10 Things to Do When Snowed In

1. Author: Susan Anderson
   
   When winter's first snow storm hits it's fun. After a few of these gifts of Mother Nature, the appeal starts to wear off, especially if you are stuck in the house snowbound for a few days. So here are 10 suggestions of things to do when you are being held captive in the house and are in desperate need of some distraction from boredom.
   
   

• Cook Something Different. Now is the time to experiment and try a new dish or two. This snow storm I planned ahead and when I went to the grocery store for snowbound shopping I picked up some wontons and eggroll wrappers. I have never made either, but thought, what the heck, it will be fun to try a few new recipes.
  
  
• Tackle Paperwork. Now I am sure this will not rate up there on your top ten list of fun things to do... but if you have piles of paperwork lurking all over the house... if you have made a promise to tackle this at some other time...if you have promised to do this when some time frees up...then today is the perfect storm! Even if you need to do it in small increments of time. Here is one approach that may work 5 minutes of focused effort followed by 10 minutes of reward time. You may not get through all that much using this system but it's a start.
  
  
• Make a Frozen Snow Drink. What a better time to make a fun frozen drink then when Mother Nature provides one of the main ingredients, but be sure its clean snow of course!
  
  
• Play Real Board Games. Do you remember what a board game is? In today's world of video games I wonder if kids get much exposure to this type of entertainment. When my mother-in-law comes to visit, she loves to play games so we always end our day with a game of cards or a board game from the closest. It is always so much fun, so why don't we do it more often? Now would be a great day!
  
  
• Plan the Perfect Valentine's Day for Your Sweetheart. With just a few days left before Valentine's Day, take the opportunity to think up an exciting, out of the box surprise for your honey. One year, which by the way was the best, I planned a treasure hunt for my husband, and it was awesome. I started in the house leaving a simple note with a clue to the location of the next note and clue. I had him going all over town and then finally meeting me at a local restaurant for dinner, which he thought was the finale. But as we finished dinner and he received one more clue from the waitress, it really ended up being an evening away. We had 2 small children at the time and I got Grandmom to stay with the kids so I could do this and it was an amazing time, with a lifelong memory attached.
  
  
• Make a Fictional Character to Have Fun With. My husband always talks about this fictional character Rudy Smith that he made up years ago. It was suggested he create a Facebook page for him. Well last night we finally put the page together and had not laughed so much as we did creating him. Then we invited friends who knew about Rudy to come visit him on Facebook and the real fun began. We had tears streaming down our face as we were writing and responding to comments. Deep, deep barreling laughter resulted--whew! so good for the soul. If you too want to become a friend of Rudy's his email is RudySmith58@gmail.com
  
  
• Lighten the Load. So many of us have more than we need or can really use. We started with a small collection of extra stuff that went into a closet, then a room, then a new house, then a basement, then a garage and now we have a separate storage rental unit for the overflow of all this extra stuff. Yes alot of it is from a closed business but that is just another excuse. All this stuff drains our energy. I have made a promise to myself to lighten the load this year. I have committed to getting rid of at least one large bag of stuff per week, with the hope that several bags or boxes will be leaving the homestead for good. We give to the local thrift shops and/or to friends who I know can use something that we no longer want or need, and finally we put some things on Craigslist to get rid of. Any old way you look at it, less is more! A snowed in day provides a good block of time to sift through our Collections of Stuff.
  
  
• Visit Project Camelot. Here is an interesting website that may seem a bit out there for some people but it is a great site operated by Bill Ryan and Kerry Cassidy. Their purpose is to travel extensively meeting and interviewing truth-tellers in the effort to provide enlightening testimony about the true nature of our world. There are a wide range of individuals who participate in the interviews, which are in audio, video and transcript format. Here is the link: http://www.projectcamelot.org/ Why not take a look for yourself? An eye-opening way to pass the time.
  
  
• Create Art. Find something around the house to make a creative statement with. I have several of these types of projects going right now. One is an old chair that I am repainting in a funky way. Another is making graphic mandalas on the computer then printing them out, framing them and placing a poem or inspirational story on the back, and finally to help get rid of some of that Collection of Stuff I am making yard art--birdbaths, birdhouses and backyard decorations using recycled materials from around the house. After I have a large enough assortment of finished products I am going to get a table at a craft fair. You really don't need to be an artist to create- you just have to be willing to unleash some of the passion you hold inside of you.
  
  
• Plan A Garden. Having a successful garden depends on prior planning. Often people like me omit this step, figuring we will wing it, then wonder when July rolls around why we haven't been as successful as we had anticipated. Alot of this disappointment can be circumvented through a little bit of planning. On a cold day inside of the house, dreaming of being outside in warmer weather surrounded by beautiful gardens is a good place to start. Think about what you want, then start to make it happen. Write your lists, check the seed catalogs. What! Don't have any? No problem go online- with a few quick searches you can find out what planning you should be doing and where to order your resources.
  
  

Well now that concludes this rendition of 10 Things to Do When Snowed In. I hope I have inspired you to do something useful, fun or productive with your day. And of course, I would love for you to share your list of things with me! Keep warm.

PS: By the way, that is my good friend Lynne in the picture at the top of the article with the help sign...sort of explains how we all feel after awhile of being snowbound....Hold on Lynne--Rudy is on his way!