TGIF!

Well, I made it this far -- Now I HAVE to see it through!

That was my motivation today to do... well, anything really. It was another grey and dreary day, and I woke up feeling like I hadn't slept at all, which is a really awful feeling when you've slept 6 or 7 hours. Or, you thought you did.

Today was water day. We were to do everything in our power to consume as little water as possible. Did I? What do you think?

Instead, I decided to do as much as I usually do -- that is, quite a bit -- and observe where in my life I create the need for water usage indirectly, and where I can cut down or eliminate water usage.
I worked this morning and needed a hot shower to wake up. I take fast ones, but let's face it -- we could all probably take shorter, colder showers and still live to tell the tale.
I forwent the pool, which is a HUGE water-sucker. However, I don't think I'm prepared to give up swimming as my main outlet for fitness. Gyms and other public fitness locations are probably enormous sources of energy and water consumption; is there a real solution to this?
Going to a restaurant, or even just a coffee bar for a quick espresso, can generate a lot of water consumption. Think of how much water is used to cook your food and clean your plates. The amount of water used in the cleaning of my espresso cup, making of my coffee, and cleaning following the making is decidedly out of proportion to the amount of water used in the actual coffee. Perhaps it is better to have your coffee at home. I turned down a lot of social invites this week because I would either have to take a taxi home or they were out at restaurants. It was hard to do, that's for sure, and unless you and all your closest friends have made a green-living pact, it's impossible to keep up, in my opinion. The more bold among us would be pesky and push establishments that had made certain green adjustments in their energy usage or food choices, but I am definitely not a greenvangelist.
I did do my laundry today. In the end, I did the great majority by hand in the bidet (which is really the best use for it I can think of.... if you really feel the need to use the bidet for its official purpose, just bite the bullet and hop in the shower... though I am sure the tree huggers will argue me on that one). But I took one look at my jeans and bath towels, thought about squeezing them out by hand, and set the washing machine to cold and energy efficient. Sometimes you just CAN'T break the habit. We are spoiled! The washerwomen of yore must have been Amazons -- it's more work than I can imagine doing. And they'd never dry! I'm curious -- has anyone here ever grapestomped an entire load of clothes?

Tomorrow is Giving Back day. It's almost the end of this experiment. I wonder how many of the changes I made will stick.