By Golly, Ollie!

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that snow days are still exciting even when one is an adult. Unless, of course, your employer is cruel and still makes you drive to work despite the foot of snow on the ground. I’ve been there too, and I feel for you. However, let me briefly boast that my employer is not cruel.

I awoke at 5:30AM to the pleas of a hungry cat, and while I had intended to fall back asleep for another hour, I couldn’t for I was waiting for the text message informing me the office was closed for the day. After two cups of coffee and 45 minutes of watching the weather updates on the local news channel, the anticipation became unbearable, and I began contemplating ways to convince my manager to let me have a late start to the day– any way to avoid the traffic on slushy, snowy roads. Plus there was no guarantee my tiny Ford Fiesta was even going to make it out of its parking spot and through a foot of snow to said roads. Then, a Thursday miracle happened; the text message announcing the office was closed for the day came through. Followed by another text message from my manager asking me to complete work at home. Naturally, I’ve spent most of the morning avoiding being productive. Here have been the most effective ways I’ve found:

1. Praise your significant other for having the foresight (read: impulsiveness) to buy season 5 of Modern Family on DVD the night before just in case work was called off.
2. Proceed to binge watch Modern Family.
3. Eat a bowl of cinnamon Life cereal because you’d never afford yourself the luxury of eating breakfast on a normal work day.
4. Contemplate eating another bowl of Life cereal but decide to eat a bag of Cheetos instead because today is a day worth celebrating.
5. Send pictures of the winter wonderland to your mom, who is flying in for the weekend from some place warmer.
6. Ask your significant other to “let you know when he’s hungry”, so you can make turkey sandwiches and heat up left over (homemade) broccoli cheddar soup for lunch.
7. Realize it’s not even noon yet and that you probably shouldn’t curb boredom with food.
8. Make yourself a cup of Breakfast tea instead.
9. Make turkey sandwiches and soup anyway.
10. Send an e-mail to your manager to make it appear you are being productive before tucking in to another Modern Family marathon.

What are some of your favorite ways to avoid being productive?