Water

After a morning of weeding the garden, then running errands (hardware store, Trader Joe's), I thought I'd tackle the screened-in porch. Doesn't look as if it's been cleaned in quite some time. I dragged a water hose to the backyard, took everything out of the porch (giant dog crate, six chairs, fake ficus - no, seriously - big blue bucket), then with the hose on low, started spraying the floor down. As soon as I started sweeping away the water, I hear the lawn guys start working out front. UGH! I've been hoping they'd show up because the lawn is really tall, but it figures they'd show when I just piled a bunch of junk back there. I quickly threw the stuff back into the porch area and as I dragged the hose off the back lawn I think I startled one of the guys.

Now I'm back at the kitchen table after pouring myself a glass of water. If you know me, you know I usually like my water in the form of a cup of strong coffee. Not a big water drinker. Hey, I know half your body weight in ounces of water is good for you* (*the average, healthy you. Some folks don't need that much water. I'm not dispensing advice here, I'm actually about to request it), but I have a hard time remembering to drink it throughout the day. Usually I remember right before bed and I chug a glass or two and then have to pee in the middle of the night. Hate that!

I just Googled helpful hints to drinking water and some of the ideas I already follow. Here are some tips - especially useful today because it's supposed to get to 93° today in Portland!

* Add lemon or lime juice to your water to make it taste better - I totally do that. Put a big hunk of lemon (when I remember to buy lemons) right in the glass.
* Drink through a straw - yep, do that too. Makes it go down faster, smoother. Love straws. Plus all that acidic lemon juice isn't touching the old choppers.
* Keep filling the same bottle of water to track how much you drink - I have my favorite glass that I use (tall Luminarc tumbler) and I think it's about 16 ounces.
* Refrigerate water with some mint leaves to make it taste better - oh, that sounds good. I also like the way cucumber water tastes. But I never remember to buy cucumbers.
* Use a water filter for better tasting water - I do! Expensive, R2D2 looking water filter. Won't mention the name because it's one of those multilevel marketing things that I hate. But if you buy one from an NCNM student rep when they have vendor fairs at school then you can get one at a decent price. Actually, I think I'm supposed to be a rep (how I got mine at a discount price), but I've never sold one (hate multilevel marketing schemes, no matter how great the product).
* Use a digital watch that beeps hourly to remind you to drink a glass every hour - ooh, the wear a digi watch thing is not for me. I did once downloaded a program for my Palm Pilot that is supposed to do the same thing. That is, if I used it...

Okay, your turn. Tell me how you remember to drink water daily. Lawn guys are gone, I'm back to porch cleanin'...