Fifteen Ways To Beat the Cold

It's February, and it's snowing. Here we are in the middle of winter, and it's easy to get caught up in the whole 'too cold outside' blahdom. However, with kids and a dog, all of whom love the snow, I can offer a couple of suggestions of what to do to fight back winter blahs. First, if you don't own snow pants, go buy them at any sporting good store. They're not just for skiing, and they're better than thermals.

1. Go for a walk. Get all bundled up, and go on out. Set a minimum distance, a goal (perhaps a nearby coffee shop, a video store), and don't turn around until you reach it. You'll feel accomplished, you'll feel healthy, and you'll feel cozy and warm once you get back inside. Heck, turn down the temperature a degree or two before you leave, and you'll still find it toasty (unless you don't pay for heating, in which case, never mind).

2. While you're at the sporting goods store, buy a cheap sled. Then find a hill and go sledding. Sure, you feel silly doing it without kids, but then, heck, find a friend with a young kid and offer to take him/her sledding. It's a win-win situation: you won't feel so foolish, the kid will have fun, and your friend will appreciate the free time. Just make sure you find out when the kid needs to eat something and get him back before then, because you don't want to be responsible for a meltdown.

3. Take up skiing. It's a little more expensive than sledding, but it actually makes you look forward to the snow.

4. Shovel the snow. Or if you know someone nearby who could use the help with shovelling, do that. Again, good karma, good exercise, and again, you feel nice and toasty when you get back indoors.

5. Build a snowman. (See #2 if you think you're too old).

6. Get into snow carving.

7. Try snow shoeing.

But what if it's cold but with no snow? What fun things could you do then?

8. Go Ice Skating.

9. Cuddle up in front of a fire, sip hot cocoa, and read a good book.

10. Sit and talk in front of said fire

11. Bake! Cook! Warm up the house by warming up the kitchen. and then work off whatever you bake next time it snows :)

12. Paint Your Own Pottery. Find a place nearby. Take the kids.

13. Go To A Museum. We live five miles from University Circle, and on Saturday, we finally ventured, with the kids, to one of the museums for a couple of hours because we had the time.

14. Visit Friends. The effort of bundling up and trekking out to a friend's makes the visit that much more meaningful.

15. Plan a party. If you've got a definite goal in mind, and it's something fun, time will fly by. Sure, you could surf the net or watch television and kill time, but at least this way something will get accomplished, something you'll find much more satisfying in the long run than that extra episode of 'The New Adventures of Old Christine' that you decided to watch. Pick a date, determine the guest list, design invitations (or have your kids draw all over cardstock and glue a bunch of colored paper to it), pick the menu; figure out the details now so you're not so frantic as the day comes closer.

Whatever you decide to do, enjoy it! And look forward to all the things you just can't do in the summertime. And save scrapbooking for a rainy day (although, admittedly, Cleveland hasn't had enough rainy days yet for me to get any scrapbooking done since I've moved here).