20 Things to Do When the Power is Out

When the power goes out because of a storm, you can easily get bored when you can't watch television or play on the computer. Here are some ideas to keep yourself entertained, or at least busy, when the power goes out.

1. Have a barbecue. If the weather permits, or you have a covered area outside, you can invite over friends or neighbors for a barbecue. Grill all of that meat that is thawing out in your freezer. Don't do it inside. You'll be likely to die from toxic fumes.

2.Read. Catch up on your reading, for pleasure or business. Or you could read books for self improvement.

3.Listen to the radio. Listen to the radio if you have batteries, for the local news or to just listen to music.

4.Play board games. Everyone probably has forty board games in their closet that they haven't used sinse the invention of the Internet.

5.Clean. There's always something to clean. Always.

6.Work. There's probably something you could find to do involving your work, especially if you work at home. Write articles by hand, with paper and a pen.

7.Play with your kids. If they're little, build them a tent with some blankets and chairs. Pretend you're "roughing it", or camping. Better yet if you have a fire place, then you can roast marshmallows and hotsogs too. You're kids will love this.

8.Organize. This would be a good time to go through old files or any other organizing task you've been neglecting.

9.Talk. Tell stories, or simply have a conversation with your family.

10.Fix something. Is there a door handle that's loose and you haven't gotten around to fixing yet? How about a leaky faucet?

11.Gameboy. Or hand held poker, or what ever battery-powered game you might have. Borrow something from your kids.

12.Play cards. Everyone who owns a computer knows how to play solitare. There are also card games youy can play with other people, like poker or spades.

13.Play group games. Pictionary is fun. Does anyone remember charades?

14.Eat. What better time to eat than when you're bored. I always do.

15.Spend some "quality" time with your sweetie. You know what I mean.

16. Work on a hobby. Most of my favorite hobbies don't involve electricity. Painting, polymer clay, sculpting ,collages.

17.Homework. Do your kids have a school project or other homework they could use a little help with?

18.Sew something. People actually sewed and mended things by hand before the intervention (yes, I meant to write that) of electricity. If you don't know how, now would be a great time to learn.

19.Sleep. Hop in bed and wait for the power to come back on if you can't handle the deprivation.

20.Get a generator. That way you can watch T.V. and play on the computer.

This is my short list of things to do while the power is out. I'll bet you can think of even more things to do.