Conserving in Spurts

Today I decided to save the planet by taking a shorter shower. My legs needed a shave, so that presented an additional shower timing issue, but I persevered.

In my shower, I have a thingy connected to my shower head to which I can attach a spray doohickey so I can successfully and easily clean my shower when I get the urge. I had the bright idea to use it in my ecological quest. So, I hooked up the external sprayer and got started.

I turned on the water and sprayed down my legs in preparation for the razor. The sprayer stops the flow of water when I ease off the trigger, so I could keep the water on, yet off at the same time (this gets a little complicated). So I hosed, shaved, hosed off, shaved some more, hosed some more. At first the water was cold, since I didn't let it warm up (thus saving countless gallons), but my legs are tough and could take it.

Once my legs were smooth enough for my liking, I decided this was a good technique and decided to wash my hair. So, I wet down my hair and shampooed. Being successful in that arena, I went ahead with the conditioning portion of my routine. It was sort of weird, shampooing and conditioning in a shower with technically no running water, but I was temporarily an Earth Mother, so all was well.

Of course, it did begin to get a little drafty, since parts of my body were wet and wet turns to cold when there is no additional water beating down to conserve body temperature, but I kept true to my quest.

After the conditioning phase of my regimen, I decided it was time for the actual showering portion - you know, soaping the body for cleanliness. I decided I was due (and deserving) of a full shower at this point, so I turned off the water from the real faucet, unhooked the shower doohickey, and turned on the shower, fully intending to relish the few seconds of shower I would get to experience.

Unfortunately, due to my middle-age brain activity, I forgot to turn the water all the way to hot and enjoyed a few seconds of bracing cold water until it registered to turn the faucet a little more until the actual hot water flooded the pipes. A minute or two later, I turned off the water. I'm still not sure what got bathed, shampooed, shaved, or conditioned - and I ended up putting my underwear on backwards. But I am confident that I had single-handedly saved enough water ... so maybe I can soak in the tub later this week.

Just What I Need - Another Series!

Yesterday I spent too much time watching "Raising the Bar" on TNT. It's a new series that I had meant to watch when it started, but didn't. TNT reeled me in yesterday by having a marathon of all the episodes. My name is Luanne and I am hooked.

I've been a fan of Steven Bochco's work since "Cop Rock" and "Hill Street Blues". He's snagged me again. The characters are well written and clearly defined. Most of the actors totally inhabit the characters they play. The most surprising is Mark-Paul Gosselaar. Instead of his blond wavy hairdo of "Saved by the Bell," he sports long stringy dark hair. He's drinks too much and is loud and pushy, clearly leaving "Zack" behind.

So, now I have another something to watch, and will be waiting for the summer of 2009 for new episodes. Too bad the marathon isn't on again tonight, so I would have something to watch instead of slow election returns and constant over-opinionated newscaster commentary.

Oh well, there's always some form of Law and Order on somewhere!

I Voted

I voted last week during early voting. Tomorrow is the big day. Vote. Make a choice. Exercise your right. Once done, get your sticker and get your free stuff. It's going to be a good day.

Lessons from a Computer

Today is one of those days that I would like to grump about my computer. It will load some pages and not others. Some sites I can load if I sneak in the back way. Some simply refuse to load for no good reason (to me, anyway). It's a pain in the rear and tends to make me frustrated.

But instead of fussing about a message that says "Page will not load", I will choose to be happy about the pages I can read. I can read about little boys battling cancer who are having a good day. I can read quotes and see pictures that inspire and uplift me. I can pull up some pages that I want and need to read. In other words, I will celebrate the things I can get to and just let the other stuff go.

It's a great way to tackle life, celebrating the things that we can do and letting some of the other things go until it's time to deal with them. By not wasting time fretting over that which I can't do, I have more time to enjoy the things I can do.

Maybe God planned it that way for me. Maybe I need to learn that time is best spent doing the important things - I just have to realize what they are!

Now That's the Way To Start November!

First you get up and wog 3.1 miles with a few hundred people (including Steve, Sam, and Lynnette). Then you eat a burger and ice cream while listening to a tweener singing group. Then you go and manage to hold Missy the Cat a little before she freaks out. Then you go home and clean up and go play golf on a beautiful autumn day and manage to hit a decent shot or two. On the way home, you stop by Sonic for drinks and onion rings with the golfers (and talk to Molly via the intercom). You sit a bit until Maribeth comes home then steal fries and chicken from her and Steve's dinner, take a soak in the tub, then finish the day off by watching mindless television. What a great day!

And then you realize you get an extra hour of sleep! Simply fabulous!