I spent the entire day feeling sick.

I’m blaming it on last night’s fried clams. Now I never have a bad time with food from this place, but it didn’t seem right last night. I can’t say what it was specifically, but something seemed funky.

At about 4:30 this morning I felt like was going to be really ill, but I took some Mylanta and the feeling passed – sort of. I stopped feeling totally awful and my condition was downgraded to just "blah".

I more or less had an upset stomach and the feeling that I was going to get sick at some point, although it never got to the point where I was collapsed on the bathroom floor clutching the porcelain god.

It was just enough to make me feel lousy and to not want to do anything.

But that feeling can’t be blamed on the clams all the time. I seem to be like that a lot lately.

So what did I do? I organized stamps and surfed and shopped.

Organizing stamps, when you own as many as I do (over 10,000) is not an easy task. The question is what is the best way to organize them so you can more or less find what you’re looking for when you decide that you want it. Of course with 10,000 stamps you might only have a vague idea of what you own anyway.

I have a "tiered" organizational system.

Some stamps are categorized by type of image (e.g. music, cats, floral, fish etc.) and these are stored in photo storage boxes or in small drawer systems that sit on the desk. Others are categorized by company, generally because there is a technique of some kind that is meant to be used with those stamps, these are kept in storage carts. (A product called Radiant Pearls is used with a company called Magenta; marker techniques are used with stamps from A Stamp in the Hand; some stamps are meant to work together to create scenes or have some sort of a "trick" to them, so they are kept by company.) Unmounted stamps (they don’t come on a wood block) are currently stored by company and are in different drawers or baggies. They are not very well organized, but all of the unmounted have been stamped into a notebook so I can see what images I own.

Stating the obvious: it took most of the day to get these things organized again. The problem was that I’d bought a LOT (too many!) new stamps and hadn’t organized them, they were just part of the heap on the diningroom table, and I had to figure out where they should go.

What I need to do next is stamp each image, of every stamp I own, into a notebook so I can see what images I have. I usually have a pretty good idea, and rarely pick up doubles, although I do have a few of those.

When that happens I put them in a box where I can send them to my secret stamper as part of her monthly package. Although I won’t send anything if I’m not sure that she’ll like it. I never just send junk. I’ve had a couple of people who have sent to me in the past and I’ve had the feeling that they were just clearing out their unwanted supplies. I’ve gotten some real junk. However, I’ve also gotten some fabulous supplies, papers, stamps and other surprises that have thrilled me, especially things that I’ve wanted to try out but haven’t been able to find (or have been too cheap to buy!).

The task is not finished but I do feel as if I made some headway. I’m actually seeing part of the top of the diningroom table again!

I shopped (and bought!) at Amazon, looking for books that have to do with New York City or are set in new York City. I also found a CD of the music of Stephen Schwartz that I had to have (he wrote "Godspell" and "Pippin" among others).

Some of the titles I wanted were out of print so I’ve got them doing a search. Of course if the books cost an arm and a leg I’ll skip them. It’s the shipping and handling that will break you anyway.

I also did some online stamp shopping, having discovered some online catalogues that I’d never seen. The problem with that is that my old modem is so sloooooowww that it would take forever for each page to download. That took up the afternoon. But it was fun and non-taxing.

I am in no way ready for school tomorrow.