Sunday, December 28, 2008
Merry Christmas
Here is our Christmas card. I have never been very good at sending out cards but at least this year I got one made digitally. maybe next year they will actually make to the mail box!!!
Melia's Blessing
On December 15th we got all our family together and were able to bless Melia in our home. Can you believe out of all of December there was only one day that worked for our families and Bishop!! Well, it was a wonderful night and Im so happy that everyone made it- and especially driving in the bad weather from down south and calgary just for an hour or so to share our special night with us!
Here are some photos of Melia in her blessing dress. (she couldn't stop eating it!! too cute)
Here are some photos of Melia in her blessing dress. (she couldn't stop eating it!! too cute)
Our Christmas
This year we spent Christmas with my family in Calgary. It was so fun this year with Melia! Christmas eve we went to Aunt Brenda's house where we had a great meal. Since it was so cold we decided to forgo our tradition of going to the nativity at Heritage Park and put on our own little nativity like Cam's family does. I was helping out with the behind the scenes and then became a wise man who then became a shepherd and since I couldn't convince cam to man the camera I dont have any pictures of that but im sure dad and Sherilyn took a bunch so I can probably get some from them and im sure Sherilyn will post some.
Christmas morning Sherilyn and I were up at 6 with hungry babies and we were nice and let everyone else sleep until 8 when melia and I went and jumped on everyone! it was a great day of presents, movies, naps, and food.
boxing day is not my favorite day but mom convinced me to go out for a little bit and i found a shirt that i liked and of course it wasnt on sale- how is there anything that is not on sale on boxing day????
anyways, here are some photos from our christmas!
Christmas morning Sherilyn and I were up at 6 with hungry babies and we were nice and let everyone else sleep until 8 when melia and I went and jumped on everyone! it was a great day of presents, movies, naps, and food.
boxing day is not my favorite day but mom convinced me to go out for a little bit and i found a shirt that i liked and of course it wasnt on sale- how is there anything that is not on sale on boxing day????
anyways, here are some photos from our christmas!
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
something to think about
So I saw this couple on Breakfast Television this morning who decided to not shop for one year. They would buy basics, food, medicine, socks and underwear but nothing else and I started to think that maybe this is something I should look into doing this upcoming year. Mind you I haven't talked to Cam about it yet but I am seriously considering it. They paid off a $9000 student loan and put $7000 in savings... I think I could go without a few things to save around $16000!!!! I will talk to Cam and then hopefully we can do this and I will blog about it. Maybe its somethng you all want to try (or even a modified version of it??)
Below is an article about them that was in the Calgary Herald.
"It started out as an experiment in not shopping for one year.
And 11 months in, one Cochrane couple has learned the secret to happiness: Not buying.
Tom and Malora Mulhern’s story goes back to Jan. 1, when the couple, with their three-year-old son Noah, vowed to stop buying stuff for one year.
Under their rules of disengagement, the Mulherns vowed to only buy the essentials like food, and new socks and underwear when necessary. If something broke down or wore out, they would hit the thrift stores or go online to buy second-hand or swap goods with others.
Their goal was to downsize their lives and get off the consumption treadmill. They also weren’t out to judge others for their own buying habits. Rather, they wanted to examine their own shopping habits and ultimately see if they could actually cut out shopping for one year.
“We wanted to simplify our lives and break our buying habit and enjoy our family, and not be, ‘What else can we get?’ ” explains Malora, 27, a stay-at-home mom.
They have documented their journey at ourcompactlife.org.
Eleven months later, the Cochrane couple has wiped out a $9,000 student loan and put an additional $7,000 in the bank.
They’ve managed to do it living in a $400 basement suite on Tom’s $48,000 a year salary as a youth pastor at Dalhousie Community Church in northwest Calgary.
“It’s fabulous,” Malora says of the $16,000 total savings. “I feel like we’re broken (of our shopping habit).”
“It’s been a really good experience. We’ve learned a lot,” Tom adds.
Malora hopes their savings account might hit $10,000 by the end of the year but that may be a stretch, she says.
The couple weren’t big consumers to begin with but they have managed to become more conscious of their spending, they both say.
An unexpected result? They have been cured of keeping up with the Joneses.
“Taking yourself out of it is so liberating,” says Malora, who also spends one afternoon per week teaching a hearing and vision-impaired student.
Malora has become a wizard at the sewing machine, making and mending the family’s clothes.
That skill has produced an unexpected outcome, she says.
“I feel like you can define your style . . . when you’re not picking it from (chain stores).”
They believe living near Calgary has actually made their abstinence from shopping relatively pain-free.
“It hasn’t been too hard,” Tom says. “It’s almost easier being in a big city because there all these substitutes.”
“We know how to work our way around a thrift store,” he says.
Malora raves about the Mennonite Central Committee’s second hand store and the Value Village in northeast Calgary.
The Mulhern’s shopping hiatus mirrors a U.S. based movement that launched in January, 2006.
