If you’re not familiar with how woot works, they have a big deal each day on closeouts and what not.  The deal will disappear either a) when they sell out or b) at midnight pacific time, whichever comes first.  So go now or lose your chance.

Overall, I love this vacuum.  It sucks up the dog hair well, it reaches under the living room table, it has a long hose to reach all those corners well.  My only complaint is that the canister is a little small, so you will be emptying it out pretty often.  But for the money, I think it’s a great deal.  And nobody is even paying me to say that.

While I’m here, I want to say “Happy Father’s Day” to a couple of people.  First, my Dad.  He is my go-to guy for any question I might have about, well, just about anything.  Even though he lives in Florida, he’s still the first person that comes to mind when I need advice.  He’s a great dad, and always has been.  Even when I was a not-so-stellar daughter (Me?  What?  Yeah, it can happen.).  I love you, Dad!!! <3

Second (but just as importantly) is Tony.  He’s an awesome father, spends great time with the girls, and is the perfect balance of “pushover” and “strict guy.”  I’m so lucky that my kids have such a great dad (‘cuz, well, I have good taste, ya know?)  He would do anything for his kids.  He’s the kind of dad who would put on a fancy-schmancy girly hat and play tea party just because his girls wanted him to.

Man, I am one lucky chick.  HAPPY FATHER’S DAY TO ALL THE DADS OUT THERE! Have a great rest of your weekend!

Yesterday I had our day all planned out.  The weather was crappy.  Windy, cold and rainy.  And I knew it was going to be like that.  So, the plan was to do our little Saturday morning routine at the restaurant and then hang in the house.  I had the girls all prepped for an afternoon of jammies, movies and the Wii.  Perfect.  And while they were doing that, I was planning on catching up on some housework (you know, clean a couple of bathrooms, vacuum, laundry) and some internet work.  But wait…there was more.  After putting them to bed, I planned on reading my new book from Charlaine Harris (Dead in the Family (Sookie Stackhouse, Book 10)) for a couple of hours before watching Betty White host Saturday Night Live.

It all started out great.  The girls (after a little, um, “discussion” about what they were going to watch) settled in to watch Goosebumps and All Grown Up.  I chatted with Tony for a bit, got some work done, and we all decided to have a snack of ice cream about 3:30.  That is the time of day that my energy hits that gigantic dip.  I brewed coffee and sat on the couch with the kids, enjoying Rugrats:  All Grown Up.  Well, I think I was actually enjoying the inside of my eyelids.  Then it happened.

The power went out.

Thank God the coffee had already brewed!  We sat and waited for a couple of minutes to see if it was just a flicker (because that happens more often than a long stretch of no power).  No go.  The kids continued to play, but I was sort of stuck.  Couldn’t do laundry.  Couldn’t vacuum.  The bathrooms that needed cleaned were the ones without windows, so that was out.  No internet.  So, I started reading my book.

And that’s what I did until the power came back on around 6:00.

It put me in a great mood.  I happily made dinner.  I set the kids up in Chloe’s room for their quasi-sleepover.  I kept on reading.  I surrendered my to-do list for a day of doing what I wanted to do. I mean, I had to diffuse some fights.  I had to freak out when they wouldn’t just LAY DOWN AND GO TO BED AT 10:00.  But I finished my book.

Just in time to watch Saturday Night Live, which was awesome! This was probably my favorite:

And guess what?  I DID vacuum this morning.  And do some laundry.  Oh, and I got breakfast in bed!  (Watermelon , a fiber bar and iced tea from Chloe.  Iced tea and a salami sandwich with a broken up string cheese on it from Becca.  Awesome.)

Have a great Mothers’ Day!!!!

OK, now on with the complaining:

The other day, while Chloe was at preschool, I was tackling the dreaded ‘to-do’ list.  It was about an hour before I had to leave to get her, and I still had to shower.  Next on the list?  Mopping the kitchen floor.  No problem.  I can sweep and mop the floor in about twenty minutes.  I sweep.  I decide that I’ll have a smoke while the bucket is filling with water.  I get the Spic-and-Span, the mop and…and…where the hell is the bucket?

