What should I do today? Any suggestions?

-So, I'm actually asking for suggestions for activities. I'm kind of bored of staying inside every day when it's nice and warm outside (summer). So, maybe this will help. Outside I have a trampoline, I live next to the beach but I hate sand and I hate swimming in public (ew). I could read a book but there are only about 20 pages left and I'm done with it. No one in my neighborhood is my age and there aren't any place I can volunteer (unless I want to clean up the beach on my own which brings me back to I hate sand). My dog is too lazy to do anything with me. I don't have a ride to go shopping or anything. I could go for a drink but I hate going on my own cause people stare at me (wonder why -.-"). Anything fun you can suggest? I'm really bored.... The most entertaining thing to do is laptop/TV/cleaning and I hate cleaning.Dig into your craft cupboard and make some stuff for Christmas presents. You can find free sewing patterns online, but if you don't like to sew, there are lots of other cool things you can make. Some examples:



1. COOKIE MIX: Find and decorate empty jars (like the jars that peanut butter or pickles come in). Fill the jars with all the dry stuff for making chocolate chip cookies. Tape instructions for the wet ingredients and cooking time/temp to the outside of the jar or use a piece of curling ribbon to attach the instructions.

2. CANDLES: Melt wax with a color crayon inside, to make candles (you need a wick for this--they have these at craft stores) and you can pour the melted wax into those cardboard containers that condensed frozen fruit juice comes in. When the wax dries around the wick, you just peel away the cardboard and voila! You have a candle. Before Christmas, you can decorate the candle with evergreen sprigs or ribbons or whatever.

3. RECIPE BOOKLETS: Create a recipe booklet to give as a Christmas gift. All you need are 3x5 cards and your mom's favorite cookbook. You can put stickers on the 3x5 cards to dress them up, or even draw your own designs. Rubber stamps can make them look nice. Then copy some of your mom's favorite recipes onto these cards and bundle the cards in groups of 5 or 10 cards, wrap them in a ribbon, and include a little note. Everyone will be so excited to get your mom's recipe for home-made pumpkin pie (or whatever it is that she always brings to family functions, that everybody just loves). It's also possible to gather recipes online, instead of using your mom's cookbook.

4. PAINTINGS: If you have a canvas (or even some old artwork that your family is thinking about throwing out), use this to create your own paintings. All you need are some acrylic paints and a couple of brushes. You don't need a lot of colors to make a color block painting. Print some pictures off of google that you think you could draw. If you have an aunt who loves cats, for example, make four blocks of color. Inside each one, draw a silhouette of a cat in a contrasting color. If Dad likes old cars, do the same thing with old car silhouettes.

5. JEWELRY: Do you have some costume jewelry that you never wear? An old jar of buttons and beads? Make a home-made necklace for your grandma and/or cousins, for a Christmas gift.

6. PINCUSHIONS: If you only have a little bit of sewing skills, it's pretty easy to make a simple pincushion. Just sew together two six-inch squares of fabric, leaving a small opening between the two squares. Turn the whole thing inside out. Use a funnel to pour rice inside the "pillow" of fabric (yes, that's uncooked rice, like what we eat with Chinese food, but uncooked). Sew up the hole. Stick a few pins inside it before you give it away. You'll find that rice-filled pincushions are the best!



Good luck!