Sunday Rituals

I don't know why I do it to myself. But I do. Every Sunday. It's not like Sunday isn't already full, but I have to make it absolutely ridiculous. Why? Because everything has to be in order before Monday. It just has to be. Without this order the world would come to a sudden stop and I might have a nervous breakdown. Or an anxiety attack. Which is really kind of dumb since the reason I would be having the anxiety attack is a direct result of my anxiety over not having everything done, to perfection. It's a vicious cycle. I want things to be a certain way, a perfect certain way and I flip out if they aren't this way and then get anxious about things not being this way and then get anxious for feeling anxious about this way and it all goes down hill.

I do it to myself.
I know this.
But it still happens.
And no amount of therapy or pills will change the fact that I want things this way.
Ahem.

So Sundays I have a set of rituals that I always do. Well, almost always. Most always.
Sundays I:

• catch up on all the laundry from the week/weekend. This mainly involves washing and drying Stuart's uniform but it also means that all the laundry that I have done during the week and just stacked on top of each other needs to be folded AND put away. This is part of the reason why I smile Monday mornings: empty laundry baskets.
• strip the bed and wash the sheets.
  
• take out the trash from the bathrooms. I'm not sure why this happens on Sundays, but it does and now I can't not do it.
• clean the bathrooms. This is not a job that I enjoy. But toilets are icky and if not cleaned, well, you know what happens.
  
• clean up the playroom. Not just make a path for little feet, but CLEAN it up. OCD clean it up. I sit in the middle of the room and go thru all the different bins, taking out the contents that don't belong in them and placing the errant items in their correct location. Books are straightened and relined, the tool bench is put back together with the proper tools hanging from their proper place, the kitchen is tidied with all food/utensils/pots put neatly up and the floor is vacuumed. The playroom looks great for a good 10 hours.
• go thru my meals spreadsheet (really is there any better application than EXCEL?) and clean up items from the previous week and make adjustments for the week to come.
• straighten the refrigerator. I get an obnoxious high from seeing an organized fridge and pantry. Good times.
• check the calendar and make a list of things that need to be done for the week. Lists!
• relocate all the items Stuart has hap-hazardly placed around the house and help them find their way back to his drawer/basket/garage.
• straighten up the backyard. All the rolling toys are lined up. Smaller toys and picked up and placed into a receptacle of some sort. Random trash is thrown away.
  
• paint my toe nails.
  

I know. Daunting. Why again do I do this? Because I have to. I need to. Monday just wouldn't be Monday if my toe nails weren't painted.