This week is Spring Break for our area’s school district. Soon, my social media feed will be filled with photos of friends lying on the beach and when I next see them they will have freshly sun-tanned faces and new bumper stickers advertising the location of their most recent adventure.
Most days I’m satisfied with my life, but this time of year I admit to feeling a bit jealous. To talk myself out of my dissatisfaction, I’ve come up with a list of traditional Spring Break-like things I can do without going anywhere. If you’re planning on spending your break at home, maybe this will help you.
- Paint your toenails. Cost: $0 if you do it yourself. $30 if you have a professional give you a pedicure.
- Soak up some sun. Do you have a place in your house where you often find your pets sunning themselves? Kick them out of that spot and claim it for yourself. You might feel ridiculous, but the memory you’re making for your kids is worth it! If you do this, will you take a photo and send it to me? Cost: $0. Or you can “buy” a tan at a local tanning salon.
- Go out to eat at an authentic Mexican restaurant. If Mexican isn’t your thing and you’re pining for Florida, pick up a key lime pie at the grocery store. Hint to family and friends going to the Fort Myers/Sanibel area for real: Go to Jerry’s Grocery store and get a key lime pie. Cost: not much.
- Buy the bumper sticker. You can buy a pack of 5 of these for $3.95. You’ll just have to make up a story about how 30a actually refers to how you didn’t go to the beach.
- Take “wish you were here” photos and post them liberally all over Facebook. Who cares that you’re doing laundry in the photo or that you’re at your local Kroger. You’re making memories!
Your turn! What can you do to celebrate Spring Break while staying put?
I don’t miss spring break because I never went anywhere on “spring break” when I was in school. And when my kids were in school, we certainly couldn’t afford to go anywhere.
There isn’t any school this week up here, either, but that just means I can give piano lessons at weird times, which is a nice change. 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. tomorrow, and I’m not sure , yet, when the third is coming. If he comes at his normal time, that will be 5:00.
I don’t feel too dissatisfied about being home because I know that if I really wanted to take a trip, we could have rearranged our budget and worked to make it happen. Other things, like saving for a potentially enormous tax bill next year, are current priorities 🙂