Here is what I learned on Monday:

1) If the Red Cross’s finger prick test reveals that my iron count is below the allowable level for donating, do not exclaim, “Why of course!” when the technician asks if it would be okay for someone else to come in and re-do the test, just to make sure. Instead, get up from the desk and walk away. It’s not worth spending the remainder of the day on the couch freezing and unable to think a coherent thought simply because the second test came out just barely over the allowable level. Hmmm… my blood didn’t change in one minute. What did?

2) If I am laid up on the couch unable to think a coherent thought, do not allow rascally kitties to write my entire post ^[1] in LOLspeak ^[2], giving headaches and big groans to some Fake Plastic Fish readers. Realization: Even though icanhascheezburger.com ^[3] routinely saves our marriage, Michael and I must recognize that not everyone in the universe thinks it’s as charming as we do.

3) The new restaurant, Flavors of India ^[4], at College and Alcatraz is awesome. Really. And I didn’t notice any plastic. But then, I was focusing on not passing out on their floor after my blood donation, so I could’ve missed something.

What did you learn on Monday?

Now, for the tally. All new plastic waste:

• 1 plastic envelope window. From my Election ballot. Need to get that sucker filled out!
• 1 plastic cap and threaded neck from a metal container of grapeseed oil. The metal container is fully recyclable except for these little plastic parts.
• 1 plastic tag from a new Saraye tatami purse ^[5]. I so rarely buy myself brand new luxuries, but I really wanted a nice purse made from natural materials that could look dressy (mine is all black) and at the same time fit my coffee mug and other reusable containers. This little tag was the only piece of plastic on the whole thing. Even the inside is lined with cotton fabric.
• Plastic seal from around a pint of Ben & Jerry’s coffee Heathbar crunch. Bless me, readers, for I have sinned. Michael brought it into the house, but I was the one who ripped into it and ate the whole thing. And that was before the blood donation scenario, so I knew what I was doing. I have no good excuse. I think the little gremlin on my shoulder was particularly loud that day.
• 1 outer wrapper from a case of Instinct canned cat food. At least SootsnArya were right ^[1] about my plan to make their food from scratch. As I wrote in May ^[6], the nutrition clinic at U.C. Davis would not recommend a homemade diet for kittens under one year old. So now that they’ve come of age, I plan to contact the clinic again about homemade food… in an effort to eliminate cans lined with BPA and the outer plastic wrapper surrounding every case.

Good night. And check out the right sidebar: the Plastic-free Posse is growing! More on that later this week.