Organized.

From the time I posted last night until right around lunch today, I was dead set on my next post being a long list of why I have the right to be upset about the LFTs (liver function tests). I planned to explain how I logically know that there's nothing to worry about, but my emotional/irrational side has more reasons for me to wig out. And then I completed a project that I've been working on for years and wanted to take the time to brag about it.

Today I sorted, filed, shredded, and recycled the huge pile of miscellaneous paperwork that I've been holding on to since college. It was mostly mail, pay stubs, receipts, important letters and such, that just needed to be organized. But with my hoarder tendencies, I have always had a hard time going through the pile. Of course, once it gets out of hand or I'm preparing to move, I start to tackle the pile and kinda get it organized, but I never finish it. And I never truly purge the unnecessary stuff. I toss out a few things and then return the whole pile to a box or plastic grocery bag. This has honestly been the trend since college and I've carried various forms of this pile from Maine to California and it has grown with each move around the Bay Area.

The hard part came with our move to our current home which is small and doesn't have a lot of storage space. I had one box full of papers that I hid in my closet and a huge pile of current mail and documents that covered the floor just outside my closet. On top of this pile of papers I tossed clothes, pillows, purses, and pretty much anything else that I didn't feel like putting away. This pile routinely gets knee-high and Nilaja will coyly ask, "how do you get in your closet?" and I'll know that it's time to sort out the big items (like toss the laundry into the hamper). To be fair, I don't think Nilaja really cares about me being messing and often tells me to sit down when I get into my cleaning frenzies (which have never included tackling the pile), but the pile of crap was monstrous and often encroached on my safe passage to the bed.

I knew it was time to tackle the pile when I was talking to my gastro and had to paw through the crap on the floor in order to find the notebook where I keep my current health info. It was ridiculous. So I got up nice and early, ate a sensible breakfast, put on a podcast, and set out to tackle the monster. I started with the box in the closet. I looked at each page and sorted into one of three piles keep, recycle, shred. Then I took the keep pile and separated by type (pay stubs, credit card statements, health info, etc). The good thing about taking a second look is that I could decide if it was something I really needed, like an envelope full of wine articles ripped from magazines or a 4-year old collection of blank New York Times crossword puzzles. Purged. Once things were in their categorized piles I could easily organize them (reverse chronological order) and put them in my file box. I did the same process for the stuff on the floor.

The whole process took about 3 hours without breaks and I feel so relieved. I've wanted to complete that project for years and I'm glad I was finally able to do it. That made for an amazingly productive day and I look forward to never having another pile of crap ever again.

In other news, I called and scheduled the stomach emptying study. It's tomorrow morning at 8:30 am. I don't know how long it will take since it's done in intervals and it will keep going until they get all the results they need, but that's a good thing. I think this procedure will answer a lot of questions when it comes to the pain and nausea. I'll tell you all about it tomorrow evening.