As I mentioned in the comments on the last post, the new little dog bit me.

She was sitting on the sofa with my daughters, and my son walked over and petted her on the head. She growled at him, so I walked over to move her off of the couch.

I don't remember all of what happened, but my son said she bit me three times. I only have one tiny puncture wound on my finger.

But emotionally, I am not doing as well.

Tonight, I reached down to take a toy away from my dog, Janie, and just as I did, she jumped to her feet quickly. I had one of those awful shudders of fear go through me.

I used to be very afraid of dogs, so even though the dog was tiny, the biting thing was really one of my worst nightmares coming true.

I have definitely learned a good lesson, though. If a dog growls, I will take it seriously and back off.

While innocently looking for free bookshelves on craigslist, I happened to click on the pets section.

So...I now have a four year old shih tzu in a crate in my dining room.

She has an allergic skin condition that her owners couldn't deal with. We brought her home, bathed her, and Tim spent at least five hours cutting the mats out of her fur so she could walk properly.

I pulled out all of my creams and ointments, gave her a little benadryl, and she is now a much happier dog.

Tomorrow we will finish clipping her fur and her nails, and see if a change of diet and some fresh air and exercise will help her out.

If you have any experience in doggie allergies, please email me with advice!

I just started the Fall Cure at Apartment Therapy, and I am love, love, loving it!

Already we have made great improvements, and the whole family is joining in to help.

In other news, I babysat my nephew, Daniel today. I have to say I wholeheartedly recommend the Baby Einstein series.

Within five minutes of putting on the Mozart video, I was contentedly snoozing on the couch. I am not so sure it is good for babies, but it is great for napping moms.

It was a little scary to watch how mesmerized Daniel was with the images on the screen. It is also scary to think how much money those people are making for waving a hand puppet around.

I awoke from my nap to see the climactic scene in Little House on the Prairie where Adam regains his sight.

I remember as an insecure child watching the episode where Mary and Adam fell in love, and thinking I had found the perfect way to snag a husband: find a blind man who couldn't see what I looked like.

It seemed like the perfect solution, so I remember being distraught when I saw the episode where he regained his sight. My whole husband-catching plan was thwarted.

So it was nice to watch the episode again from the vantage point of actually having a wonderful husband and a beautiful family. And my husband can see! And he still married me!

He has slowly taught me that perhaps I am not as hideous as my elementary schoolmates led me to believe.

The wind chimes tinkled softly, signaling the arrival of the long-awaited sea breeze and the end of the heatwave.

Although the earth continued to shake, the aftershocks of Sunday's earthquake seemed less ominous than they did during the oppressive heat.

We watered our thirsty plants and walked our restless dogs, and thanked God for the wind that pushed its way inland to cool our grateful neighborhood.

The Thrill of Competition

Umm...I don't think I'll be getting any laundry done now that I have found this.

Woke up to an earthquake. It's 103 degrees. Lightning. Thunder. Rain.

What a strange day.