How Green Is My Valley's Profile

I haven't tried it yet (my baby is due next week), but I did see it at Babies R Us recently. I'd love to hear about how people like this line.

I lived without a microwave for eleven years and almost never missed it. In fact, the only time I did miss it was when someone would come over and suggest having something like microwave popcorn. When I would say "I don't have a microwave," the reaction was almost funny--as if I had said, "I don't have a front door." (It's a lot like the reaction I sometimes get now about commuting by bus.)

The reason I didn't have one was simple, and much like yours--my kitchen was tiny, and I had room for either a microwave or a toaster oven. The toaster oven seemed more multi-purpose, so I went with that.

When I got married, my husband already had a microwave, or I would have continued to do without. Then, when we bought our house, it came with a built-in microwave above the range, so we gave his away (we certainly don't need two!).

Although I am much happier to make popcorn on the stove, I do like the microwave for cooking vegetables. However, I wouldn't buy one just for that purpose.

I often biked to the store (a mile each way), depending on what I needed to pick up. Any number of things are too heavy and bulky for me to carry home by bike.

However, I have not done so for the last eight months. Why? Not the weather--it's rarely too cold in the L.A. area, and we haven't had that many rainy days. No, the answer is that I'm not biking while I'm pregnant.

So I may start up again once I've recovered from giving birth, but in the meantime I'll continue my usual practice of trying to minimize the number of trips I make.

First I'd have to buy a newspaper.

New houses (green or not) in our price range were far beyond our commute range. We bought a house built in the early 1950s and are greening it. We think that most of these changes will benefit us and the environment immediately, and may help our resale value down the line. It's not as if water and electricity are going to get less expensive, after all.

Also, while we do use our car for errands, we barely use it for commuting at all, because we chose to look for houses near public transportation routes. (Right now I'm seven months pregnant and still taking the bus to and from work.) It is much easier than driving in L.A., and it's better for everyone around me as well. That may change later, but we'll burn that bridge when we get to it.

Once someone gave my mother a huge tin of tamales (yum!) for Christmas. She wanted to use the tin again, but could not scrub the tamale scent out.

I put about 1/2 inch of lemon juice concentrate in the bottom and filled it up with water. We let it sit overnight, and in the morning washed it again. Presto, the smell was gone!

How is it with dust mites?

We capture a few hundred gallons of water, which is nothing compared to what fell last week. We'll use it to water the lawn and the bougainvillea once we have a few dry days--no point in keeping it around to have it attract mosquitoes or become algae-filled.

During the rest of the year we use the barrels for greywater from the washing machine.

Neither one of us wants a TV in the bedroom, and the only exceptions have been the time I had flu for two weeks straight, and the time we both had flu for a solid week. Other than that, though, we're perfectly happy with having a single TV in the living room.

If we were to get a second TV, I'd rather have it in the kitchen than in the bedroom.

@Peggasus, I think you're attributing a mindset to my statement that isn't actually there.

Or, in other words: exactly. All living things eat other living things in order to continue living. Did you think I was saying something else?