Like a lot of people, I suppose, I wasn’t able to go to work last week because of yet another big snowstorm. It seems every week we have a storm worse than the week before.
In any event, I made a list of things adults can do when they can’t go to work.
• Do your taxes, or at least try. Have you read any of the forms lately? Even when they tell me what to do, I still need someone to explain what they’re talking about.
• Watch daytime TV, which you obviously can’t when you work during the day. Where did all these talk shows come from? What happened to “One Life to Live?” And where did Oprah go?
• Read that book you’ve been meaning to get to but haven’t had the time. Hopefully, it’s a small one, since you’ll probably have to go back to work the next day and you never know when the next storm will hit to let you finish it.
• If you can’t find a good book, check your emails, some of which may be well-written.
• Take a nap. I don’t know about you, but reading always tires me out.
• Play with your cat, who is probably looking at you funny because she’s wondering what you’re doing at home during the week. Just because your daily routine has been interrupted doesn’t mean hers has changed.
• Clean the house. At least get the vacuum cleaner out, if you can remember where you stored it.
• Go through the kitchen cupboards and the back of the refrigerator. That can of pineapple chunks, with the expiration date of Oct. 11, 2011 – do you think that’s still good?
• While you’re at it, you might as well go through the sock drawer and try to match your socks. Whenever I get socks, they always come in pairs. What happens to their mates when they come out of the washing machine is one of the great mysteries of all time.
• Think about going outside to shovel. Even if it’s still snowing, it doesn’t hurt to have a clear path to your car in case of an emergency. Of course, if you’ve got them, you can always send your kids out to do it.
• Start to change the light bulb in that flickering living room lamp, until you remember you forgot to buy new bulbs.
• Instead of starting a load of laundry, contact family or friends who also have the day off to see what they think of what Whoopi just said on “The View.”
• Watch the neighbor kids across the street build a snowman.
• Play with your cat some more, until she gets tired of you and goes off to hide. (Of course, your presence didn’t seem to bother her while you were feeding her or cleaning out her litter box.)
• Take another nap. You’ll need to be well rested when you finally do got out to shovel, or to supervise your kids doing it.
• Reflect on how humble the snow makes you feel and how grateful you are to have a job to stay home from and a roof over your head.
• Before you get too sentimental, turn on TV in time to catch “Judge Judy.”
• If nothing else, you can always write a column about all the things you can do at home when you can’t get to work because of the latest snowstorm.
