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March 26, 2004 2004-03-26, 10:48 p.m. Today I’m promoting Modern Puritan, a new journal by the very funny Sutel. Today, I reviewed my list of 104 Things To Do in 2004 to check my progress for the first quarter of the year, and it seems like I’m doing okay. I’ve been seeing doctors and trying to lose weight (total net loss in 2004 is only about five pounds though because I have had no desire nor any time to exercise in the past, oh, six weeks or more AND I keep gaining and losing the same three pounds). I have been trying to Get My Shit Together and pay my bills on time and at least think about saving money even though it is budgetarily impossible to do so right now. I’m reducing clutter and selling books and CD’s like crazy on Amazon. I’m spending quality time with my friends and my cats and taking steps in the right direction to leave my job and find a new one that takes me to a new city with new challenges and a fresh start. My taxes are long done, I’ve been reading two or three (library) books each week, and I’ve been cooking well-balanced meals four or five days a week (instead of eating an entire bag of vegetables or popcorn or Cocoa Puffs as a meal). So far, I’m quite pleased with all of the things I’m doing just for me in 2004, and I never would have given them a second thought if not for this list. My washing machine is broken, and this is causing me a mild amount of stress. My set is inherited from my parents and is less than five years old – my mom was displeased at the fact that the washer and dryer are not a matching set, whereas I would have never known the difference, so they sold them to me at a family discount, which also reminds me that I need to send the Parental Savings and Loan a check for the balance owed on the mis-matched set. Anyway, appliances are supposed to last until people’s 25th wedding anniversaries or when they have a lot of disposable income to go buy new shiny appliances and they are most emphatically not supposed to die on working, yet poor 24 year-old single women whose fathers live far, far away and whose friends are all equally or less mechanically competent than herself. So, the Maytag Man is coming to see me bright and early on Saturday morning to see what’s going on. My non-expert, completely uninformed opinion is that the base of the basket (whatever the thing is that you put your laundry in) is worn down and causing it to be wobbly and make kaBLAM kaBLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM noises when it’s spinning. I hope it’s not like the cable guy, where they say to be around from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. and then the guy calls at 1:55 (to avoid having to give you anything for free) and says he’s running late and could you please be available from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.? Because I want to enjoy my weekend by leaving my apartment at some point tomorrow. This is spring cleaning weekend at my place – I’m moving winter clothes to back closets and bringing out the spring stuff, and putting together bags of stuff to give away and throw away. I bought myself some new springy sweaters on a very good sale so I finally have some new work clothes that look nice on me. I feel very schlubby in dress clothes at times because my boobs are so freaking big which makes my shirts hang funny and button-downs impossible, and my fat rolls spitefully choose when to embarrass me by protruding obnoxiously which is very gross, and I’m really short, so my pants always have to be hemmed and knee-length skirts usually hit me mid-calf unless I park the waistband under my bra. But now I have sleek things that flatter my shape and make me feel a whole lot better about my professional appearance. I am getting rid of all of the stuff in my closets that hasn’t been worn in the past year, and also anything that would reveal sweating because it is hotter than hell in my office these days. Anyway, the cleaning has commenced. I have about a dozen bags of trash and recyclables to take out and that makes me sound very disgusting, but some are filled with newspaper for the humane society and some are magazines to be recycled at the battered women’s shelter and other such things that I don’t just toss out with the trash. I bought four boxes of Mr. Clean Magic Erasers, my new favorite Laziness Enabler, and I intend to attack my kitchen and bathrooms with intense fervor this weekend. I tested it on all of the scuff marks on my walls (from moving into the beige box two years ago) and they all just disappeared. I nearly kissed the magic eraser for that. To round out the randomness, I finally got a debit card (but no PIN number) from my new bank, so while I still have no purchasing power (must use in ATM first, which requires PIN, which is not here yet), I am one step closer to buying the fabric for my damn purse that Mary is making for me. I am going to send her some Lush goodies or maybe something off her Amazon wishlist in return for making me a pretty bag.
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