lawn mowers? haircuts?

5/12/99

Did I really write that catty shit yesterday? I'm not like that. I swear.

I binged like crazy on sugar today. I didn't mean to; I was having a good day, and then I baked this sugar-substitute cake (don't ever do that) and it was so disgusting that I burst into flames and (well, okay, no flames) I went to the store and bought frosting for the goddamn cake. And then I ate the frosting by itself. I seem to remember eating Spree candy too, but it's all a big mushy-yucky mess in my stomach now and I'm moving very slowly in order not to upset the whole thing.

Did I mention that I'm ovulating? Is that a good excuse, or what?

Yesterday I had a long talk with my landlord. I called him to find out if he'd prorate my rent for July, since I'm leaving on the 17th. (No.) I got a long lecture on the gravity of marriage from Mr. Born Again. Then we attacked the true matter at hand: the foot-high grass in my/his lawn. I hate that he expects me to mow it. Since the front half of the house is empty, I'm the only one here, but really, MY side of the lawn is only about two feet wide and five feet across. And most of that is ground cover and weeds. So he's telling me I should borrow a lawn mower from one of the other apartments and get to work. I agreed just to get him off the phone--didn't want another marriage lecture.

I left a note on the door of the mower-owner asking if I could borrow the mower. Around 2 pm. When I got home from teaching at 10 pm, my lawn had been mowed. I was touched. Really. I got a warm fuzzy feeling and resolved to return the favor sometime.

This afternoon I was lying, topless, on my couch when the doorbell rang. I threw on a blouse and opened the door to find the mower-owning neighbor, Elaine, who'd come to tell me my cat wanted to get in the house. We had a nice conversation about Julie: "Well, if she's pregnant, she's been pregnant since I found her two years ago...." Then Elaine thanked me for mowing her lawn.

???? We're both hoping the lawn fairy will visit about once a week for the rest of the summer.

Shopping! I went shopping today. Normally I hate shopping, but today I discovered how much fun it can be. I bought stuff for myself. And nobody else. What a fucking rush. Silk pajamas, satin underwear, a new yoga tape, new paper journal. This women's clothing store keeps sending me gift certificates, so I cashed the most recent one. Hey, who am I to argue? They know what they're doing--they send me a $30 gift certificate and I'll still get $50 dollars' worth of stuff.

All this shit I bought and the thing I'm happiest about is this little keychain from Bath and Body Works with two flavors of lip balm attached. No more lip balm emergencies. I also gave in and got my hair cut (shut up)--it's wayyyyy short this time. Shorter than it's been since, like, seventh grade. I believe "sassy" was the word the stylist used. That's me. All sassy and shit.

I have to drive to Adrian and play for a sorority dinner tomorrow night, and I'm leaving for Milwaukee (cancelled the train and rented a car--saved $20 bucks plus the cost of a few cab rides) on Friday morning. Might not get around to updating on Thursday. Might write some decent entries over the weekend and upload them when I get back--we'll see. Right now I'm going to bed early. The sugar-high is wearing off.