When you have a dog of boundless energy and large stature, you cannot just leave him in the house when you hold a meeting. Some people are not dog people and you don't want them to be bothered by the big mutt that lives in your home. Our dog is usually banished to the backyard on these occasions, where he proceeds to jump and dance back and forth along the French doors trying to get back in so he can lick all the visitors to death.

Tired of muddy doors and of having to watch him bounce all through meetings, my husband decided to try a new strategy. He took everything that could be removed out of our bathroom and locked the dog in there with his food and water. Do not do this. Or if you must, clean the dog's feet really well. We returned to the bathroom after our guests had left, to find every inch of floor covered in mud, the shower covered in mud, the walls up 3 or 4 feet covered in mud and, of course, the back of the door covered in mud. It hadn't been raining that day, so I don't know how he happened to have that much mud on him. This bathroom has now replaced the powder room my son peed all over as the cleanest in the house.

Another thing I learned is that if one has fancy toilet locks on their toilets to keep the toddlers from playing in the toilet, and one knows that these locks seem to befuddle grown up people even though your five year can work it just fine, make sure you either disable the thing or write instructions for use on your toilet. When people have to go, they have to go now and they don't want to figure out how these things work. Anyway, it is time to get another one, because mine has now been permanently disabled for me.

I think I had some more learning this week, but I'll have to get back to it, because I already know that when The Girl is playing quietly, you 'd better not leave her alone.