Welcome to the Family, Jasper. Please Keep Your Feet Off the Table.

We've added a new member to the Furber family: Jasper, a 10 month old yellow lab. Since we had our last dog Shelby put down at the ripe old age of 13, I'd forgotten about many of the quirky habits of big dogs:

Jumping on the furniture
Eating off the kitchen counter
Running through the house with muddy feet
Crashing into things and breaking them
Eating things that aren't food

In fact, Jasper shares many of those habits with my children. I'd also forgotten about the decorating challenges that go along with having a dog. The moment my husband suggested Jasper's cage (which is about the size of an office cubicle) should be placed permanently in the family room, I knew I had to get it together.

We needed a bed and a bowl that looked cute in my house, or it was going to be like the early days with the kids when Decor by Playskool ruled my family room. Lucky for me, and for Jasper, I live in San Francisco where we have George, a really great pet store. They have a website with lots of good stuff:

Here is the perfect bowl for Jasper








And the mat for it to sit on so he doesn't chase it all over the kitchen floor while he's eating. Have you ever tried to read while a dog is eating out of a bowl that's moving across the kitchen floor? Makes it hard to concentrate.








And the perfect bed for Jasper so he can hang with the family while we watch movies in the family room








Now that Jasper has moved in, and all his stuff looks good in the house, we can concentrate on teaching him some of the basic rules that apply to Furber children and dogs alike:
Come when you're called
Put your toys away
Don't eat something if it's not yours
Leave the room when you fart

If I Were Stranded on a Desert Island, I'd Want My Husband, My Children, and My Two Bushel Rolling Hampers

A recent visit to our condo in Sun Valley reminded me of the single most useful tool that exists for a family with kids: the two bushel wheeled hamper from The Museum of Useful Things in Cambridge, Mass.

We have three of them in Sun Valley and use them for everything from holding toys (and moving them from one end of the house to the other), transporting laundry around the house, moving groceries from the car, and best of all, moving luggage from the car to the house when we come to visit. One winter, Jack took one of them ouside and filled it with snow so he could transport the snow and his shovel to the location where he was making a snowman. When Katie was a baby, the big kids used a hamper like a wagon and pulled her around the house in it. As I said, very useful.

I must warn though -- The Museum of Useful Things is not too big on mail order. It took several weeks, several phone calls and about $100 in shipping to get my rolling hampers packed, shipped, and delivered. By the time I had received my shipment of rolling hampers, I think I was in for about $500.

Best $500 I ever spent.