Rainy Days and Mondays

When I was younger and living in Japan we used to have typhoon days-the island version of snow days. You can't go outside, you can't drive anywhere, and you'd be lucky if you had cable. Typhoon days always meant one thing: craft day. Every typhoon day I would sit in my bed and do some sort of craft. Some days I would fold cranes, some days I would write and some days I would draw. There were a few times where I beaded things, or braided this rope I had from a basket together and make keychains. But I remember sitting in bed, listening to the radio, and doing some sort of craft.

It was a rainy day today and I was reminded of what I really loved about rainy days. It forced you to stay inside and get inside things done. Now I am older and I do things differently now. Today I went for an interview and hung out with my boyfriend. But I wonder... without those things and a computer to distract me, what would I do on a rainy day?


1.)Fold cranes. For about 4 years now I have been trying to fold 1000 cranes. I have about 500 now, and for a long time there I had a lot too. But then my brother needed them for his class and he promised to give them back... and he never did. I did a lot of them for Paper Cranes for Writers [a movement to show support to Heroes writers during the writer's strike] but had to send them all into the writers. I have probably folded over 1000 since I learned, but I don't have them all with me. I used to carry a little box with me with the paper in it and fold cranes during class. I know, this is dorky, but it was very therapeutic. I have neglected my crane folding habit, but I would pick it up on a rainy day.
How To Make a Paper Crane


2.) Sew. Create something. If you have a sewing machine, try something easy and useful. When I was younger, on my rainy days, I used to sew together scraps from my Mom's sewing projects into tiny little crazy quilts.ThreadBanger always has great stuff that young people can make and wear. I also frequent CraftStylish and CraftGossip for great and easy tutorials.



3.) Write. creativewritingprompts.com has a massive archive of writing prompts to get you started. Even if you're not a writer, try your hand at some of these!


4.) Read. If you're like me, 80% of your bookshelf has books that were only touched when you stole them from school or got them for 50 cents at a used book sale. Pick one up, start reading! Once you start, you may not be able to put it down, and you'll have a 79% of your bookshelf unread! Or you can head on over to fictionpress.com and find some amateur writing, which I personally love.


5.) Organize your drawers. I'm sure everyone reading this has a messy drawer right now unless you're perfect. If you haven't gone through it in a while, take out the stuff that doesn't fit you and that you never wear. Or refold the shirts that got shoved away while you were looking for the Kelly shirt at the bottom of the shirt drawer.... One thing I did recently was put all my bras and panties into a box and then put perfum ads in there to make it smell pretty!


6.) Go play in the rain. You might get sick and you might look stupid, but playing in the rain can be an exhilirating and wild experience. Here's a better suggestion-- get some rain boots and splash in some puddles with someone special!

These are the things I would do. If you have a blog and you're one of my followers, I just tagged you to write about a rainy day next time you have one. :) Enjoy God's shower!