Kitty Deschanel

We've all experienced a sleepless night from time to time. As someone who has struggled with insomnia my entire life (even as a baby, according to my understandably perplexed family), I have tried everything to improve my sleep. Melatonin pills? Check. Yoga and meditation? Check. Drinking a big glass of tart cherry juice before bed? Check...and all it did was wake me up to use the bathroom. When you're unable to sleep well night after night, just the thought of bedtime - the tossing! the turning! - can be enough to propel your cycle of insomnia. It doesn't help that every health article seems to scream about the dangers of not getting enough sleep. I'll spare you the lecture - it's not like we're intentionally getting inadequate sleep. You know practicing good sleep hygiene is beneficial, so you try to keep a consistent sleep schedule and avoid caffeine in the evening. What else can you do? Here are 10 of the best things to help ease your bedtime anxiety,

I have the flu, so this is going to be a short post. Never mind that I often skip blogging altogether when I am healthy. (Update: This turned out to be a pretty decent post. Yay for sick me! See? These 5 tips really work!) I should be at work today and not at home witnessing how stupid our dogs are. Pica just yawned and the sound caused Biscuit to bark, which made Pica bark. Now they are both barking hysterically at the glass front door. (Yes, glass front door. It is super obvious that there is no one there.) (Update: UPS just dropped off 2 packages and neither dog had any idea.) Things to Remember to Make Your Flu Recovery Faster and Easier 1. Water tastes gross. You know you're supposed to stay hydrated when you have the flu. Staying hydrated is never a problem for me. I love water...except that when you have the flu, water tastes gross. Like, you can taste the sickness. The universe has a cruel sense of humor sometimes. If you're caring for someone with the flu (hint

It's a risky game I'm playing. With all the talk of the Mega Millions jackpot exceeding a billion dollars (and maybe even hitting two billion - crazy!), even my frugal-minded self couldn't resist the siren call of the lottery. I mean, how else am I ever going to have a shot at becoming a billionaire? (My husband was quick to point out that with hard work, anyone can become a billionaire and that it's still a possibility for us. Okay, Pollyanna. He sees the world through very rosy glasses indeed.) Like every American the last few days, I was instantly consumed with how I'll spend my theoretical winnings. I would take the annuity rather than a lump sum, which would be more than a million dollars per month for the next 29 years, after taxes. My future self, the billionaire, was going to use the money to hire someone to wallpaper our master bedroom . Heck, she was going to hire someone to wallpaper the entire house! She might even have replaced some of the tile on

When SN and I bought our first home in 2007, we loved that it had an open floor plan, a two car garage, and was on a large corner lot in a desirable part of Albuquerque. We also loved...well, that was about it. Ours was just another plain box in our cookie cutter neighborhood, featuring the same white walls and not much else as all our neighbors. We spent the next few years upgrading our home and, when we sold it last year, the result of our effort was a 4-way bidding war. We were just poor college kids back then. Here are a few of the affordable improvements we made. Budget Interior Design Idea #1 Swap out some of your mirrors. More photos of our Budget Master Bathroom Remodel See the fancy mirrors above? Everyone thinks they're from Ballard Designs. Ours are actually from Michaels, which marks all of their mirrors down 50% every few weeks. These were about $35 each. We followed this same design rule for the mirrors in our new luxury home , forgoing the exp

Enjoy reading Kitty Deschanel? Now is your opportunity to write for one of your favorite blogs! Guest Blogging Benefits Make extra income. Unlike most websites that accept content from guest authors, KittyDeschanel.com allows one affiliate link per article. It's like placing your ad on my site, absolutely free. Gain backlinks to your website. You're on your way to the top (of Google), baby. Expand your audience and grow your brand awareness. Posts are shared with thousands through Twitter and Facebook. Content permitting, posts will also be shared via Pinterest and Instagram. Receive a "Featured On" badge for your portfolio. Guest Blogging Submission Guidelines Posts must be original, non-duplicated content. Don't tempt Google to penalize your site and mine with a rerun. You must have the rights to any photos, social share graphics, videos, infographics, etc. used in your post. Saving an image from Google does not make it yours. Stealing conten

Mmmm, I'm eating the best lunch right now. It looks so indulgent, doesn't it? Side note: The beautiful table this plate is on? SN made it! I mean, not the trunk of the olive tree, obviously, but the rest of it. I really need to update my site with more New Home blog posts. He has been busy! Surprise - it's (almost) healthy! I cooked up a big batch of collard greens in the Instant Pot (lots of great IP collard green recipes online, plus my own below). You can also make them the conventional way, but I love that I can just throw everything in the Instant Pot and forget about it. Spread the cooked collards in the bottom of a baking dish, top with a layer of cottage cheese, then a layer of mozzarella, and finally top everything with slices of pepperoni. Broil it for a few minutes.  Collard Greens Instant Pot Recipe Southerners will probably cringe at my bastardized collard greens. Everyone else? Enjoy! Collard pizza lasagna? SO GOOD! Collard Greens Instan

The Taos Summer Wine Festival is our favorite event in the world, hands down. I don't care if you live in another country - this is worth traveling for! The New Mexico mountains are calling your name. Here's a taste of some of the fun you missed at the 2018 Grand Tasting event: Just follow this van for a good time. The live entertainment was so enthusiastic and had everyone dancing. I can't help wondering if the secret to their success lies with all those cans of Santa Fe Brewing beer!  Here's a funny story for you. SN and my dad were having a great time at the Taos Summer Wine Festival, but they lamented that the samples of beer were too small. I left the table and returned with two entire cans of beer for them, much to their astonishment.  "Oh, I just flirted with the vendor a little bit," I told them (COMPLETELY JOKING). The next time my dad went for samples, I told him to be sure to flirt. He pointed out

Hello, bloggy friends! Although SN and I still recommend Amerisleep mattresses (more than ever, actually, now that our original AS3 bed is almost 7 years old and still like-new), I'm writing this post to share exciting news. After being gone all year, the extra $50 discount is back! To receive $250 off any size Amerisleep mattress, rather than just a wimpy $200, visit Amerisleep through this promo code link and enter coupon KITTY at checkout. You'll also receive free shipping and, if needed, free and easy returns. WAIT! I can do better than that. Want to save $275, which is a better promo code than any other Amerisleep mattress reviews website? Just check out the extra discount details on my original review . Still not sold? Visit my  mattress comparison chart . It even features a video of yours truly with her dress way too high in the air. Take that, Tempur-Pedic! Amerisleep makes me jump for joy. No, that's too corny. Amerisleep...ummm... You try coming up

Recently, my family and I were fortunate to attend the second annual Taos Wine Festival, which is held each summer in the Taos Ski Valley. I didn't know if this year would be able to top, or at least match, the near-perfect inaugural event. As one of my favorite memories of last year, I sure hoped it would. Somehow, this time was even better. With endless tastes of wine and gourmet food from top chefs, plus all-inclusive activities in the breathtaking New Mexico mountains, you can't go wrong. It's no exaggeration to say the Taos Summer Wine Festival is one of the best foodie experiences in the United States.  While other wine events offer a hodgepodge of tastings and loosely related prix fixe meals, Cecilia Cuff and her fellow festival organizers have proven that what really makes a weekend flawless are the special details. At the Taos Summer Wine Festival, no small touch has been overlooked. Tips are included. Bubbly is plentiful and encouraged. There was even free ch