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Rainy Days: A Whole New Perspective
Do you find that these rainy days bring you down? Or do you find the excitement of your day “rained” on? We’ve made some suggestions below that may have you looking forward to the next rainy day we have on Whidbey Island!
Don’t worry, these activities cater to everyone. Give them a chance and you may find that you enjoy them. So, if you’re looking for a reason to unplug on a gloomy day, hopefully, one of these tips spark an interest.
(This includes those of us who still want to be in comfy clothes or wrapped in a warm blanket with a hot tea or coffee – something about gray skies brings out the cozy vibes for everyone.)
Write!! A Blog, Article, Poem – anything!
Anyone that has social media or a business website can utilize a rainy day to get on producing content. Nevertheless, writing doesn’t need to be shared with anyone!
Write that poem or short story and get your creative energy flowing. Writing can be like braiding and twisting pieces of dialogue, action, conflict, and characters together to create a piece of art.
Whether it’s a personal piece or an informative article, writing encourages creativity and critical thinking that’ll leave you feeling inspired.
Suddenly…despite the rain, you created a whole other world – or you’ve taken your own learned information and found a way to pass it along to others!
Don’t know where to start a blog or website?
Tidbit: Sites like Wix and Squarespace are super easy to set up to begin blogging!
Youtube, Instagram Live, Tiktok
Not a writer? Maybe video/film is your way to share and interact.
While these apps/sites seem like only pure entertainment and meant for confident extroverts, they’re actually more resourceful than we realize!
Catch up with your long-distance friends and family with a “Day In My Life” video or record a family recipe that everyone can’t stop asking you about.
Even better…use these resources to promote your business! Make that video explaining your industry, showing off your product, or interacting with an Instagram live audience.
Go Local – Greenhouse & Plant Store
So you can’t exactly go on that view-worthy hike in this kind of weather – doesn’t mean you can’t find a way to bring that greenery home.
Here on Whidbey Island, we have many different places that’ll provide all sorts of plants and flowers.
Greenhouse Florist & Nursery
has everything from floral arrangements to beautiful sprouting plants. Looking to up-size a pot? They’ve got those too!
Mailliard’s Landing Nursery
provides the plants and flowers but also incorporates other plant needs like soil blends, tools, and bark. Want a plant but feel it needs something? Explore their pottery and home decor.
Let this rainy day be the time to bring in plants that’ll liven up your home.
Time For Self-Care
Okay, you’re only interested in staying in your comfy clothes on a rainy day but no longer want to watch TV or scroll through social media.
Take the day and replenish yourself! Spend time on meditation either with a calming Spotify playlist or in complete silence (if you can shut out the rain).
Check out our Spotify playlists:
Use a face mask, moisturize and hydrate yourself. Use the time to rest while letting any worry or stress fade away for the meantime.
Self-care doesn’t have to be spa or pampering-related. It’s all about doing what brings you peace and a sense of calm.
Aka…sit back, and relax!
Need a little more guidance with your trip into self-care?
Tidbit: Read this Psychology Today article.
Get Artzy! Paint, Sketch, Maybe a little…wine?
Not everyone has art materials lying around the house…but it’s certainly worth the rain for this one!
Gather any family and friends, bring a cocktail with your canvas, and paint anything. This isn’t a contest of skill, it’s one of lighthearted and possibly tipsy fun.
Check out our Spotify playlists:
Once all of the pieces are done – take a picture to share, and hang! If all the wine is gone…maybe hang them somewhere away from the eyes of guests but still where you can get a laugh and remember the good times.
Organize Your Life
Do we all drag our feet thinking about the list of things that need to be done around the house? Rainy days seem to force us to come face-to-face with everything that has been pushed off.
Of course, this doesn’t apply to those of us that truly thrive off of being organized. But then again, even you can find that errant task that can be done on days like these!
Check out our Spotify playlists:
Have a calm morning with a hot coffee and get to the laundry and deep cleaning. Put away all the items that have been misplaced or strewn about. Don’t forget the best part…sitting in a newly cleaned and organized space!
Do you have clothes that you or your family haven’t worn in over a year? Time to bag them up and donate!