I usually keep it in the laundry room.  With the mop.  Mops and buckets should go together, right?  The laundry room is not all that big, but I rifle through it…searching.  Not there.  I vaguely remembered that Tony had it in his hand over the weekend.  I believe he was feeding his plants.  OK, fine.  I go to the garage.  I see gardening stuff, but no bucket.  I look all around.  Nothing.  I go outside.  Search the backyard.  Nothing.

Now I’m pissed.  We have ONE bucket for this household.  (I’m assuming that the other bucket we USED to have is now property of Downey’s House).  I start slamming doors.  Tony was at work until 3 am, so he’s not awake.  I have to sneak into the bedroom anyway, because I need to get out of the clothes that I wore the entire day before, and kept on to take the kids to school.  So, I slam some drawers.

Me: “Oh, are you up?”

Tony:  ”uuhhhhhhhhhh.”

Me:  ”Well, since you’re up, do you happen to know where the bucket is?”

Tony:  ”What do you need the bucket for?”

Me:  ”Um, I mop the floor every two weeks.  Who do you think does it?  The Floor Fairy?”

Tony:  ”It’s in the garage.  In the extra garbage can.  In a box.  Under the car seats.”

Yeah, I didn’t happen to look THERE!  So, now I’m running late.  But I get the floor done and myself showered.  Everything is good again.  But it made me feel like he has absolutely NO IDEA what I do in this house.  Maybe he does.  He was in a dead sleep, so I guess I have to cut him a little slack.

Speaking of mopping, I think that I’ve caused a problem.  Every time I mop, SOMEBODY spills SOMETHING on the floor THE VERY DAY I MOP IT.  This time?  Becca spilled her can of Coke during dinner.  I really expect it to happen every time.  And that’s why I think it’s happening.  Because I expect it.  How about you?

P.S.  I love you, Tony  <3

Consumed by, of all things, eight wonderful novels. As I’ve mentioned, I’ve been reading the Sookie Stackhouse Novels. Well, for the past week, it’s about ALL I’ve been doing. If you’re looking for a good bunch of books, these are a great read!

I have to say, I am totally in awe of people who can write stories like this. The author, Charlaine Harris, has other books, too. And I’m sure I will eventually get around to reading them. I can’t imagine being able to sit down and weave the stores, characters, settings, and everything else. And this woman is either an extremely talented, creative and dedicated writer OR she’s something supernatural. I am amazed at how she has explored the supernatural, and made up the rules as she went along. Kudos to her!!!

If you don’t know, I’m not really casual about anything. When I start reading something and enjoy it, I jump right in, both feet first. I was walking to the bus stop while reading. I stayed up until 2:00 am many nights so I could finish the book I was on. When something gets my brain going, it takes me over. Needless to say, other areas of my life have suffered. The house is a mess, the kids are ready to kill each other, and I haven’t blogged (sorry) or tended to any of my other online ventures. As I finished book number eight last night, I had a whole mix of emotions. I was sad I was finished reading about Sookie. I was amazed that I got through these eight books while still feeding, clothing and tending to the kids and the restaurant. I was glad that I was going to go back to ‘normal’ life. Then it happened.

I went to the Charlaine Harris’ website. Yeah, there’s another one coming out next month. I pre-ordered Dead and Gone today. No big deal. What’s one more book, right? Um, WRONG! If you look under the bibliography on her website, you’ll see that there are quite a few books with short stories about Sookie (these stories sort of fill in the gaps). Yeah. Now I have to read those, too. I ordered one from Amazon. There is the great possibility that I will read the collection of short stories, find another author that is fantastic, and discover another five thousand books I want to read.

Oh well. The kids know how to get cereal for themselves.

If you remember, the whole reason I started reading this series was that it’s the inspiration for True Blood on HBO. I really enjoyed the first season of the series, and from what I understand, the second season is supposed to start this June. However, the series and the books are completely different. Well, not completely. Many of the characters are the same. But things happen differently. I’m not going to give out any spoilers here, but let’s just say I’m curious about what direction Alan Ball is going for the second season. I’ll probably enjoy the series. I may quite possibly enjoy it even more, because I’ll be so into the differences.

