A few months ago I felt like I was part of a WB drama - now I feel like a character in a sitcom. You'll never believe the night I had.

Molly was supposed to pick me up around 7:00 to go to the football game but I couldn't get Barkely to do his business and I didn't want to leave him in the house to leave "presents" all around so I told her I'd meet her there.

I was upstairs getting ready when I heard Barkely yelp and then go nuts barking. He was barking, growling, the whole nine yards, and I'm thinking - because I'm home alone and my imagination is taking over - that a burglar is trying to get in (like anyone would break in at 7:00 in the evening).

So I went to the back of the house and peeked out the window and then it hits me - like a ton of bricks - the smell of a skunk. Yuck.

I ran downstairs and out back and started calling for Barkely to come but he wasn't hearing it. He was pissed off about getting sprayed and he had the skunk backed into a corner up against the shed. But then he grabbed the skunk in his mouth and started running towards me. I screamed and moved out of the way and he ran into the house - about as far as his chain would go into the house.

I guess Josh heard me from next door because he ran over to see what the commotion was. Hearing Josh's voice got Barkely distracted and he dropped the skunk. Josh grabbed Barkely's chain and pulled him back outside but now I had a skunk running around Aunt Lu's house!

I didn't really need to explain to Josh what was going on. He ran around to the front of the house and opened the front door. The skunk was going crazy running around the house and I was screaming for it to get out, Barkely was still barking like crazy. I don't know how - probably some divine intervention but the skunk ran out the front door.

Josh decided the best thing to do would be to give Barkely a tomato juice bath. We made sure Barkely's chain was secure and then we hopped in Josh's car and drove over to ACME. We got a shopping cart and filled it with tomato juice. People in the store were looking at us weird and it occurred to me that we probably smelt like skunk too. I whispered to Josh, "I think we stink," and for some reason we thought it was hysterical and couldn't stop laughing. The woman at the checkout counter gave us a weird look and Josh and I still couldn't stop laughing.

We got back to the house and the smell was so bad. It was unbearable so Josh suggested we take Barkely to his house for the bath. I got the dog and Josh got the juice and we went to his bathroom, closed the door and went to work.

Josh had to pick Barkely up and put him in the tub. The dog does not like baths. We plugged up the tub and started pouring the tomato juice on his hair. I was trying to rub it in but he kept doing the "doggie shake" and tomato juice was flying everywhere...the sink, the mirror, the toilet, the walls, and all over Josh and me.

This struck us as funny and we were laughing so hard that we were crying. I've heard the term "roll on the floor laughing" but I've never experienced it until last night. Seeing Josh and I laughing so hard got Barkely even more excited and he jumped out of the tub, dripping everywhere and started licking our faces.

They say timing is everything...this is the moment, of course, that the Anderson's got home from their evening out. They must have heard us because they ran upstairs, opened the bathroom door and found Josh and I sitting there, covered with tomato juice and a dripping wet dog who ran over to Mr. Anderson and jumped up on him.

Mrs. Anderson looked like she was going to have a heart attack. Thank goodness she's a quick thinker. She had us rinse Barkely off with water while she make a formula for getting rid of skunk odor. She put it in a spray bottle, sprayed him down and then we rinsed him off again.

The next step was getting everything else cleaned off. She told Josh to take a shower, and she walked me over to Aunt Lu's. We went inside and found that the house smelt so bad. We opened all the windows and then she told me to get some clothes so that I could sleep at their house.

We went back to their house and I took a shower. She made both Josh and I use the skunk odor remover spray too. I then had to call Aunt Lu and explain the mess to her.

At that point the football game was over and I realized I had ruined Josh's Friday night. He said it was cool, and that he had actually had a good time.

Josh offered me his bed so I slept in his room and he slept downstairs in the basement. Barkely slept out on their back porch.

It was so weird being in Josh's bed. Sleeping where he sleeps, cuddled up in his blankets...if only he had been cuddled up there with me...

This morning when we got up we were eating breakfast and Lauren came in and said she could smell skunk. Mrs. Anderson sent Josh and I back upstairs to scrub the bathroom and then take showers again.

After that we went out to search for a skunk odor neutralizer for Aunt Lu's house.

I'm finally at the library now. I can't believe how crazy the past two days have been. Tonight should be quiet though. Molly and I are taking Lauren to see Princess Diaries 2. Josh is going to Princeton to visit Kelly and Jason (his friends who go to school there - he was supposed to go last night...oops.)