Need a place to donate on Whidbey Island?
Tidbit: Habitat for Humanity
It’s Raining?
The dreary grey skies may get you down every now and then – but you have these activities to fall back on!
Once you’ve built these habits, a rainy day becomes a time to either enjoy rest or get on those pesky home tasks.
Don’t forget to lean back on that old favorite rainy day activity if all else fails….movie marathons!
Winterize
Winterize
Have you been outside lately? There has not been a coatless day in WEEKS and the trees downtown are one harsh wind away from officially being bare.
The point is…it’s cold.
We all know the drill here. We put away our summertime flip flops in exchange for wool socks and thick boots. Our tank tops get pushed to the backs of our closets as sweaters emerge. Winter is coming and we are preparing our closets accordingly.
But how are you preparing your home?
It’s hard to imagine failing to maintain the greatest investment we’ve ever made yet every year a shocking number of homeowners fail to do basic winterization tasks. Some don’t even know that they should! To lend a helping hand here are the Top 5 Winterization Tasks you should do every year.
Clean out the gutters
Those beautiful fall leaves we’ve been watching descend so gracefully from the sky are the same ones descending into your gutters. Although that might not mean much now, when the temperature dips down to freezing it can mean a whole lot. Water unable to escape the drains due to fallen leaves expand as it freezes. This can cause gutters to become damaged or pull away from the house. Eventually these become overhead hazards that threaten to fall from above.
Cleaning your gutters may not be fun, but it is vital and pretty easy. Simply grab a ladder, some work gloves, a trash bag, ang get to work! You’ll probably find it goes faster than you ever imagined.
Flush irrigation systems
If you have a sprinkler system for your home, it is of the utmost importance to have the lines professionally blown out before the cold hits! As we talked about with the gutters above, when water freezes it expands. This is bad news for those underground pipes! Frozen water that expands within irrigation pipes can cause pipes to crack or burst destroying your system and your yard. Below are some local companies certified to service irrigation systems:
Precision Plumbing and Backflow Testing | 360-914-0321
Everflow Irrigation | 360-840-4793
GCF Backflow Services | 360-320-9871
Evergreen Landscape & Maintenance | 360-679-2363
King Water Company | 360-678-5336
Cover outside faucets
Going hand in hand with blowing out that sprinkler system is covering ALL outside spigots. BURSTING PIPES! It’s a very real issue that can cause thousands of dollars in property damage. Luckily, covering your pipes can be as easy as going to your local hardware store and picking up one of the below faucet covers. They are extremely easy to install and if you are even a little concerned we have found a helpful video to guide you through!
Fertilize the lawn
Winter months seem to only to bring with them frost and death. Luckily, that doesn’t have to be the story for your lawn. Winter fertilizer helps your grass recover from minerals lost in the scorching summer sun and stock up on the nutrition it needs to withstand the cold winter months. This will prevent it from dying away when spring hits.
However, living on an island brings with it special considerations when it comes to fertilizing your lawn. Traditional fertilizers often contain high amounts of hazardous chemicals such as zinc, lead, cadmium, chromium or sometimes even arsenic. The risk of these chemicals is only elevated with the addition concern of their runoff into the Puget Sound. Living on Whidbey increases this risk drastically even for the most centrally located island properties. That’s why we highly suggest using eco-friendly fertilizers such as Milorganite’s Slow-Release Nitrogen Fertilizer which you can pick up Home Depot today!
Replace weather stripping
Every year countless sums of money are spent on the excess heating required to keep our homes warm in the winter months. But is all that money necessary? You’d be shocked to learn all the different ways in which the sacred warm air inside escapes from your home. Although some of these issues require big solutions like reinstalling insulation in your roof or switching to a better heating system altogether; quite a lot can be done in simply replacing some of your weather stripping around the house!
How long has the weather stripping along your exterior doors been there? Since you’ve moved in, right? Well every time that door opens and closes there is a little more wear to the stripping and after a few hundred passages it’s no wonder it starts to give way.
Replacing weather stripping is easy and relatively cheap! Check it out:
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