…to let you know that we are visiting with family and enjoying our vacation!  I won’t be doing much (if any) blogging while we are here so I thought I should do a quick post to let you know I haven’t fallen off of the face of the earth.

Be sure to enter my latest giveaway for a personalized shirt from Sweet Memories and More.  It ends on Friday, July 18th at 11:59 pm EST.

Talk to you all later!

I’ve been putting off taking Dottie to the vet for her yearly exam because it is always so expensive.  I knew she had to go because she has to get her vaccines.  But, I’ve had “call the vet” on my to-do list for about two months.

Over the weekend Dottie started shaking her head, signaling a possible ear infection.  She is a beagle/basset hound with long floppy adorable ears.  But, those adorable ears are very prone to infections.  So I knew it was time to stop putting off taking her to the vet.

So Tuesday afternoon we went to the vet.  As soon as we walked in Dottie started her barking/howling.  If you’ve ever heard a hound dog sounding howl- that is what Dottie sounds like.  And she did that for 10 minutes straight while we waited.  At one point there was a man checking out with his dog and between howls I heard the receptionist tell him his total was $191.  And I thought to myself, “Oh that poor man.  My total won’t be that much.”

Well, it turned out that Dottie did have an ear infection.  She also had to get two vaccines as well as her “senior” exam, which seemed an awful lot like her exam used to be when she was younger.  Then she had to have blood work to test for heart-worms.  Oh- and that’s not all.  Dottie had a large lump on her side, so that had to be tested as well.  The vet removed some fluid to test it to find out if it was just fatty cells or could possibly be cancer or pre-cancerous cells.

So, imagine my check out experience.  The receptionist went through all of those things plus a prescription for the ear infection and medication for Dottie’s allergies (yes, my dog has allergies).  And my total- $195 and some change.  It turned out that I had also pre-paid for a future stool sample- for my convenience- so that I could drop off at any time.  That was refunded, bring my total down by about $17.

We did get a phone call later that evening to let us know that Dottie does not have cancer, just a large spot of fatty cells on her side.  So, that was certainly a relief. 

Even with all of the poking and sticking and so on, I actually think Dottie enjoyed her break from Hailey even if it was because she had to go to the vet.  So, she had a little break that cost me almost $200.  And when you add on the price of gas…

(For my non-blogging friends who are wondering what I am talking about- 5 Minutes for Mom is hosting the “Ultimate Blog Party” where all of us bloggers write a little post about ourselves and then sign Mr. Linky over at 5 Minutes for Mom inviting the other bloggers to stop by.)

So- where was I?  Telling all of my visitors a bit about myself- I am married to the love of my life, Rich.  I am step-mom to 15 year old Brooke (who will be 16 in April) and I am mommy to 17-month old Hailey. 

When Hailey was born I decided to leave my teaching job to stay home full time with her.  A little over a year ago I was playing around on the Internet one day and I thought, “Hmmmm, I think I’ll try starting a blog.”  I thought that maybe I would upload some pictures once or twice a month to share with family and friends so that they could see what we were up to.

And now?  Well, I have two blogs and I post several times a day on both of them.  I am truly addicted.  (And by the way, if you haven’t joined my Blogaholics Anonymous Blogroll do be sure to check that out and leave me a comment if you’d like to join.)

I think I’m a pretty typical mommy blogger.  For the most part my blog is all about me and my family and the stuff that happens here from day to day.  I write about the adventures of being a stay-at-home mommy to a toddler, I talk about the fun I have with my family, and I complain about trying to lose some pregnancy weight (can I still call it that, 17 months later?). 

I’ve also recently started hosting Meme Monday where we save up all of our memes and post them each Monday.  It’s a way to help everyone keep up with all of the memes we get tagged to do.  So, if you’d like to join in- stop by on Monday and sign Mr. Linky so that all of the participants can check out your memes.

I hope you’ll grab a cup of coffee and stick around for a while.  Make sure to leave a comment for me so that I can stop by and visit you too!

If you have a chance- stop by my other blog Our Happy Happenings.

PRIZES:  There are tons of great prizes being given away at the Ultimate Blog Party.  My favorite prizes are:

• #1- Black and White Rocking Horse
• #32- Living the Dream Mom T-shirt
• #85- Noah’s ABC Stacking blocks
• Any of the gift certificates or cash
• Anything toddler related- I have a 17 month old