I started yesterday bone-tired from my work week and was pretty much planning to do lots of nothing. Captain got a fire going and I had some hot chocolate and raisin English muffins and began to feel like I might live. I wrapped some things, Vanessa said she needed to go to the mall, so we headed out and got there by 10. Not too crowded yet. Bought a few things and were home by 11:30. My Mom is incredible, walking through the mall, carrying bags. I bought one thing for Ray, a little more than I wanted to spend, but good quality on sale. As we were leaving, I saw a display of turntables that you can hook up to your computer and convert your records. It was 10% off. I agonized for a minute or two and then I bought it. Ray will give it to me for Christmas. I have wanted one for a long time and now he doesn't have to stress about what to get me.

When we got home, the boys and the truck were gone. I was pretty sure I knew where they were, although there were other possibilities. I had told Nancy H. that we could go pick up tables and chairs if they needed us to for the Kenney Ridge Progressive Dinner tonight. I took a nice bath, had some lunch, and started working on the stuffed mushrooms I had promised to bring for appetizers. First I peeled the caps and cut up the stems. The caps were dipped in lemon juice and olive oil and cooked for 6 minutes to soften them. Meanwhile I was chopping onion. Vanessa chopped apple and she said, "don't we have any more walnuts?" I looked and couldn't find any. She had used them up in cookies earlier in the week and put them on the list, but we hadn't realized we needed them for this. So Ray and I headed to Kroger.

First we went by the Craftstravaganza. http://www.athensindiecraftstravaganzaa.com/ It was pretty darn cold downtown, even though the sun was shining on some of the vendors. We enjoyed the funkiness of it, mostly young people we didn't know. We bought something for a couple of young women. Their company is called Bacon. We asked were their things made out of bacon, no, one of their first efforts was for one of their boyfriends and he really likes bacon. Saw Stephanie Astalos-Jones. Her son Nick is moving to Mexico, to be with his girlfriend. She asked about our girls.

Kroger was something of a madhouse. We don't generally go there late in the day, especially on Saturday. We did eventually get walnuts and a few other things. Sadly, they did not have Chanukah candles. I don't know if we can find any in time. Chanukah is early this year--it starts this week.

The sun was setting as we got home and it was starting to be seriously cold. I had gotten a few more mushrooms. They shrink when you cook them and ours are not very large to start with. Mixed up some more lemon juice and olive oil, dipped them, cooked them, finished cooking the filling. Vanessa stuffed them and we threw them in the freezer. Then started on supper. We did eat by 7:30, but I have to fight the urge to be grumpy when I feel like I am cooking on a deadline and starting to get hungry. After dinner, watching TV, falling asleep. My back is a little sore too. I need to walk this morning. The computer says it is 27 and the sky is starting to get light.