Charlotte's granddaddy paid me another special surprise visit this morning. Luckily, I didn't scream like a girl like last time - I calmly picked up the most powerful weapon near me (vacuum) and sucked the critter up. I hope he doesn't crawl back out of the vacuum. That wouldn't be fun if he paid me another surprise visit.

I came out of my first consistory meeting yesterday afternoon and checked my cell phone - 5 voicemails. What the - from just a 2 hour meeting?? It was from olivia, alinna, and evelyn, calling me mulitple times about o's delayed flights and more. Good thing I got out of the meeting just at the right time to pick her up. so, olivia's back home... let the trouble, er I mean, fun times begin! .Just last night we managed to: kidnap ev, try to visit the Saratoga library only to find it closed 10 minutes earlier, visit Tapioca Express, wander around aimlessly, have a fashion show, read old letters from jr high & high school, and scrounge her house for food (we ended up with frozen honey bbq wings/drumsticks from costco, and buckwheat noodles in vegetable broth. yes, her house had NO FOOD.) Unfortunatley, I didn't have my camera with me to take pics of olivia in her becoming old prom dresses & more. I'm sure Jono would have loved those pics! ;)

We had our annual white elephant gift exchange this past Friday, and I have to say, the gifts are reaching an all-time low. Obviously Vivian Chow made an appearance (what, 5 years in a row now or something?), but there was also an annoying yapping dog, two cans of beans, a set that included two movies - Music of the Heart & Love Letters (never heard of either) AND Titanic: the Musical soundtrack (?!), electrical wire, and more. Unfortunately, the original sausage had to be "expired" due to molding and other nasty things, and the monkey head went out of rotation last year when someone's friend took it home. I'm pretty sure that yapping dog will make a special appearance next year. Will upload pictures later.