Things To Do Without Internet

Colorado was hit with a pretty good snow storm the last couple of days. I was without internet for most of the time which always forces me to realize how dependent I am on it. I use it to keep in touch, play games, get weather reports, watch movies, download music, make purchases...

So when snow took away my internet this week and I couldn't check the weather I text'd my carpool partner and coworker who has cable tv (which I do not). She sent me updates and let me know how bad it was getting out there. I also turned on the radio to get my music intake each day. That absorbed about 10 minutes total and i was extremely bored again.

Rather than torture the cat or whine about being bored (okay so I did that too) I tried to find other ways to occupy my time. Here are some.

• Organize the closet. I had lot's of junk stuffed in my closet (fans from when summer ended and cold fall began, my collection of Goosebumps books and Stephen King novels, shoes I can't wear in winter and more) so I took everything out. I only put back things that I will wear or use this winter and should be in the master closet. I moved everything else to the 2nd bedroom and closet. Okay so I ended up making a mess out of that room but my room looks great now.
• Clean the litter box. i have an automatic litter box that scoops the poop for you but the cat likes to spread the litter all across the laundry room. I unplugged the box, swept up, and put a towel down underneath the box to hopefully make the next time better. It's probably a good idea to do every so often but it takes snow and boredom to get me to do stuff like this.
• Play with the cat. This gets old fast if your cat starts out sweet and then decides biting is fun. She's just playing but her teeth are not fun. I usually end up taping one of the toys she's got, like a feather at the end of a stick, against a wall so she can play by herself.
• Unpack. Ha. This I probably should've done more of. I moved into my condo in July. I still have about 10 boxes to unpack. I don't have space cleared for all of it yet (like I said, that 2nd bedroom is a bit of a mess) so it's just been sitting in boxes which makes everything hard to find. When I am successful at this though I work one box at a time and find a place for everything. Even if it's a temporary location I get everything out of the box and then fold up the box so I can't cheat and put it all back.
• Make your own crossword puzzle. I recently flew to see my grandmother in Ohio so I still have some word searches and crossword puzzles from the airport. Those were done pretty quickly when my internet went out so I decided to make my own. Graph paper is best for the crossword puzzles but isn't necessary. Think of it like scrabble when you fit the words together and you have unlimited access to the remaining letters.
  
• Clean. Clean. Clean. My normal weekly cleaning day is Sunday but when I'm confined to my house with no internet for two days eventually I decide to get ahead on my cleaning. I ran a load of laundry, folded it and put it away. Still bored? Wash the sheets. And the backup sheets that were in a box yesterday and scattered across the 2nd bedroom today. Wash the blanket on the couch. Wash the floormats in your car. (Note: It's probably best not to go out to your car if it's covered in snow but if it's in a garage feel free to clean it up!)
• Paint. I took two days off of work to paint and move back in July but I was painting by myself and it didn't get done. I've been working on this little by little the last few days and finally finished the bedroom. I have insomnia and chose a dark color because the darker it is the easier I sleep but it makes clean up a nightmare. No better time than a snow day though I guess.
• Sleep. Alright so I didn't do much of this while the snow was falling but I sure want to do it now.