Anyway, for now, it’s back to my little spot here in Collier Township, PA and out of Bon Temps, Louisiana. And I’ll write more.

Promise.

My plan is to go on over to my friend Barb’s site, Barb’s Bookshelf, and post something on the forums over there. Many of the members there use CafePress, Zazzle,, and other POD’s (that’s Print-On-Demand for those who don’t know). They’re uber awesome, and make up a large portion of who I like to call my ‘online friends.’

And they’re frickin’ funny!

OK, I’m gonna catch up on some of that housework. The girls are at the neighbor’s house, running through a sprinkler. Yup, it’s April and it’s 86 degrees right now. But I’m not complaining.

Have a gerat weekend!

Saturday we went to breakfast with the Easter Bunny and an egg hunt. The girls had a great time. They had pancakes (their favorite), got to see their two cousins, and completely made out at the egg hunt. They each found three tickets, which entitled them to prizes. Chloe got a big and two small prizes, and Becca got 2 mediums and a small. The prizes were stuffed animals. My kids LOVE stuffed animals. There is a strange addiction there that I have yet to break. They were also very nice to their cousins. When I suggested that they each give one stuffed animal to their cousins (because they didn’t get any tickets) they didn’t even flinch. I was a proud mama. They were truly happy to make their cousins happy.

Then it happened.

We left the egg hunt and headed to the restaurant. We sat in a ton of traffic because of the inbound Parkway West closure this weekend. Becca started. “I’m jealous because Chloe got a bigger bunny than me!” Blah, blah, blah. Seems that every time we do something fun, the crabbies come out right after. We made it home, she complained some more, and eventually ended up on time out (I think it was for hitting her sister).

So, we wake up on Sunday and it’s our day to go to the circus. The girls were excited. We all get ready and head down to the arena. They had fun watching Tony squirm as he saw the clowns outside mingling with the crowd. As we walked in and started going up the ramp to our seats, there was a vendor selling light up toys. Tony and I gave each other the “should we get these” look, and we bought one for each kid. The vendor says “twenty four.” Twenty four? Dollars!?! I clutched my heart as Tony dished out the cash. We went in, found our seats, and walked around on the floor for a bit. They were offering elephant rides, pony rides and a big bouncy-slide thing. I entertained the thought of buying them tickets. I walked over to the ticket table and found it was SEVEN DOLLARS A TICKET! Pony ride for seven bucks? I don’t think so. Big bouncy slide (the same one they have at many local festivals for $1 per ride)? No. I may have parted with fourteen bucks for the elephant ride, but the line was enormous. We bought a ‘family pack’ of tickets, which included a drink and hot dog for each person. We went and got our food (and those tickets were worth it, BTW), stopped by the cotton candy booth, plunked down 8 bucks for cotton candy, and headed to our seats.

The girls enjoyed the show. It seemed to drag a bit, but I’m glad we went. We bought more food. Pretzel, pop corn, peanuts and fries. As I emptied my wallet of cash, I was at least happy that we were all together, having fun. The girls were most excited about seeing Spider Man. He came out during the second half of the circus and did a little acrobatic ditty. They were happy, so I was, too. Spider Man made a second appearance with the clowns, but he was sort of like Elvis. Trim, muscular and svelte the first time you saw him. notsomuch the second time

Of course, as soon as we got in the car, Becca was complaining that she didn’t get to go on the bouncy slide. Ugh. I about freaked out. I told her that I may not EVER take her to do anything fun ever again, because she just complains when it’s over.

Yeah…that’s my stellar mom moment of the weekend.

Tony could tell that I was just over this behavior. When we got home, he took the girls up the street for THREE HOURS!!! I had three hours to myself, and I was totally awake. I cleaned. Yeah, not the most exciting or relaxing thing to do, but it made me feel better, and I enjoyed it. I think Tony feels bad that it’s going to be just me and the chicks for Easter vacation…and it looks like it’s going to be too cold for them to play outside.

