tomato soup and church jitters

its finally getting cold outside here... sweater weather..coats and scarves and hats with the yarn ball on top and mittens... i love it unfortunately, its getting just as cold inside this little house of ours. we arrived home from an afternoon of cool-coffee-shop-hunting and i immediately ran upstairs and bundled up.

currently wearing: the necessary undergarments, a tank top, t-shirt, long-sleeeved thermal shirt, and fuzzy sweatshirt, running tights and sweatpants and a pair of shawn's long socks (up to my knees) and two pair of my own. i would be wearing my mittens if i could type with them on.

thursday night was 'game night' at the mcdonald's and the thermostat was working just fine, but we awoke friday morning and the digital words were blinking 'low battery'. no kidding. in 3 hours the low battery had become a dead one and it was starting to chill in the house. it only takes 3 AAA batteries... we had every imaginable battery in this house except for AAA. 'ahh...we'll just pick some up at the store' (no one wants to run to the store just for batteries) now its saturday almost-evening here and we have been to variations of the 'store' 5x now and never remembered the stupid batteries.

but My Love (and Hero at this moment) just came up from the studio, where he has been working and announced, 'that's it. i can't take it. i am going to get batteries'.

but for now, i am fighting the cold with the afore mentioned list of clothing and tomato soup. now, if you asked me a couple of weeks ago if i liked tomato soup, i would have said 'nah, not really. not unless i am eating tomato soup at l'madeline's.' but while groccery shopping last week, My Love (who is also a great cook) picked up organic tomato base and showed me how to season it. and now i am living on the stuff.

our lousy track record of not remembering to buy batteries was what sent shawn to the store...we had said we would just get them tonight while we were out, but i guess neither of us really thought that was going to work out. and at least now when we get home we won't be shivering in bed. its always a bad sign when you roll over in an attempt to cuddle for warmth and the other person's shoulders prove to be like hugging a human-sized ice cube.

well its almost 5pm in seattle and that means we are leaving in an hour and a half and venturing out into the scary world of church visiting. i have the church jitters. we are going to a group called 'young professionals' in downtown seattle. and i have the church jitters. the pastor is someone shawn knows and respects and even likes. and i have the church jitters. when even know a few people there. and i still have the church jitters. 'young professionals'? that sounds kind of put together and techincally there's nothing really professional about what i do...its scary, you know? i have said before that visiting church feels something akin to a first day at a new high school and also something like a first date...wait, no, a blind date. even worse. there's that element of the unknown involved. ugh. of course, there is the excitement too...i am trying to cling to it...telling myself, 'see, kate. this is fun. really.' like i am taking myself by the shoulders and leaning in and wearing the best smile in i've got.

'okay..okay...but the last guy i met on a blind date had no teeth...and..'

i cut myself off. 'no, no,.,that was a once in a lifetime freak thing, girl. trust me.'

'what about the one who kept calling the wrong name? that was a deflating date. remember?' i argue.

the version of me who is trying hard to stay positive has to get firm. 'listen, katharine rachel. this is fun. sometimes disappointing, but always an adventure.' she paues. 'and don't forget, there is always the possibiity that you might actually find something you are looking for.' she smiles at me.

i nod back.

pray for us. i will let you know how it goes.