Useless and trying to pass the buck

Oh dear. Silence from me in over a week and what have I got for you? Nothing but confessions of un-green creep. Soz.

Regular readers will know that I've been getting fairly worn down by some aspects of my frenzied greening - handmaking all of Dot's (strictly organic) baby food late at night, always making my own lunch to take to work, never drinking coffee in paper cups (recycled or not) or water in plastic bottles, never printing anything, using only eco-friendly, paraben-free beauty products, cleaning only with baking soda, vinegar and elbow grease, wearing a hair shirt (oh alright, I didn't really do that) etc etc.

Well, what I can tell you? I've been out for a few drinks with the girls, had lunch with friends, hosted a lovely bbq for 16 in our garden upstate at the weekend and been frantically busy at work, and before I knew it with all this relaxing and rushing about, Dot had had three jars of baby food, I'd bought lunch in a plastic container three times and double-cupped cappuccino from my favourite coffee shop twice (damn, those felt good - my first real caffeine in 18 months), there was kitchen roll in the kitchen (outlawed till now for several months) and Neutrogena face products and even non-eco-friendly loo roll (horrors!) in the bathroom.

And here's the awful bit: it's all been so much easier. The stress-induced spare tire is shrinking, the eczema on my hands (from washing up the magimix) is calming down, I could enjoy the weekend instead of frantically pureeing (Dot survived) and my horrible acne has all but disappeared.

Damn you, you convenient, available, tasty products that work! You are trying to pull me over to the dark side!

I kind of knew it would be like this - that as soon as I got a bit slack in one area, it'd all go to pot. (apres moi le deluge and all that (actually am a bit gutted because I always thought that meant something along the lines of 'open the floodgates a tiny bit and a huge flood will follow' but apparently am wrong. Oh well. Ahem, I digress...)). It's the same no matter what you're trying to give up - let yourself have one ciggie and you'll soon be back on 20 a day (just from observing friends, you understand) - or at least it that's the way it is for me.

Am aiming to go back to relatively cold turkey as of tonight. My week off felt good but that's all it was - a week off.

So please, dear brand owners, retailers and entrepreneurs of the world, can you hurry up and figure out ways to make it so that lapsing isn't so much more wildly attractive than sticking with the program?

Many thanks.