So, I had a full ‘mommy’ weekend. The restaurant was slower than usual because of the traffic situation. I have a clean-ish house (there was no scrubbing involved). I worked a little bit on my new affiliate site. It still has a long way to go, but I’ll get there. And I had a request for a t-shirt design. I set up a store a while back, with all intentions of putting a bunch of designs in it. But then we, you know, bought a restaurant. So, I haven’t worked on it much, but I have done a few special requests. Here’s the one I did this weekend:

Peace, Love & Baseball Organic Toddler T-Shirt

I still haven’t gotten it up on Zazzle, but maybe I’ll do that now. OK…I think I’ve babbled enough for now. Next post? I think I’ll touch on the fact that Becca is crying every morning because she doesn’t want to go to school. Yeah. Fun.

So, sometimes when I need to escape, I look at the nice things I would like. I found this website that’s full of fabric shades, valances and curtains. After fantasizing a bit on this website, my heart yearned to be in a grown up place!!! I really do spend a lot of my time at home. And how cool is that site? Pick the fabric, make it perfect. I’m gonna have to start making some more money in order to afford my fantasy. But that’s OK, I’ll work on that. Right now all the curtains I have in my house are from Target. And they’re not looking too swift. What is it with kids and curtains? They wipe their hands on them, twirl around in them. They’ve even tried to use them like Tarzan to swing on.

Maybe I’ve figured something out here. ::insert lightbulb:: If I get ALL valances, the kids couldn’t destroy them. Well, I guess it’s not that they COULDN’T, but it would be much more difficult. So, maybe I can start on my fantasy. Just gotta make some more cash. I got this far. I turned dreams of having a family, moving into a bit house in a nice neighborhood and owning a restaurant into reality.

I think I can handle curtains.

• 4:30 am – Wake up to see 3 year old in front of my face, asking for milk. Realize that I’m in Becca’s bed, and fell asleep around 9:15.
• 5:00 am – Think that it’s a good idea to wake up and get some stuff done. And I actually wake up.
• 5:00-5:45 – Spend some quality time with the husband, who has not gone to bed yet. He also thinks that it is currently still THURSDAY. I continue to correct him, telling him that it’s FRIDAY.
• 5:45-6:00 – Watch 15 minutes of the news. Wish I looked as good as Sonni Abatta.
• 6:00-6:25 – Watch ‘The Office.’ Laugh. It was a good one.
• 6:25-7:00 – Make large pot of coffee. Check e-mail. Log in the numbers from the restaurant last night. Prepare deposit. Figure out the change order. Update our POS system for Friday specials.
• 7:00-7:05 – Drink more coffee. Smoke another cigarette
• 7:05-7:06 – Start vacuuming a plethora of nerds candy from the family room. Realize that it’s 7:06, and decide I need to shower
• 7:06 – 7:35 – Wake Becca. Iron her outfit. Wake her again. Brush teeth, shower, greet crazy-haired Chloe, help Becca into her tights and dress. Come downstairs. Finish vacuuming aforementioned nerds.
• 7:36 – Yell upstairs for everybody to hurry – we have 19 minutes
• 7:36-7:55 – Pack a lunch, make a waffle, drink more coffee, have a smoke, find missing glove for Becca, brush Becca’s hair, grab almost-forgotten library book for Becca. Pack one pretty-looking sweetheart and one bed-head, pajama-clad, slipper-wearing sweetheart into car for 1 block ride to bus stop (it was cold!)
• 8:05-8:10 – Turn show on for Chloe, sit down to write blog post for Downey’s House
• 8:10-8:11 – Get Chloe a banana
• 8:11-8:30 – Finish blog post, check some forums and twitter. See that CafePress is down. Complain about it on twitter
• 8:30-8:31 – Put another television show on for Chloe
• 8:31-8:45 – Hang out with Chloe, tickling her until she begs me to stop
• 8:45-9:05 – Finish up with checking sales and stats online. Look up code numbers for the liquor I’m about to order
• 9:05-9:06 – Get Chloe some strawberries
• 9:06-9:15 – Order the liquor, enter amount into Quickbooks
• 9:15-9:45 – Help Chloe make Kool-Aid for her ‘Lemonade Stand.’ A lemonade stand where there are two customers: Me and a small stuffed bear. Play lemonade stand.
• 9:45-9:55 – Start dusting and cleaning the glass in the family room. Decide I’m not in the mood to really do much more cleaning right now.
• 9:55-10:05 – Spend 10 minutes searching for a copy of our new menu that Tony wrote revisions on. Finally give up, and hope I remember the revisions.
• 10:05-10:10 – Take phone call from the restaurant
• 10:10-10:11 – Start menu revisions
• 10:11-10:12 – Cut up an apple for Chloe
• 10:12-10:20 – Work on the revisions some more
• 10:20-10:22 – Help Chloe in the potty
• 10:22-10:30 – Finish with the revisions. Hope I got them all.
• 10:30-10:33 – Re-wash the laundry I left in the washing machine overnight. Freshen up clothes in dryer
• 10:33-11:00 – Print up a copy of the fixed menu. Remember that I also need employment apps printed up. Do that. Deal with my desktop and what my security scan found.
• 11:00-11:20 – Fold the laundry with Chloe. Yes, it takes that long.
• 11:20-11:23 – Sit down to sign our corporate tax returns
• 11:23-11:24 – Get Chloe some carrots
• 11:24-11:30 – Decide to boil some eggs. Smoke a cigarette
• 11:30-11:45 – Fart around on the internet. Still annoyed that CafePress is farked up.
• 11:45-11:50 – Sew up the back of Chloe’s Build-A-Bear
• 11:50-12:00 – Get the eggs from the stove. Decide to write this post.
• 12:00-12:03 – Make toast for Chloe
• 12:03-12:10 – Continue with post
• 12:10-12:11 – Get a hard boiled egg for Chloe
• 12:11-12:16 – Continue with post
• 12:16-12:17 – Make witty remark on Twitter. Well, I thought it was witty
• 12:17-12:20 – More blog post
• 12:20-12:22 – Get Chloe some Kool-Aid
• 12:22-12:30 (now) more blog post.

