It's below freezing again--the solar water heater has been turned off for weeks and the temperatures every night have been cold. There was some nice sun yesterday morning, but it doesn't seem like we're living in Georgia. Bringing wood in and keeping the fire going is less fun than it used to be (although it heats the living room very pleasantly). Ray has a terrible cough and was in bed most of yesterday. Mine is still getting better, I think.

Molli and Amelia and I spent most of yesterday shopping. This is not really my idea of the best way to sepdn the day after Christmas. Molli wanted to get a lot of clothes for Adrian--he had made a list for her, so the three of us were looking for button down shirts in certain colors in his size that were on sale and Molli was the arbiter of which ones he would like. Then the same with pans--specifically Dockers. His boots were ordered and it is hoped they will arrive before Friday, when she leaves. She's going to need an extra suitcase to get it all home. That was at Macy's. We also ran into a high school friend of Amelia's--Jennifer--who is getting married in August (and her fiance and her mother), so were standing talking for a while as the shoppers swirled around us.

By now we were hungry and thirsty. We drove to the Sultan, where I took my Arabic classes, Zuhair was saying goodbye to some people, but did come wait on us after awhile. He was not quite rude, but not much more friendly than before I spent 2 days a week learning Arabic from him. There were no other customers and I am sure that his demeanor is one of the reasons. The food is very good and we enjoyed it.

Then we went to Goodwill. Although I know it is a great place to get cheap, yet good, clothing and other items (I bought an immersion blender there once), I really hate it. The clothes are not sorted by size, but by color. My daughter Amelia is a whiz at thrift store shopping. She spends a lot of her free time in NY's Salvation Army and other stores and always likes to visit the places in Athens when she's here. She says the prices are much better, but she says that at the grocery store too. She picked out several items for Molli and me to try on. Molli tackled the jeans and then she and I went through the pants. We wear close to the same size, so anything that either of us could and would wear went in our cart. Then we had a marathon of trying them on, with Amelia to let us know which ones were acceptable in her opinion. I got 3 pair of pants ($5 each) and one LLBean long sleeved shirt, although I will say none of the pants have pickets, a big no-no in my book. Also a pair of plastic shoes for gardening and a tie for Ray. Molli bought 3 pairs of jeans, 3 pairs of black pants and one pair of brown pants and several shirts. Amelia found some children's books, a cute dress and a funky purse. She knows what she likes.

Now it was 4:30 and we had used up the whole day. We suggested going to the movies, but Ray was still sick in bed and my parents weren't that excited about Where the Wild Things Are. After a very informal supper of leftovers--all eating at different times--and much talk about our party tonight, Amelia and Molli and Kevin headed out for the evening. Ray and I settled in to watch TV. I saw small amounts of several movies and mostly slept on the couch. I kept meaning to go up to bed...