I don’t know about you, but with very little external activity to organize our lives, my husband and I are becoming confused.

“Is it garbage day today?” I think we ask this every day. We produce garbage every day, though less than we used to when we were coming and going, toting stuff in from stores. But, no, it’s only garbage day for us on Mondays and Thursdays, and we don’t create enough stuff to toss on on Thursdays. Monday is recycling AND garbage. We are now planning for Mondays all week.

We are disoriented, news warped. One recent Friday morning, my husband became very concerned: “Why is there no stock market today?” Before either one of us could hyperventilate about the coronavirus pandemic having wiped out civilization as we know it, I figured out that it was Good Friday. “Closed today,” I said. “Easter is Sunday.” Palm Sunday had passed like any other day of the week, with us surrounded by palms. It’s our domestic environment. In fact, palms routinely discard their enormous leaves, and Ray has been turning refuse into art.

Here’s what a fellow blogger, Ann Chin, remembers:

I grew up in Sibu, Sarawak in Borneo. I went to Methodist school where we had a lot of missionaries from UK and USA. One of the songs they taught us was: Monday is washing day. Tues is something…….. What puzzled me most was why just Monday? In Borneo, everyday was washing day: 1) it was very humid, and clothes reek of sweat and if you don’t wash them daily, you get mould; and 2) the 60s, families were very big, my family was bigger than the norm, Mum and Dad had 9 kids. Can you imagine if all the dirty laundry was left to Monday, what a ginormous chore it would be.

Ann Chin

There was a certain wisdom to organizing the week by household chores. Fellow blogger Marilyn recalls:

Traditionally, there was a certain chore for each day of the week.  As the saying goes it is: Monday: Wash Day ~ Tuesday: Ironing Day ~ Wednesday: Sewing Day ~ Thursday: Market Day ~ Friday: Cleaning Day ~ Saturday: Baking Day ~ Sunday: Day of Rest.

Musings from Marilyn

Monday: can we handle both Garbage Day and Wash Day? Yes, but the wash needs doing several times a week. Although Florida is not Borneo, Kumba and I go off for long walks every morning and I’m doing Zoom classes at my sister’s gym, TAC Fitness in Colorado, so … and popping stuff in a machine that does all the work is a magic trick compared to the wash tubs, wringers, and clothes lines of olde.

Tuesday: Ironing Day? I used to iron. I remember feeling very domestic when Ray and I lived on the Upper East Side of Manhattan — Yorkville — and I had a series of part-time jobs that gave me afternoon hours at home during which I ironed the button-down shirts Ray wore to his counseling job and watched Laura and Luke, the original soap opera supercouple on General Hospital. These days, the only time I’ve gotten the iron out has been to make the pleats in face masks.

Instead, I’m making Tuesday: Vacuuming Day. That is to say, the day that I supervise the Roomba. I pick up before she starts — like I used to do when I was working and we had a cleaner now and then — and then get out of her way until she’s done each floor. If you have one of these robot vacuums, you will understand my delight when I dump an appalling amount of dust and dirt and, mostly, dog hair when Ms. Roomba heads home to recharged her batteries.

Kumba sheds every day, so we’ll need to make Friday: Vacuuming Day, too. Maybe even do more cleaning that just getting stuff out of Roomba’s way.

Wednesday: Sewing Day? Check. I’m so bad at making face masks that I can work on one for a couple of evenings while watching comfort TV. I find it so pleasant to have “hand work” that I may just keep going once I have a couple of good masks for Ray and me. Maybe I’ll end up making ones good enough to donate? I’ve unearthed all the extra pillow cases from the linen closet and have loads of time.

Thursday: Market Day? Check. Good day to see what we’re running low on and putting in another delivery request. Publix / Instacart and Target / Shipt have both been helpful. The last time we were in a business together was Friday, March 13, when the new Toyota Corolla Hybrid that we had been waiting on for a month finally came in. The baby’s been in the garage ever since. Earl Stewart Toyota was a pleasure to deal with, and they even filled the tank. At this rate, I may not need to buy gas for months.

Friday: Second Vacuum Day.

Saturday: Baking Day. I’m not much of a baker, and neither one of us needs muffins or cookies. I do enjoy making Ray apple pies from time to time, and I’ve stocked up on the red-boxed Pillsbury pie dough. Maybe I’ll order apples on Thursday. [I’ve just made quiche for dinner tonight. I think that’s extra credit on a Tuesday, right?]

Sunday: Day of Rest. Boy, do we need a lot of this. Rest as is being rest-ored. Relaxed. Refreshed. Taking a break from watching the news. Sitting down with a good book. My writing colleague Al Pessin has just released a special ops thriller, Sandblast. I loved it. You can check it out on Amazon, and give my review a read.

Whatever your day holds for you, I wish you good health!