In honor of “Blog Environmental Action Day” (who comes up with this stuff, anyway?) here is a bit of wisdom that was passed down to me by a family friend when I was a kid. We were visiting a lake cabin with a small septic tank, and were advised not to flush the toilet or put any more water down the drains than absolutely necessary, lest we all find ourselves in a stinky, mucky mess. We were given simple instructions on how to do this:

1. If it’s yellow, let it mellow. If it’s brown, flush it down. I believe this is self-explanatory. Once, out of habit, I flushed on a yellow, and was met with “I hope that flush was really necessary,” when I came out. I was embarrassed for having forgotten the rule, and said, “Yeah, it was,” which was equally embarrassing to admit.

2. The shower had a push-button faucet, like a public restroom. One push would turn on the shower for maybe 30 seconds. Each person got two pushes worth of water per shower, which worked like this: Push once to moisten body. Lather up. Push to rinse body. Get out of the shower.

I guess if we all used these Cabin Bathroom rules at home, we’d both conserve fresh water and minimize the amount of dirty water going to treatment facilities, which would be a really good thing for the planet.

I love this “Life Lesson” figurine from TLC/Discovery Channel because it’s so true! I never get to go to the bathroom by myself. Even if I close and lock the door, I have little people standing outside, talking to me through the door and poking things underneath it for me to see.

I know I’ll miss it all someday, though, and when they’re grown and gone, I’ll wish for their little fingers sticking through the space under the door, just to get my attention.

Gratitude journal: My kids love me so much that want to be near me, even when I’m on the toilet.