Bathing Beauty

My friend left me a voicemail today reminding me of the saying "if it's yellow, let it mellow. If it's brown, flush it down." hahaa!!! I remember the first time I heard that expression... My friend from Kentucky told me about it and I think I regurgitated my lunch. Look at me now, teaching it to my little one!

I keep reading that one should "take shorter showers" when trying to conserve water. Of course, that is very logical, but is it just me, or does everyone lose all concept of time in the shower? I mean, believe me, I do not have a very strong concept of time to begin with, but really, when that hot water hits my back, everything else stops! Actually, I know I'm not the only one. I mean, all you have to do is go to home depot to see the wall of different shower heads promising to massage your back better than Red Door. That leads me to believe that I'm not the only one standing there dribbling for the first minute or so. Here's the skinny on water usage during a shower:

http://www.epa.gov/watersense/water/simple.htm#shower
"A full bath tub requires about 70 gallons of water, while taking a five-minute shower uses 10 to 25 gallons. ... If you take a bath, stopper the drain immediately and adjust the temperature as you fill the tub"

10 to 25 gallons? Ummm, that's a big difference! Of course, it depends on how old your shower head is and whether or not it is "low-flow." Of course, this always makes me think of that Seinfeld episode... but if I can use 10 as opposed to 20 gallons, I'll just figure out a new hair style!

Of course, for anyone who is really serious, there's the "Navy Shower":

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/26/navy-shower-can-reduce-wa_n_170112.html

"A Navy Shower is 'the term used for a water-saving technique that was started in the Navy to help save precious freshwater aboard ships. The basic idea is to hop in the shower, get wet all over, turn off the water while soaping up, and then rinse clean. The small change in routine makes a huge difference: a regular shower can use as much as 60 gallons of water, while a Navy shower can check in at about 3 gallons.'"

Okay, so I know you're not reading this for the lecture. You're reading this to see what I am going to do, right? I am going to work my way up to the Navy Shower. Yes, folks. That's right. I'm going to turn off the faucet. Now let me just tell you this is not going to be easy for me. I get COLD, and I'm a huge baby about being cold. But, like I said, I am going to work my way up to it - or should I say "down"? Tomorrow morning, some time after my workout and before the 10 gun salute, I'm going to take my first steps toward a full on navy shower!