I'm fortunate that I'm very rarely bored, but I also find it difficult to sit and do nothing. Even Netflix binges are accompanied by a flurry of knitting needles and yarn and the outcome is a a pile of soft toys, baby hats or whimsy gifts.So here are a list of things you could do to occupy your time while shelter-in-place orders are still enforced.
1. Learn a craft, crochet, knitting or quilting. You Tube has a lot of great tutorials. (And you can order supplies online or if you're grocery shopping at Walmart they have a good craft section) Joann's has curbside pickup.
2. If you have a sewing machine make masks. I've been passing them out to friends and neighbors.
3. Look into your family history. Ancestry and Find my Past have free trial memberships. Look at my blog post on Genealogy for ideas. My suggestion would be to set up a family tree, with information you know, on Family Search. This is run by LDS and is always free. After your free trial on the other sites (do them concurrently) you won't have access to anything you set up so just use them for research.
4. Start watching a bible podcast. Bible Recap offers podcasts for reading the bible in a year (I access it on You Tube)
5. Learn a language. I had been taking Spanish classes at the library but am now using Duolingo and also Que Hora Es on You Tube.
6. Join a book club. There are lots of online book clubs and you can order books through Kindle or most libraries offer e-books. My library is continuing book club meetings via Zoom.
7. Start a blog. You don't have to make it public and it would be a good way of keeping in touch with a group of people whether it's relatives or friends. Perhaps you could all contribute to genealogy research on a blog.
8. Clean out closets and drawers. Do It On a Dime has low cost ideas for organizing and Dollar Tree is still open.
9. The weather is perfect for gardening here in Texas. Start a vegetable garden, pull some weeds, put a bird feeder out (the birds seem to be a lot happier now our world is less noisy).
10. Make teacher gifts for teacher appreciation week. Even though they are at home and schools are closed, teachers are still working hard to give out projects and lessons to the children and working through the online maze. Gift cards can be ordered online. You may need to just leave the gifts on your porch and ask the teachers to pick them up if they don't feel comfortable giving addresses or you could meet them at the school or local park (at a safe distance).
11. Start a journal and write down daily blessings both blessings you have given others and you've seen others do. There is so much good going on around us in the midst of this crisis.
Stay safe everyone and please limit time watching the news.