Calling themselves The Compact, a group of nine San Francisco-based environmentalists banded together in their own year-long shopping ban.
That group wanted to reduce their contributions to local landfills by reducing their own consumption. Food, medicine, underwear and toilet paper were the exceptions to the ban. Beyond that they borrowed, bartered or bought only second-hand. (The group can be found at sfcompact.blogspot.com.)
It’s about going beyond recycling, the San Francisco group proclaims on their website, and trying “to counteract the negative global environmental and socioeconomic impacts of U.S. consumer culture.”
It’s ultimately about simplifying their lives too or, as they call it, to “calm-pact” their lives.
That calming influence was something the Mulherns found too.
A trip to the mall is not the family’s default excursion on the weekend, they say. Now, the mountains beckon instead.
They feel more connected as a family, they both say.
While they head into the final six weeks of the experiment, the couple is looking forward to the lifting of the shopping ban, but vows they won’t slip back into old buying habits.
They’re also mulling over a new experiment — buying only Canadian and U.S.-made products for a year to lessen their footprint on the planet.
“We’ve learned how we just don’t need that much stuff,” Malora says. “And how to be content with less.”
Calgary Herald
Below is an article about them that was in the Calgary Herald.
"It started out as an experiment in not shopping for one year.
And 11 months in, one Cochrane couple has learned the secret to happiness: Not buying.
Tom and Malora Mulhern’s story goes back to Jan. 1, when the couple, with their three-year-old son Noah, vowed to stop buying stuff for one year.
Under their rules of disengagement, the Mulherns vowed to only buy the essentials like food, and new socks and underwear when necessary. If something broke down or wore out, they would hit the thrift stores or go online to buy second-hand or swap goods with others.
Their goal was to downsize their lives and get off the consumption treadmill. They also weren’t out to judge others for their own buying habits. Rather, they wanted to examine their own shopping habits and ultimately see if they could actually cut out shopping for one year.
“We wanted to simplify our lives and break our buying habit and enjoy our family, and not be, ‘What else can we get?’ ” explains Malora, 27, a stay-at-home mom.
They have documented their journey at ourcompactlife.org.
Eleven months later, the Cochrane couple has wiped out a $9,000 student loan and put an additional $7,000 in the bank.
They’ve managed to do it living in a $400 basement suite on Tom’s $48,000 a year salary as a youth pastor at Dalhousie Community Church in northwest Calgary.
“It’s fabulous,” Malora says of the $16,000 total savings. “I feel like we’re broken (of our shopping habit).”
“It’s been a really good experience. We’ve learned a lot,” Tom adds.
Malora hopes their savings account might hit $10,000 by the end of the year but that may be a stretch, she says.
The couple weren’t big consumers to begin with but they have managed to become more conscious of their spending, they both say.
An unexpected result? They have been cured of keeping up with the Joneses.
“Taking yourself out of it is so liberating,” says Malora, who also spends one afternoon per week teaching a hearing and vision-impaired student.
Malora has become a wizard at the sewing machine, making and mending the family’s clothes.
That skill has produced an unexpected outcome, she says.
“I feel like you can define your style . . . when you’re not picking it from (chain stores).”
They believe living near Calgary has actually made their abstinence from shopping relatively pain-free.
“It hasn’t been too hard,” Tom says. “It’s almost easier being in a big city because there all these substitutes.”
“We know how to work our way around a thrift store,” he says.
Malora raves about the Mennonite Central Committee’s second hand store and the Value Village in northeast Calgary.
The Mulhern’s shopping hiatus mirrors a U.S. based movement that launched in January, 2006.
Calling themselves The Compact, a group of nine San Francisco-based environmentalists banded together in their own year-long shopping ban.
That group wanted to reduce their contributions to local landfills by reducing their own consumption. Food, medicine, underwear and toilet paper were the exceptions to the ban. Beyond that they borrowed, bartered or bought only second-hand. (The group can be found at sfcompact.blogspot.com.)
It’s about going beyond recycling, the San Francisco group proclaims on their website, and trying “to counteract the negative global environmental and socioeconomic impacts of U.S. consumer culture.”
It’s ultimately about simplifying their lives too or, as they call it, to “calm-pact” their lives.
That calming influence was something the Mulherns found too.
A trip to the mall is not the family’s default excursion on the weekend, they say. Now, the mountains beckon instead.
They feel more connected as a family, they both say.
While they head into the final six weeks of the experiment, the couple is looking forward to the lifting of the shopping ban, but vows they won’t slip back into old buying habits.
They’re also mulling over a new experiment — buying only Canadian and U.S.-made products for a year to lessen their footprint on the planet.
“We’ve learned how we just don’t need that much stuff,” Malora says. “And how to be content with less.”
Calgary Herald
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
at last
so my sister sent me the instructions to change up the blog design a really long time ago, but today I finally did it. when i first got the instructions they looked too daunting so i put them aside thinking someday- well, today was someday and it is so easy!!!
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