Pittsburgh's Major Loss

Myron, you were the spirit of Pittsburgh. I know you will keep the other side entertained. You will be missed.

I NEEDED Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Anther day in paradise here. The kids and I are stuck in the house for two reasons. The hubby has the car (his Jeep ended up in a ditch and is getting fixed...long story), and it's totally miserable outside here in the 'Burgh. Started as snow last night, and now has been rain all day. It's a big slushy mess. I have to say that I watched Throwdown with Bobby Flay the other day and this episode about chocolate chip cookies on Saturday. I have been craving chocolate chip cookies since. REAL chocolate chip cookies. Now, the hubby stopped at the grocery store yesterday and picked me up some Peppridge Farms Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies, but it just didn't satisfy the craving. So, the girls and I made these today:

They were exactly what I needed. Crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside...yummy. I felt like such a grown up because I actually had all of the ingredients that I needed in the house. The recipe is the one on the back of the Hershey's Semi-Sweet Chips. I would have liked walnuts, but I was over ruled by a 2 year old and a 4 year old.

Anyway, here's the recipe, if you're interested:

HERSHEY'S Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

• 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) HERSHEY'S SPECIAL DARK Chocolate Chips or HERSHEY'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
• 1 cup chopped nuts(optional)

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 375°F.

2. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla in large bowl with mixer until creamy. Add eggs; beat well. Gradually add flour mixture, beating well. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts, if desired. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet.

3. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. About 5 dozen cookies.

The first sign of Spring!

Just a quick post here. Had to say that I saw the first sign of spring! Well, it's what I consider to be the first sign of spring. And every year, when I see this, I just scream 'Woo-Hoo!!!! Spring is damn close!' Anyway, here's the big sign: The Dairy Queen is open. I drove past the Dairy Queen on Washington Avenue in Carnegie yesterday, and it's open. Bring on the warm! Oh, and I'll take a Dilly Bar, too.

Hottest cute shirt of the day!

Hello everybody! One of my designs won 'Hottest Cute Shirt of the Day.' So, you can get it at 20% off and free shipping until March 1st. It's from my Peace, Love and Whatever gallery at Zazzle. I also have the design available on CafePress if you go to www.peaceloveshirts.com.

Peace, Love and Shamrocks
by PeaceLoveAnd
Get this custom shirt at Zazzle

Yippee! New Episodes of the Office

It's the little things that make me happy....I found out that there will be new episodes of 'The Office' starting on April 10th. Which is just in time, because I believe that I've watched all of the re-runs (and DVD's) of old episodes. That show went on the air just as I was in the midst of 'mommy with 2 LITTLE kids' craziness.

On an unrelated note, we're heading to a party today at the Deaf Club. I've been there once before, in college. I actually took Sign Language classes when I went to Pitt. Wish I could remember more of it. Oh well. College......you were a lifetime ago.

It's my life...

First of all, I have to say that my two girls can really make me smile. This morning they sat in my office chair and begged me to spin them. And spin them, and spin them, and spin them. When they're getting along like that (and that usually means ganging up on me), and they're laughing and smiling, all is good in the world. However, right now, Becca is screaming 'no' and Chloe is trying to sit on her and pinch her. Now, I didn't have a sister growing up. But I'm assuming that all this love/hate stuff is normal. Or at least I hope so.

Now, I spend most of my days doing one of three things. I'm either cleaning up (which would include doing laundry and such), feeding the girls (some days it seems like that's all they do!), or trying to get some work done here on the computer. Some days it seems like I really don't get any work done. And by the time they are both sleeping, I'm too tired to concentrate!

We have been cooped up in the house now for about a week. The girls both had the flu (and resulting ear infections), and then I got the flu. To put it bluntly, I felt like ass. Today I'm feeling a bit human. We have a party to go to tomorrow afternoon, so we can get out and about.

So, now I have to decide if I feel human enough to do the one task that has been looming....finishing my taxes. I started them...did all the easy stuff...entered the W2-s and the 1099's. Deductions? Still have to do that. That's the hard part. Going thru my shoddy system of keeping what I can write off. We should be getting a decent little chunk of money back, so that should be enough motivation for me to do the taxes. And we're going to need that chunk of money, seeing that Tony's going to quit his job to run the restaurant once it opens.

Speaking of the restaurant, I'm a little sad that I won't really get to be there for the fun stuff. Unless I get a sitter, I guess. I will be there in the morning, probably with a child or two with me. I'll be doing all of the paperwork, advertising, bookkeeping, and anything that won't involve actually 'being' there for too long. Which is fine with me. I don't really miss the whole bartending thing all that much. Maybe a little, but it really seems like a lifetime ago. And I hear enough war stories from Tony...I don't need to experience them. Oh, and I meant to mention...I stumbled upon an awesome blog. It's waiterrant. If you've EVER worked in a restaurant, you will appreciate it. Even if you haven't, this man is a very good writer. He has a book coming out this summer, too. Anyway, I've found myself going through the archives and laughing out loud. Well, I've got to go and either a) do some taxes or 2) get our sales tax info and EIN for Downey's House. Don't forget, make us a friend on myspace. Our profile is at www.msypace.com/downeyshouse.
I've actually gotten to catch up a bit with some friends and family (especially my cousin Dave in Scotland) because of all this myspace/restaurant stuff, and it's kind of nice :)

Crazy Life

Well, I definitely haven't kept up on blogging in a while. But I'll let you know what's going on. First of all, I'm trucking along with t-shirts and such at CafePress and Zazzle. Sales keep coming in (although February hasn't been as fantastic as December and January). I'm so glad I can do work there instead of having to leave the house! Thank God for the internet!!!

In other news, I think I may have already mentioned that we bought a bar/restaurant. Well, things are moving along. Our liquor license went up in the window a few weeks ago, and we had our interview with the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board on Tuesday. Our agent sort of hinted that everything probably won't go thru until May or so. But at least that gives us some time to get everything together. Going in, I knew there would be a lot of work to do, but something new always seems to pop up. I feel like I'm pregnant with a restaurant. You can do all you want to prepare, but you won't really know what life is going to be like until it's actually here. I'm working on setting up the website (slowly), and we will eventually have a blog there also. The site will be www.downeyshouse.com (but there's nothing there right now). I have, however, set up a page on myspace...so come and be our friend! Our profile is at http://www.myspace.com/downeyshouse

Oh, and this picture is from the day they posted our liquor license. Oh, by the way, I don't think I've mentioned the location....It's in Robinson Township in the West Way Shoppes on Route 60...where Jabby Joe's is now. More to come...