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Winters here in Ontario have been milder than usual these past few years. When we do get cold, stormy weather, here are some of the things I like to do to amuse myself during them:
Read
This one is pretty obvious, and I’m betting most of you are going to mention it, too.
Play in the Snow for About 20 Minutes.
I love being an outdoorsy person when the weather is mild, but not so much when it’s painfully cold or hot outside. So about 20 minutes of building a snowman or walking around to admire the beauty of winter is my idea of a good time before I go back indoors to warm up.
Watch Movies
I think that psychological horror films are a great match for snowy winter days when it’s far too blustery to be outdoors if you don’t have to be.
There’s something delicious about getting scared silly while the wind beats against your window. It’s so easy to imagine there might really be a monster lurking out there just beyond the blur of the storm, after all!
If I’m watching movies with someone who doesn’t like anything scary at all, other genres like historical, documentaries, or comedies can work perfectly nicely, too. Just don’t ask me to watch anything involving people being cold.
Hypothermia isn’t something I like to think about when the weather outside is frightful. Let’s find something lighthearted, educational, or thought provoking instead.
Cook or Bake Food
I prefer making warm, hearty things like soup, stew, chili, roasted vegetables, banana bread, or chocolate chip cookies during winter storms. There’s nothing like slowly noticing your home filling up with delicious scents on a stormy day.
Dance
Am I a good dancer? Heh, not really, but I love learning new dance routines through the magic of the Internet. You don’t have to be good at something in order to enjoy it, after all.
This is a nice way to get some exercise in when you’re stuck indoors all day, and it’s a great way to pass the time as well if you see the snow piling up outdoors and start feeling restless.
I’ll dance to all sorts of types of music, but I find that hip-hop, Bollywood, and Zumba-style dances tend to get my heart pumping the best.
So if I’m dancing as my exercise routine for the day, I tend to start with those styles because I have specific goals about reaching certain heartbeat rates that I try to meet for my cardio workouts.
If it’s just for fun, anything will do. Every sort of dance is a good sort in my book!
Play Board Games, Card Games, or Do Jigsaw Puzzles
There are some games I try to save for days when the weather is bad or when I have a cold and need something quiet to do as I recover.
Bodies need exercise, and so does your mind! I’m perfectly happy to play games of luck that don’t require any thinking, too, but I also enjoy the challenge of solving a puzzle or figuring out who killed Professor Plum in the conservatory and what weapon they used as well.
Jigsaw puzzles are great. I can easily pass hours on a good puzzle. And I agree with you about the snow. I love snow, but only when I see it from inside.
I’m glad you get it. 🙂
Here in Texas I don’t have to worry about snow storms (except every once in a great while, and then I’m less worried about the snow/ice/chill than I am about our incompetent governor and his cronies who are responsible for our power grid). Mostly what we get are rainstorms or thunderstorms, and I love them dearly.
Snow is so rare that for us it’s generally a special treat — and especially for the boys, who are most likely to have a day off from school because of it.
When I lived in Oklahoma, storms in summer included a fear of tornados.
That’s very scary for sure.
We’ve lived in NE OK for about 12 years now. I think I was an Oklahoman before we ever got here though because I was all about standing outside when the sirens went off! Then again, I grew up in Ohio, so that probably had something to do with it.
That makes sense. 🙂
Yeah, I remember your struggles with not having heat a couple of winters ago. How awful.
I wish I could send you some of Ontario’s snow!
I’m with you on the cooking — my choice as well. Reading is right up there for me, too. We have little snow, but enough gray and cloudy days that indoor activities are familiar.
Nice. 🙂
I’m right there with you about not wanting to be in the cold for very long. 😀
My post
Heh, I love it! Yeah, the cold is only fun for a little while.
I grew up in Ohio, so I always got some snow in the winter, even in southern Ohio. I love it. Heck, I used to ride a motorcycle in the winter. Snow hits differently here in Oklahoma though. What would be just a happy dusting in Ohio shuts Oklahoma down for days.
And you’ve reminded me of the time I lucked into getting a ride on a snowmobile. Back in the late 70s, we had a cabin at a lake in central Ohio. It was a flood-control reservoir, so the drew it down every winter to be read for the snow thaw. At any rate, my parents and I went up to spend the weekend and check on things, and I wandered down to the lake to see how it was.
Frozen and snow-covered. Just beautiful. Then I heard what sounded like a motorcycle buzzing around, and I saw this dark shape buzzing around the mouth of the inlet where our cabin was, a plume of snow shooting high behind it. The rider eventually pulled up next to me and asked if I wanted a ride.
Are you kidding? Going fast in the snow?
I got settled in and we did two or three laps around the inlet, then zoomed out onto the lake proper. I wasn’t too worried, because I was a boy, and this was a new adventure. Looking back now, I’m still not too scared of the idea, because he was keeping to an established track and the weather had been in the low teens for a couple of weeks.
My mom was maybe a little less than thrilled once I got back and told them what I’d done. Dad just said I should have asked first. I was holding to the adage that forgiveness is easier to get than permission.
Thanks for the memory!
I spent a lot of my childhood in Ohio, too!
That is such a cool story. Thanks for sharing it.
Excellent choices all!
Thank you.
I agree on the first three, reading, a walk to see the sights, and a movie…But then i deviate towards working on one of my many arts&crafts projects. My recent kick is painting…I’m absolutely terrible at it… but i invested in paints and gesso, pads and brushes, and so i keep painting.
Good for you for painting!
What a wonderful list of activities. My first couple of years here in eastern Pennsylvania we had lovely snow, but more and more rain and less and less snow every year. I do love putting on a good slow cooker of stew and bread in the oven on a snowy day.
Thank you, Greta!
Yeah, we’re getting much more rain and much less snow during Toronto’s winters these days, too.