25 Things to Do on a Rainy Day

Today was a cold and crappy rainy-snowy-slushy day. If I'd had my druthers, I wouldn't have gone to work. But I pulled up my socks and went in. Since so few of us were there today, we had a group lunch which was pretty fun. And then they let us go early, which was pretty fun. And then my driver's side windshield wiper broke as I was pulling out of the parking lot, so I drove leaning over looking out the passenger side of the windshield with my broken-wiper arm pulled off the glass and waving like an amputated hand. Fortunately, there was a service station less than two miles from my office and they fixed me up. That was pretty fun.

Photo courtesy of raumrot.

Anyway, I've been thinking about rainy days and things to do.

1. Call in sick and stay in bed.
2. Snuggle the dog.
3. Color. I still love these books. Hard to find but you can get similar ones at the big box craft stores.
4. Watch classic movies. Or organize a film festival with movies on a theme. Or watch all the movies in a series, like Lord of the Rings or Richard Linklater's Before series. Don't forget the popcorn!
5. Watch all six hours of the BBC Pride and Prejudice straight through.
6. Bake cookies: this recipe is very popular in my family.
7. Read.
8. Build a fort. Stick the blow up mattress inside. Read in there!
9. Take a bubble bath. Keep adding hot water. Wrinkle your skin. Read in there!
10. Have a tea party. Here's a scone recipe the dude and I use regularly.
11. On a day like today make hot chocolate from scratch. Or try hot vanilla.
12. Try painting your nails with eye makeup. Did you even know you could do that? Check it out.
13. While you're at it, give yourself a pedicure and a deep cleaning facial mask.
14. Experiment with make up looks. You may not know there are thousands of videos for make-up application on YouTube (like 348,000). They are awesome! (And when I say that, it's like I think Graceland is awesome--a little hilarious, a little sad, and a little educational. And why the hell not?)
15. This one is more my sister than me, but read that pile of magazines on your nightstand.
16. Organize something: your pantry, your closet, your medicine cabinet, your stash, your photos. (You can get some help with that.)
17. Just listen to the rain. (Is there a more comforting sound?) (Okay, the ocean, but rain is second.) 
18. Make fondue. (Definitely a day like today rainy-snow storm and not a summer thunderstorm kind of activity.) 
19. Walk around the house and make a list of all the repairs your house needs. Maybe do one.
20. Walk around your house again and make a home inventory. Use your phone and film it.
21. Find a Pinterest project slightly outside your comfort zone. Try it!
22. Write to someone you haven't written to in a while. Or email. Or call.
23. Take stupid Buzzfeed quizzes to find out which music video, Pixar character, or which year of the 80s you are. Find out where you should live, what nationality your inner self is, or what song you should play on repeat this weekend. For slightly more intellectual undertakings (by which I mean the geography category) there's Sporcle.
24. Make soup. Or stew. Or a casserole. Something to warm you from the inside.
25. Stitch!

Of course these were all things you can do alone. There's many more you can do if the kids or friends or a special friend are around, but those are different lists.