My parents came through yesterday on their way back from their vacation out west and dropped Cullam off to stay with us. Cullam always has lots of fun staying here, as we have lots of fun dogs and we let him stay up too late and watch too much television. We like having him around too. Christian especially likes having someone to tease other than me. Variety is the spice of life, after all.

We also got to do a little more post-trip present giving. The best part was when we gave my mom her present. She said she wanted something antique, so we got her a 1908 watchmakers cabinet that was used in a shop in Limerick. She was so surprised and excited that her mouth dropped open and she sort of squealed. And that's really saying something, seeing as how my mom is a lot more reticent than most people. It was really great. I love surprising people, especially Mom, since she's done so much for me over the years.

No new news on either the scary neighbor front or the kidney front, unfortunately. Life is really a big kick in the pants sometimes.

Speaking of which, I just realized that we are coming up very soon on the 1-year anniversary of my first hive. What a momentous occasion! This also means that grass season is really getting into the swing of things, and since grass is my biggest allergen, I can imagine that the next few months aren't going to be all that great. Thank goodness for allergy shots. I haven't really been able to tell conclusively if they've been helping or not since there are so many other factors contributing to things, but I kind of think that things have been a little bit better. I really hope that they work, though, because I'm getting very tired of taking antihistamines all the time. Even the zyrtec makes me drowsy, even if it isn't as bad as benadryl.

Well, time to go home and make some dinner. A few weeks ago when I asked Christian what he felt like for dinner, he said he'd like pizza for dinner, and this time he wanted "real" pizza, and not "Olsen family" pizza. (He assured me that "Olsen family" pizza is still very good though.) So I got one of those Air Bake pizza pans. They are fantastic! It came out just as good as the pizza we used to cook on the baking stone every now and then at home, and it was very easy. No more paying 20$ for pizza for us!