How to Spend a Snow Day

In honor of our third snow day in a row (the Anacortes School District is the "Wild Rose" of Washington when it comes to calling off school), I propose the following appropriate snow day procedures...

1. Listen to the radio or watch local news. Discover the snow gods have smiled upon you, and you have a SNOW DAY!

2. If you've already showered and readied yourself for the day, return to your pajamas. If there's snow to be shoveled, get one pass at the driveway done so it's easier to deal with later in the day (bonus points if you're off school simply for the cold, because then you don't ever have to go outside!).

3. Acknowledge early on in the day that the eight free hours you have acquired are a bonus; anything you accomplish in that time is extra. It wouldn't have gotten done had you been at school or work that day, so if you get anything crossed off your list - you're golden! Choose one task that can be done (in pajamas) such as laundry, and gleefully check it off the list later in the day.

4. Plan a bowl of something warm and steamy for lunch. Soup, chili, stew, oatmeal - anything that you can eat curled up on the couch while watching mindless TV. If you're lucky, they'll be a marathon of America's Next Top Model on, and you can spend the afternoon debating whether Tyra really can smile with her eyes, or if she's just squinting weirdly.

5. Nap, glorious, nap. Snuggle up with a nice warm blanket, and snooze. Snooze away.

6. Find a good twenty minute window to sit and stare outside. Bonus points if the plow goes by and you can whine about how they push all the snow from the street up into your driveway.

7. Call everyone who has a "real" job and had to spend the day at work. Get their opinion on the Tyra situation, or just ask them how cold it is outside (since you haven't been out yet). Listen to their bitching for a few minutes to be polite, then say you have to go because the hot chocolate you're warming up on the stove is done.

8. Pull out the most enticing looking book you have in the pile on your nightstand. Assemble the following items: something to drink, a snacky food, glasses (if necessary). Head to your most comfy reading place and hunker down to disappear into whatever magical land your book holds.

9. Nap #2 for the day.

10. Watch the weather channel and assess your chances of having another snow day tomorrow!

(What constitutes a snow plow in Anacortes.)