Strategic showering

Our sewer/plumbing problems are scheduled to be fixed starting Monday. But this past week we have had to be very careful of our water usage. This has been inconvenient and frustrating for me. But also eye-opening. It makes me realize how truly necessary I view things like a daily hot shower, a machine to wash my clothes & another machine to wash my dishes, a clean non-smelly toilet where I can rake my time doing my business whenever I need to. There are people who die of thirst. People who have to walk miles to get clean water from a well. People who wash themselves and their clothes in water that has sewage in it. People who get incredibly sick from the water they drink.

And yet I am annoyed. Because some things I took for granted have been temporarily made less convenient. When my body tells me I need to do more than just pee, I have visited our local coffeeshop or Fred Meyer. Oh how I love having Fred Meyer only 5 blocks away! The bathrooms are pretty clean and there is always something I need to buy: conditioner for the girls, holiday gift bags, lightbulbs, etc. For my shower needs I have been going to the gym. I get a quick work-out in, then I get clean. Obviously a lot of this has to be strategically planned for when Matt is around. Yesterday the 4 of us went to the local pool, splashed around in the water, then took showers there - better than nothing, but not exactly leisurely. One wonderful night I spent a few hours at my friend Becky's house where I got to wash my laundry, take a hot shower, then relax on her couch. We have also visited the laundromat for the first time in who knows how long. $4.25 to wash a large load of towels in the jumbo machine. Yikes!

Without going into gross detail, I will say that the times we have tried to do things like laundry this past week, there have been bad repercussions. So we are going on the better-safe-than-sorry mode. Etta has no clue anything is different. Addie for the most part thinks it is fun, kind of like camping.

Bless our dear renters who have endured this all with us and maintained a sense of humor and probably complained less than me although they have more reason.

And now, here are pictures...

of the pool, not the poop :)