Are you planning on watching the Super Bowl on Sunday?

I would be if I had cable or if I enjoyed watching the jagged images and pretending I’m on a LOST episode by pushing the button on my laptop every 8 minutes on Live.streaming.

I’d love to go to a Super Bowl party or restaurant JUST for the party fare, but I made a huge mistake in calculation! I started a 7-Day Raw Food Cleanse which I scheduled in advance because I used a Groupon deal for this amazing service.  The Groupon was just what my weak-will needed to actually do a cleanse like this!  I took the first week Delish and Noutrish had available which started last Monday.  Once it began, I realized that this raw food fast was to take me through Sunday when I’m transitioning to cooked foods with just steamed fish.  Yikes, no Superbowl nachos, no buffalo wings?  I’m 40 and think the last time I didn’t make or have nachos on a Superbowl Sunday was 1980…tradition will be broken for health this year!

Maybe you’re like me and started a raw food cleanse too…hey, by coincidence it happens! Or, you’re just choosing not to watch the Big Game because your husband is, like my own, not into sports, or you’d just rather remove wallpaper. Well, it’s time to take advantage of the situation! Since I advocate a lifestyle of learning, the following list is made up of all kinds of educational opportunities despite their otherwise fun appearance!

Here’s my top 10 ideas on what to do this Sunday if you don’t have cable or don’t care about football:

1. Teach your learning permitted teenager to drive!  With less traffic on the streets, making left turns at major intersections will be less stressful for you and your son or daughter.
2. Visit the local museums and do the popular stuff which you usually skip because of tourist crowds.
3. Take a day trip to a town you have never been within driving distance and explore. Let your kids pick the spot within 100 miles.
4. Have a game day marathon by getting out ALL your board games and “test” each one to see if they stood the test of time.
5. How about a movie marathon with a theme?  Brainstorm ideas like football movies, foodie movies, or for the kiddos classic Disney movies from the 1960s and 70s.
6. Go shopping!  All the big, normally crowded stores, like Costco and Target, will be empty.  Now you can take the time to go more slowly with your kids.  Use cash, create your budget for groceries or whatever you need, and encourage the kids to help you get the most for your money.  At the register have your kids count out the cash.  You’d never do this when normally rushed.
7. Read an epic novel together.  If this was our choice, the kids would want to finish The Hobbitwhich we’ve been reading aloud in small nightly chunks.
8. Take the family swimming, try racquetball, or workout at the local YMCA.  Always a sure bet to be free of crowds during a major sporting event.
9. Create a Panini Bar like my friend Yummy Mummy explains in her blog, and invite uninterested-in-football friends over for the best part of Super Bowl Sunday–the food!  Even young children will enjoy creating their own panini before you grill it.
10. Take an extraordinary local adventure together. Extraordinary meaning you never do that, but tourists do it all the time.  It’s what makes your town yours!  We have a lot to choose from in my area because a. it’s a fantastic place to live and b. I’ve been limited in recent years so have yet to try some of these.  Things to take advantage of in our area:  local hiking trails, mountain biking, kayaking, paddle boarding, sailing, take a harbor cruise, touring the town on a Segway, visit the Sea Center, walk on the pier, or taking in the local specialty food shops or a Farmer’s Market. You can go to your city’s website to get new ideas for places you haven’t thought of before.

Photo Credit: X-Ray Delta One on Flickr