Tuesday, April 28, 2020

50 Not So Boring Ideas for Staying At Home



Does it sound like this in your home?
“I’m bored.”
“Can we go do something?”
“Do we have to stay home?”
“Mom, did you know some people go to the beach?”
“You just want me to do chores.”
“When can I go to school?”
“I already washed my hands.”
“I don’t want to stay home.”
“Can I walk the dog, again?”
“Read? Why?”


Not everyone likes staying at home but it can be fun. There are so many fun things to do and none of them are on television!
Here are a few ideas to help make the stayathome situation better.
Most of these require adult supervision:
1.       Read to each other (Prizes for best listener?)

2.       Bake something together

3.       Play board-games or invent one of your own.

4.       Plant a container garden

5.       Use a Karaoke App. (There are many)

6.       Dance together

7.       Learn to crochet or start a new crochet or knitting project

8.       Pull out the Play Doh and make beads for key-chains.

9.       Let the Lego imagination take hold of your inner creator

10.   Sew pretty pillows and don’t forget to have a pillow fight.

11.   Mix some fruity, non-alcoholic cocktails. Cranberry juice and pineapple?

12.   Have you ever made ice-cream?

13.   Plan an appetizer menu where everyone contributes something unique.

14.   Jigsaw puzzles will make the time fly by.

15.   Practice reading or math with flashcards.

16.   Paint a room together. Get help with the masking tape.

17.   Coloring books are not just for kids anymore.

18.   Camp out in the backyard with a tent and maybe S’mores

19.   Learn to set a fancy table with cloth napkins

20.   Assemble a centerpiece from silks, or arrange flowers from the garden.

21.   Take photos and make a collage. Old magazines might help too.

22.   Draw or paint a painting of birds, flowers, bunnies or butterflies.

23.   Do you know how to play chess? I bet someone would like to learn.

24.   All right, a few computer games won’t hurt.

25.   Wash and dry the family pets. Take photos.

26.   Don’t forget to pray together or at least quote an inspirational Psalm.

27.   Practice handwriting and penmanship or calligraphy. It’s a lost art.

28.   Call your far away relatives and make sure they’re okay.

29.   Write follow-up letters to those same relatives. Add decorative stickers.

30.   Press some flowers into the pages of a thick book.

31.   Write poems or haiku

32.   Find an exercise video or play virtual sports on a Wii.

33.   Make some bread dough and create the world’s greatest pizza

34.   Braid a rag rug from scraps and old sheets.

35.   Make paper mâché from old newspapers and some flour.

36.   Keep a quarantine journal to look back on these strange times.

37.   Rearrange a closet or pantry and recruit some helpers

38.   Learn to play an instrument by watching YouTube videos.

39.   Go for a nearby hike but practice social distancing

40.   Make candy—taffy, toffee, brittle, honeycomb, divinity, fudge, etc.

41.   Make a fort or castle with old boxes.

42.   Have you ever tried tie-dying a tee-shirt?

43.   Learn a new language. There are so many to choose from!

44.   Time to organize the photo albums or create a scrapbook

45.   Put on a family show! Costumes, makeup and lots of laughter!

46.   Can you do macramé? Flower pot holders? Christmas gifts?

47.   Memorize one poem by a famous poet.

48.   There’s upholstery, woodworking, sculpting, weaving and more.

49.   Make a jewelry box with fabric, shells, buttons and glue.

50.   Okay, binge-watch any television show you want. 😊


Above all, stay healthy and STAY HOME!!

Thursday, April 16, 2020

Dormant but Alive!




I pray for for those who are working full time during these difficult times. The police, the sheriff’s department, firemen and women, the cashiers at the stores, those who stock the shelves or drive the trucks. Those who clean the store and have to pick up rubber gloves left by sloppy, selfish people. Those who deliver groceries or mail; those who work in hospitals, clinics, testing stations and laboratories; those who work at curb-side pickup restaurants, coffee shops and fast-food. I am grateful for all you do.

(And victims. Those who are suffering from this virus.
 I pray you recover, soon.)


Thank you to everyone who helps the world continue to rotate on its axis. 
We are not shut down. We are alive.

We will bloom again. 

Monday, April 6, 2020

No Chocolate Eggs?

Happy Easter!
Did you hear they closed down See's Chocolate Shops right before Easter?
Oh, no. What are we supposed to do?
Don’t you know, Eve wrote three books and she's working on a fourth? 
Let’s read!  Do we need to wear a mask?
No silly rabbit, you can read her books at home.
Which one should we read first?
Well, there’s Penniless Hearts about an artist who gets lost in Hawaii.
Hawaii? Are there pineapples?
I think so. The second one is Penniless Souls about the same lady in Vegas.
Ooh, I bet that’s intriguing.
Bunnies don’t bet.
What’s the last one called?
The Fifth Commandment. It’s perfect for Easter, 'cause Peter's in the story.
Peter Rabbit?
Peter at the gates of Heaven.
Oh, he’s more important.
I’ll say.
Where do we get these books?
Amazon.
Yikes, we have to hop down to the Amazon?
(Eye-roll) Amazon delivers books to your home.
Oh good, race ya to the couch!