How green am I?

OK, another post inspired by Fleshisgrass. This time more triumphant than last, I hope. Though almost definitely much more smug. But with a dash of embarrassment, and humility; we have a baby, for goodness sake; we ain't that green.

We do, however:

Compost municipally, therefore composting much more than we could domestically. I really don't throw any organic matter - save for baby excretions and chalk and woodpulp nappies - in the bin. They'll take everything but animal bones, and we don't have those in the house.

Use washable nappies. And second-hand ones, at that. (OK, not all of them were second hand, but give a girl a break).

Flush all our baby's excrement down the loo. People don't know it's illegal to put poops in landfill. That's not why I don't. But we plop the poop from the disposables we use at night time as well as the washables we use all day down the loo. It's bad enough we're chucking a 'biodegradable' nappy a day into a place it can't degrade, without sticking the effluent in there too.

Buy ecover laundry liquid and washing up liquid in bulk, and re-fill. It's more expensive (yup), but I'm just that bloody selfless. We have tried the cheaper of the reuseable washing balls on the market, but they may have given me a minor skin irritation. To my shame, I have bought soap nuts, but for that reason, I'm a bit scared to use them.

Re-use bags, like, all the time. I have one of Flesh's unbeloved 'fey' onyabags, a parachute nylon shopper that folds up tiny and clips onto your bag-bag, and we routinely use the bags for life for our big shops and any placky bags we come across as bin bags.

Turn our noses right up at nappy sacks. Heavens above. Is there nothing we stupid breeders won't buy as baby necessities? Well, (shock!) chez nous, we don't wrap our nappies! Unless we need a change when we're out, when mummy always has a stash of bread bags or supermarket veg bags or newspaper supplement bags. Or just puts the dirty nappy (shock!) unwrapped in the bottom of the buggy. Heaven forfend.

Use a Sigg bottle; like Flesh, because it won't photodegrade and saves the money, plastic, energy and pollution associated with the bottled water I would otherwise consume by the gallon, out and about.

Re-use and recycle aluminium foil. Obsessively.

Wash and re-use plastic freezer bags. Obsessively.

Make the baby's food in bulk and freeze in portions.

Strive to throw as little food away as possible.

Buy as few new clothes as I can bear. In 2008 I think I bought: one pair of maternity trousers (taking the total to two), 3 nursing bras (different sizes, as my boobs scaled down), two summer cardigans, two pairs of jeans, one summer top, a winter jumper and 2 winter cardigans, one work shirt. On top of that I bought a pair of canvas shoes, Terry bought me some winter boots, and Babs bought me some replacement slippers (she was sick on mine and I went without for 6 months) for Christmas. This is a short list compared to some, yet it does make me feel guilty.

Dress the baby almost exclusively in hand-me-downs and second-hand clothes; buy organic cotton when I do buy brand new.

OK, pillory me. I could try harder. Nothing on here is particularly ground-breaking, or inconvenient. Furthermore, I have neglected to mention the bad things I do, like occasionally driving to the supermarket, and heating all the rooms in the house most times the heating comes on. I could override Terry and get curtains for the two rooms without, and keep more heat in that way. I could remember to always turn off the laptop at the wall (d'oh).

I'm going to think of the things I could do better, and try and do them better. I need to curb my shopping habit and my generally acquisitive nature. I will get back to you.

"I don't really like chocolate"

I started this post 10 days ago with a title and a blank page. Really, I was too gobsmacked to come up with a comment. I still am, I suppose, it's just that I want the quote plopped down in the blogosphere for posterity.

Flesh's friend F, who has just recently had a little baby boy, needed to conquer some fears and so came to mine for lunch. [Fears were of driving alone, the North Circular, just generally going out with a tiny yet utterly dependent companion, alone. Not lunch. Or my house.]

It was a pretty rubbish lunch, since the fridge was bare and the baby slept so well all morning I didn't have chance to go to the shop. True, I often consider nipping to the shop while she's asleep in the cot, and I regularly debate with myself whether or not I could ask littlest B next door to stop with her for 15 minutes, but as always, I did neither. I did, however, fret - though I consoled myself that lunch might be crap, but at least there was cake - then turned to Waitrose for inspiration.

Waitrose.com has a super recipe database, with a reasonable search engine. Terry had suggested soup, we had some tomatoes in the fridge, I found a Tuscan Tomato and Bean Soup recipe, so I made that. With no celery, and a couple of leftovers in the fridge to chuck in (I substituted half an aubergine! Ha!), it wasn't a faithful attempt, but the liquid/solid ratio was about right, so I was disappointed (truthfully? A bit embarrassed) that it turned out like weird stew. Walthamstow Tomato and Bean Stew, perhaps.

Still, F (who is pretty slight) powered through it, and surprised me (she's very polite/proper) by accepting seconds. I (not very polite/trouble being proper) articulated my surprise and the poor thing said she's suddenly, after 4 weeks of breastfeeding, discovered a huge appetite. She was so preoccupied with over-running house renovation at the end of her pregnancy that she lost weight, and has been preoccupied with his weight since he was born, and suddenly her body's shouted at her to wake up and damn well feed it. So she is. So I was v v pleased I had cake in. And extra specially pleased I could offer Pilsbury brownies at that.

And then she said it: "I don't really like chocolate". I nearly fell off my chair.

She got a piece of old parkin and a 2 day old jam tart.