a 1963 GMC Truck What were we thinking? Meet our old farm truck, 'The Lawn Ornament'. We love the turquoise and even the rust. Well, maybe not all the rust - don't use the side step or it will snap right off! Originally purchased by a New Mexico railroad worker on Christmas Eve of 1962, our GMC truck came fully loaded with all the bells and whistles. While cleaning it out, SN found decades of mementos, including the original paperwork, lipstick, wine glasses...and shotgun bullets in the glove box. Automotive safety standards were a *little* different back in the 1960s. The leaky gas tank was located inside the cab, directly behind the seat. Relocating it to pretty much anywhere else is on SN's To Do

What's the drawer under the oven for? When you started living on your own, did you ever do anything stupid? Like really, really stupid? I did and Sexy Nerd is never going to let me forget it. Geez, I was stupid. Perhaps I'm not the only one though. Let me ask you a question... What is this? (Photo from our 1st home:  https://www.kittydeschanel.com/2017/05/home-interior-decor-photos-kitchen-dining-room.html ) If you answered "I don't know what the heck that is," you'd better read on and learn from my mistake. I have a little disorder known as 'frugalitis'. Some people would insist that I'm just very cheap, but I assure you that it is a serious condition that's completely out of my control. I don't normally spend money on anything frivolous, but I love those little candy bars that used to go on sale for 10/$1. There are a lot to choose from. Kit Kats, Milky Ways, 100 Grands, etc. A few years ago, Hershey changed these to 8/$1

After years of enjoyment from Pica Hates the Train , which still makes us laugh, we wondered if little Olive would ever have a hilarious video of her own. We didn't have to wait long. 10-week-old Olive VS grouchy ol'  Biscuit : Olive is such a silly weirdo. After she drags Biscuit on a walk, she's going to eat your foot with those super sharp puppy teeth. Watch out! For some reason, this plays in an adorable loop on my Facebook , but only an awkward single time on my blog. 4/7/20 Update: We have added another puppy to our pack! Isn't Bernadette cute?

Sexy Nerd takes it upon himself every year to dole out the Halloween candy. Interacting with trick-or-treaters and their hovering parents is a bit much for antisocial me, so this works out perfectly. It's also an ideal situation for the kids, because Sexy Nerd is a pushover and easily forgets all about my stingy "2 candies each" rule whenever a child with an adorable costume or sweet voice shows up at our door, scooping up enormous handfuls of candy instead. Spoiler: They all have adorable costumes and/or sweet voices. Our first year in our first home, one trick-or-treater was a little boy dressed as a skunk. He was only about 2 and had the most adorable Halloween costume ever, along with an irresistible "Twick-or-Tweat Pwease". His mom was holding his bag of candy at the end of our driveway, so he held out his furry, mittened skunk hands. Sexy Nerd was no match for the cuteness and gladly forked over a massive handful of Tootsie Rolls, Caramels, and Gummy C

A lifelong, chronic insomniac , I recently completed an overnight sleep study at the DaVita Medical Group New Mexico Center for Sleep Medicine. Beforehand, I wondered what happens during a sleep study .  My expectations were low - a lifetime of sleeplessness will do that to you - but I liked the idea of being able to officially rule out certain sleep conditions, such as sleep apnea and restless leg syndrome, once and for all. Plus, whenever I complain about Sexy Nerd's snoring, he's all too quick to point out that I snore as well. Spoiler alert - the polysomnogram found that I do NOT snore. Take that, Sexy Nerd! What To Expect During a Sleep Study With all those wires and gizmos, they ought to call it a NO Sleep Study.  I arrived at the sleep clinic around 7 pm and was escorted to a private bedroom. Told to change into my pajamas, the nurse quickly added that I must do that in the bathroom with the door closed, as the bedroom is constantly monitored by cameras. It