Hello, all, and welcome back to the lair of the Sassybear. I am pleased to report that I got a full nights sleep the last 2 nights in a row, so the returning incident of insomnia 3 nights ago was hopefully a one-off.

Today was my Pass Day from work (I work extended days 9 days in a row, then get every other Friday off) so we slept in a little, had a light breakfast and then, as soon as Jeffrey headed upstairs to work, I started cleaning house. I JUST finished – 6 hours later….sigh. Not the most fun way to spend a day off, but:

a.) it feels good to feel good enough to do normal housework again; and

b.) this house NEEDED cleaning in the worst way; and

c.) the BF, Jim, is visiting for the weekend and, well, gays don’t let gays walk into an unkempt house.

I’ve also been on another reorganizing binge this week. I returned to the closet, where we had just recently sorted and reorganized all of our outerwear (pants, shirts, shorts, shoes, sweaters, etc.) This time, however, the undergarment drawers got reorganized into fabric boxes with dividers, to keep everything nice, neat, and visible. (One must keep one’s panties pleasantly packed, no?) After the undies were unscrambled, the sock drawer got the same treatment, and now my socks are nicely separated, sorted, and stuffed, as well.

To no surprise, hubby declined my offer to get more boxes and do the same to his drawers. I did however, require he help me reorganize his “junk shelf” where he keeps boxes of change, receipts, his wallet, keys, and various doodads. Once it all got weeded out and sorted, I ordered him a nice, small organizer with drawers and shelves to help keep everything properly sorted. I finished up in the closet sorting and organizing ties (neck and bow alike.)

I am quite pleased with the finished project.

Next, I moved onto my Jewelry box. I have 3 piercing in each ear, and there was a time when I wore them full of earrings every day. I was a bit more carefree and flamboyant in my younger days, and enjoyed a variety of dangling, studded, colorful, and fun shaped earrings. I’ve since grown a bit more reserved in my taste and stick primarily to silver studs and small hoops these days. And I rarely put more than one set of earrings in most days, unless I’m “dressing up” and going out. So I weeded and discarded some of my larger and more colorful items. Then I sorted everything by pairs, and re-attached them to the various earring boards I purchased. (You know the kind: cheaply purchased earrings in sets of 3 and 4 at places called “The Earring Hut” or “Plug Your Holes Here” or some such.) I made sure all the “pearls” were together; then all the “diamonds”; then the silver studs; then the silver hoops; I did keep a few special shaped earrings (3 sets of small giraffe studs; a set of claddagh rings; a set of bear paws; and a few colorful studs (red, green, and purple) for holidays; I tossed out all sorts of rings, bracelets and necklaces (man, was I in gay pride jewelry once!) Nothing of real value – I never spent much on jewelry since it was all costume and for fun. The only valuable earrings I own is a pair of diamond studs Jeffrey got me for my birthday one year. I wear those on our Anniversary and special occasions.

Finally, I reorganized our kitchen food cabinets. Things got a bit chaotic as we had bought a bunch of specialty low residue, soft, and liquid foods and drinks for my recent bad gut run, and then started bringing in”normal food.”

As you can tell, I like things neat, orderly and organized. I’ve always been that way, even as a child (thank you very much Miss “My 15 minutes of fame” Marie Kondo and your “does it give you bliss” techniques.) (Kidding – I love her!) I think it’s a reaction to my lack of control over so many other things in my life (job, health, family, etc. and, when I was younger, an abusive father that left a wake of chaos everywhere he went.) When things get stressful, bad, or difficult, I start controlling the things I can – my room, my comics, my home, my clothes, my food, my belongings, yada yada yada. But whether its a coping mechanism, I’m just compulsive neat freak, or a little of both – it’s who I am and it works for me.

As dear miss Stockard once bellowed “There are worse things I could do.”