So, there’s my morning so far. The thrilling life of a work-at-home-business-owner-mom. You know, throughout this time line, there’s the conversations I have with Chloe. Well, they’re not really conversations. It’s more like a question and answer period. That lasts, um, all day. These kinds of mornings are actually my favorite. I get some business stuff accomplished, get some housework (sort of) accomplished, I get to be social with my online friends, and I get to hang out with my Chloe.

Now, I’m gonna go and make myself some egg salad. I did sneak a granola bar in sometime around 8:00. But I’m hungry!

Want to follow me on twitter? I’m at twitter.com/hdowney

In my entire life, there is not one single person who would think ‘Suzie Homemaker’ when they heard my name.

Not one.

And that’s fine with me. I never wanted to be the kind of wife who has her apron, heels and red lipstick on with dinner on the table and a martini ready when her husband comes home. Nah. I’m way too independent.

Cleaning house when you’re single, living with another adult, or married just isn’t that bad. I mess it up, I clean it up. You mess it up, you clean it up. We’ll split the stuff that needs done together (garbage, laundry, vacuuming etc.). However, since I’ve been at home with mini-me and mini-Tony, it’s been a little bit more difficult. There are two little creatures, messing everything up at all moments of the day. They’re quite good at it. I’ve really had to spend a lot of time here in the house. And I really like it to be clean. I don’t require spotless and sparkling. But I would like to have, at minimum, the APPEARANCE of clean.

I have also realized, in my semi-old age, that they only way I am productive is if I have a to-do list. Honestly. I get completely distracted by small things even WITH a list. Without a list, I’d spend ALL day playing with the kids, watching Oprah and using StumbleUpon. I get a certain amount of satisfaction just crossing something off that list. It is very rare if one day’s list gets finished in one day. But, at the end of the day, I try to start a list for the next day.

