A "green" distro of Ubuntu?

[Richard Owlett]

Though Kermit might disagree, the subject line is ONLY slightly 
"tongue in cheek".

I'm a Windows(tm) user tired of *BLOAT* who remembers vacuum 
tubes and 026's. An internet acquaintance knowing my needs and 
perspectives pointed me to Ubuntu as an appropriate version of 
Linux. I downloaded the .iso of a 'live cd' (10.?) which I found 
"bloated". The user experience was ok, though I'm not sure if the 
good features I saw were Ubuntu specific or due to Debian heritage.

A *major constraint* is I'm restricted to dial-up access. I 
understand that connectivity using a USB modem will have it's 
issues, but that is one time problem. I have very limited access 
to a wide-band connection at another location with my laptop.

The desired distro shall only have:
kernel
GUI
minimal browser
simple text editor {notepad suffices for >90% of my needs}
what's required to download/update apps
the *minimum* of other software to make an operable system

The result should be significantly smaller than Win 3.1 {most of 
which I never used)