Tomorrow is Leap Day, Feb. 29, a very special day that occurs roughly every four years during Leap Year. This day is fraught with superstition (in Scotland, it’s seen as a close second to Friday the 13th) and tradition. The most famous of these customs is, of course, that a woman can propose to a man and he must accept her. If not, he has to pay a price that ranges, according to different cultures, from a silk gown to 12 pairs of gloves. Of course, unless you run into George Clooney at the mall, you probably won’t be proposing marriage. But you do have 24 extra hours to do whatever you want. In case you’re stuck for ideas, we at ThirdAge have come up with a few:
Get out your Downton Abbey DVDs and watch every episode again. Maybe even twice.
Google “Downton Abbey News.”
Try to brush your cat’s teeth.
Watch crazy-cat videos on YouTube.
Gather all the collectibles you want to auction on ebay. Stare at them. Realize that you’ll be lucky if the Salvation Army takes them.
Alpabetize spices. Wonder why you ever bought celery flakes.
Head to the Drawer of Shame and rearrange 180 paper clips, 52 safety pins, 23 rubber bands, 15 takeout menus and a sticky-note pad from a company that folded 10 years ago. Watch your husband wreck the drawer in under 30 seconds.
Buy annuals at the nursery. Make your husband plant them.
Disinfect your hairbrushes, combs and makeup tools.
Follow Martha Stewart’s directions for folding a t shirt perfectly. What, you thought it would be easy?
Test your 23 ballpoint pens and throw out the 11 that haven’t worked in the past year.
Look up “Leap Year” on Wikipedia.
Post on Facebook that you looked up “Leap Year” on Wikipedia “and learned more than I ever wanted to know. LOL.”
Sort your reusable grocery bags by color.
Go to see one of the Oscar-contender movies that no one else saw. Like “Hugo,” maybe.
Meditate for five minutes. Become so stressed that you eat two fun-size Snickers from your remaining Halloween stash.
Use the sage stick you got on your California vacation to clear your home of “negative vibes.”
Listen to New Age music. Fall asleep.
Listen to Adele. Cry.
Make a CD compilation of your favorite 1980s hits. Don’t forget “Mickie” and “Addicted To Love.”
Check out the new swimsuit styles online. Wonder why the simple one-piece suit seems to have gone the way of VHS tapes.
Get rid of your VHS tapes.
Clean out your email. Realize that you have deleted something really important and scrabble through the trash bin trying to find it.
Check the expiration dates on your vitamin bottles.
Check the expiration dates on your grocery coupons.
See if last year’s sunscreen smells funny.
Go to a discount shoe store and try on all their stilettos.
Go to an upscale department store with your best friend and try on Kate Middleton-style fascinators. If you don’t laugh at her, she won’t laugh at you.
Buy a drugstore haircolor and color your hair red. What the heck; it washes out.
Happy Leap Day!