How do these two topics come together? Well, I’ve found a great cleaning to-do list. Actually, an old friend of mine found it, and emailed me the link. From what I can tell, this list was created by a mom who also home schools her children. It only costs $8, and she has each day on a page. She has your regular every day stuff, weekly stuff, and (this is what I always forget) the stuff that you only do every few months. I’ve only been using it for a week, and I’ve found that I tweak it a bit. I add my work and personal chores on there, too. My old to-do lists ALMOST NEVER including cleaning. I would do some, when I felt like it. Which meant that I hardly every did things like clean the top of the fridge and organize my closet. This list took all of the thinking out of cleaning. I mean, I think enough with all of my other endeavors. I don’t have time to THINK about cleaning.

So, here’s a link for the to-do list. It comes in a few different formats, and gives you an entire year. Yeah, I know that tomorrow starts March. But better late than never. Click here to view more details. She has it available with or without a Bible verse. Hey, whatever floats your boat. Personally, I’m not so much a bible girl. If you end up using this list, let me know! Or, if you have some other kind of great idea to keep your house in a semi-clean state, feel free to share that, too!

We headed to my sister-in-law’s house yesterday (I have 8 SIL’s!) for a small party for our 16 yr old nephew. It’s nice to have a big family – and the girls really enjoyed seeing their aunts and cousins. Life is definitely getting easier with these two girls. They play together nicely and are very independend. I actually got some nice adult conversation in last night – which is a rare thing for me! Even though I’m feeling the beginnings of a cold (sore throat and a general blech feeling), I still met with Fitty last night. At 11:15 p.m. no less. It was either clean up the tornado of toys or deal with Fitty. It was a pretty easy choice. Wii Fit age yesterday? 31 – I’ll take that. I DO have some sore calves, thighs and upper arms. But sore in a good way. I only wince when I try to walk up the stairs.

Tony and I are taking the girls to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History today. Chloe learned about dinosaurs in preschool last week, and Becca has been asking quite a lot of questions about mummies. And this is the first Sunday in a while without any football (except for that week between playoffs and the Super Bowl – and we went to Ikea and dinner that day). I was surprised how expensive it is, though! $15 for an adult and $11 for a child (although I think they are running a promo right now for half off kids through February 27th). I’ll fill you in on how everything goes. Speaking of the girls, I handed them a huge Oriental Trading catalog yesterday. They have spent at least an hour just looking at everything. Thanks for the catalog!

Well, NOW I must go deal with the toy tornado. And laundry. I’m determined to come home later today to a clean(-ish) house. Have a great day!!!

I have just a few little notes about life over the past week or so. Maybe I’ll go in chronological order:

Last Saturday my hubby went to the Pitt game. Home opener. He had a great time and took a cab home. The next day he shows me this beer coozy (you know, to wrap around it and keep it cold). But this one doesn’t just say ‘Pitt’ on it. No…this is a super fantastic invention. And I can’t believe that I didn’t think of it. It has two really strong magnets on the back of it, and they’re covered with a piece of pleather. That way, when you’re tailgating you can just put it on the car. It actually holds en entire full can of beer. So simple………

Sunday night I had girl’s night out. Nice dinner at the Grand Concourse, drinks outside at Bar Louie, and then a jaunt into the South Side and we headed to Dee’s Cafe. Felt good to get back to drinking and smoking…no matter how bad it might be for me. For just those mere 8 hours I had no responsibility. Nice. Of course, there were 6 moms. What did we (mostly) talk about? Kids and kid/family related stuff.

OK, while I was writing this post here’s what happened: I had Chloe (2) come up to me and say ‘turds.’ She did not have a diaper on. So, I asked “Where?”, and she led me to the family room. Diaper on the floor, full o’ turds. At least none had wondered onto the carpet. So, I did the whole potty-diaper change thing with her. Then Becca (4) wanted a peanut butter sandwich. Cut into a circle. Of course, then Chloe wants one, too. So I made two peanut butter sandwiches. The point is, if you’re reading this you would imagine that I’m sitting at my computer just typing away. Not exactly.

Well, I’ll have to catch up on some more later….I’m actually going to start to clean! By the way, if you’re looking for Halloween shirts, I’ve started a new blog at halloweentees.wordpress.com
I’ve picked out shirts that I like. The one is quite funny, and I think I’m actually going to purchase it. Here’s the link: 333 Half Evil