The Swindler Family Blog

This past weekend was pretty busy for us. I think I'll work backwards (and maybe jump around a little), because it seems easier to remember that way.

I just had a really nice hand waxing "treatment" or whatever you want to call it. I got a paraffin wax tub for Christmas, and I just got some paraffin wax for my birthday. (We celebrated several birthdays, including mine, with my in-laws over the weekend, although my birthday isn't until 2/8.)

So this morning the tub was all set up and the wax was melted. With my hand situation (bad eczema on my hands), I am hoping that regular wax baths will keep them soft and maybe get me past this issue. I had it on my hands as a teenager, and with enough vaseline, it did eventually stop for a long time. It would be a nice if that happens again. I've healed them a lot from what they were, so I'm pretty confident that they can get fully restored with a lot of work.

I've been kind of complaining lately that Dharma is at a bit of a housebreaking standstill. I know that she knows to poop outside, because she's done it many times. However, she doesn't want to poop out there. She doesn't want to be out there. One major issue that I've been having, is that I crate the dogs at night, and then let them out at about 7AM. Both dogs always pee outside. Sometimes LeeLoo poops out there, but Dharma will just sit there, staring and shivering at me. I wait around 5 minutes, but I don't have the time first thing in the morning to stand there and wait for her to go. So I would bring them in after waiting about 5 minutes, and sure enough, within half an hour, she would poop on the floor. EVERY day.

In the morning, I'm very busy getting the kids around, breakfast, teeth brushing, getting clothes out, helping them dress if they need it, brushing hair, making sure backpacks are properly in order, etc. That is the time that Dharma has been using to go. Because I can't just sit there and stalk her.

I don't know why it never occurred to me before, but for some reason it just clicked in my head last night that if she doesn't poop first thing, I can always crate them back up until after Corbin is on the bus when I can really watch her. So that's what I did. I gave them both plenty of time this morning, and she wouldn't poop. So I brought them in and crated them. Then I got the kids ready, and after Corbin got on the bus, I let them out. I took them outside, and LeeLoo of course peed right away, but Dharma was a bit more stubborn. However, I waited it out, and within about 2 minutes, she went poop. Success!!!! I'm a damn genius. :n)

Last night was Corbin's day. :n) His favorite dinner, probably of all time, is tacos. I had planned to make tacos for dinner, but also I was remembering that there was a Mario Brothers cartoon and a movie at some point when I was a kid. So I looked on Netflix and I found a few Mario Brothers cartoons on DVD as well as the movie, but then I found the series on streaming Netflix. :n) I was so excited!

So we went to the store and bought the stuff for tacos, and when we got home, Corbin got his surprise of watching the Super Mario Brothers TV show. He watched 6 episodes in a row. LOL By the seventh one, Brooke asked to watch something else. (She enjoyed it, too, but she eventually got sick of it.) So I told him that Brooke gets a turn, and that he could watch some more after school today. I have no doubt that it will be the first thing he asks me about when he gets home today.

We spent a couple of hours at Torri's house yesterday for her neice Tessa's birthday party. I got her a couple of Barbie's. The kids had a good time. There were plenty of other kids to play with (and to make a mess with lol).

Yesterday morning my parents came over (at Corbin's crying... they weren't going to come over and Corbin cried and of course they immediately said they'd come over after all, because they are SUCKERS), and I went to Toys R Us to buy Tessa's dolls. I also bought those last couple gifts for Corbin. I got him the Penguins of Madagascar game for his Leapster, and I bought Brooke the Mr. Pencil Saves Doodleberg game, just because she wants it so much. I also bought Corbin the game Bop-It, because we were watching "Family Game Night" (he loves that show), and they did some sort of game having to do with Bop-It and he jumped up out of his seat and said, "YES! Bop-It! I LOVE that game! It's my FAVORITE!" He must have played it at school or something. But I figured if he loves it that much, it's a family game, we can all play it.

Tim went to some motocross thing and was gone all night and slept in the car because the snow got so bad. He didn't have service and SCARED THE CRAP OUT OF ME because I couldn't get hold of him. But he's fine now.

On Saturday afternoon we went to Red Lobster for lunch for the birthdays, and to Tim's grandma's house afterwards for gifts, cake and ice cream. We got there super early (we were meeting at 1 and because I had shopping to do, I was already out, and it wouldn't have made sense for me to go home and back again, it would have just been a waste of time and gas. So we waited a loooong time.

While we were waiting, the aide from Corbin's class, Mr. Stevens, was there. Corbin was embarrassed. He didn't even want to say hi to him, but I called Mr. Stevens name and he came over to talk to Corbin.

The kids were super good at Red Lobster, and I explained to everyone the situation with Tim. Afterwards we went to Tim's Grandma's house, and I got quite a few nice gifts, including a couple of gift cards and some cash, which I love. :n)

The weekend was very full, and I'm glad for that. Next weekend will be my birthday luncheon. :n) I'm excited for that!