Our Compact Life

I have been reading this book called “Green Babies, Sage Moms” By Linda Fassa. It has been such an educating book for me. The one topic that I was most affected by was the cosmetics that we use everyday. Most cosmetics use a preservative called “Paraben”. If you look on the labels of most lotions, make-up, deoderant ect. you will see words like:

- Methylparaben (E218)
- Ethylparaben (E214)
- Propylparaben (E216)
- Butylparaben
- Benzyl-parahydroxybenzoic acid
- Methyl-parahydroxybenzoic acid
- Ethyl-parahydroxybenzoic acid
- Propyl-parahydroxybenzoic acid
- Butyl-parahydroxybenzoic acid
- Parahydroxybenzoic acid
- Parahydroxybenzoate

What do these giant words mean and what do they do? Well, for a long time now, studies have shown that they are fine to use as a preservative in cosmetics, but recently there has been evidence that suggests this may not be true. Parabens are absorbed through the skin and can then be stored in the body. Once parabens are in the body it affects the hormonal system by mimicking estrogen, the hormone that promotes cell growth. The promotion of cell growth link parabens with cancer. Parabens have actually been detected in human breast cancer tumors. (You can read more about this in the article I linked to above).

So, this really freaked me out and I started to throw everything away (and recycle what I could of course!) I have been on a quest to find paraben free products. Here is what I have found so far:

-Physicians Formula Organics make-up: I found foundation, concealer, eyeliner, eye shadow, blush and powder. I have used the concealer, foundations, eyeliner and eye shadow. I really like the eyeliner and eye shadow, there is really no difference in these products compared to others I have used with parabens in them. The foundation and concealer, have been a little hard for me to get used to. They are not as smooth and liquid as others I have used. I am sure that that is because of the mostly natural and organic ingredients. They are still really good products, but quite different than others that I have used.

-Tom’s of Maine: I found really fabulous deodorant (Citronella and lemon) from Tom’s. Honestly, I lift my arm up and I think, what is that fabulous smell? And it is me! I just love the deodorant. I also got some really great Tom’s toothpaste for us and special kiddo kind for Noah. Noah loves the tooth paste and says it tastes like ice cream and berries.

- Kiss My Face: I got some great shampoo and conditioner from here. I went to get some lotion today though and I saw that the Kiss my Face Peach lotion had parabens in it. I was very disappointed. Most of their stuff doesn’t have them though.

In other news, I am super excited (too excited really) for the TOXIC ROUND-UP in Cochrane happening this Saturday (October 25) from 10-4 at the Cochrane Fire station. I have been rounding up all the cleaners and toxic products I wish I knew never to buy and I am going to take them to the kind firemen to dispose of for me. I, in return will never buy those products again!!! I encourage you to find a toxic round-up in your area and get rid of all those things that are not doing our bodies good!

Our Sunflower finally bloomed. It is probably about 7 or 8 feet tall. I didn’t think it was going to make it, but I gave it a kiss for good luck last week, and it bloomed! Super pumped about that!

I am starting to think about Christmas presents… and feeling a little overwhelmed. It is silly that even when we are not buying, I am thinking about what I HAVE to make and then it kinda takes the joy out of making. I guess I really don’t have to make anything. But, I will. I finished a cape today for a little one. I can’t show you though, cause it is a suprise for Christmas. It is a princess superhero cape. The first of it’s kind in the Mulhern house. I am hoping the recipient enjoys it as much as Noah loves his not-so-princess, very manly superhero cape that he happens to be wearing at this moment.

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As a youth pastor I am often in charge of running silly and ridiculous games that are a lot of fun. Last night our youth group played a game called Bigger and Better where you start with a paper clip and trade up from that. You walk around the neighborhood seeing what people can trade that is bigger or better then the item you are offering.

Here is how the trading went: paper clip –> magazine –> banana and newspaper –>  brand new 2 person tent –> fairly new color printer –> 15×15 section of brand new carpet

We kept the carpet because we have been looking to find some carpet to cover our bare concrete floors. We continued the trading and ended up trading a pair of skis and a broken chair for another printer and a desk. One team got offered a dog and a motor-home, but ended up with a mattress at the end. It was a lot of fun and a great way to meet some of our neighbors.

I stuffed the carpet into my car and drove home after a fun night of games. The carpet took up the entire car so every bump I hit turned off the radio or made the windshield wipers run. We unloaded the carpet this morning and put it down on the floor and it is amazing carpet. It is so nice and soft on our feet. Noah is laying on it reading books as I type. Definitely some high quality free carpet. Another amazing free item that we have received during this experiencement. It will be nice to not freeze our little toes off this winter – hurray for new carpet.

We also have a news crew coming to film us on Monday about ourcompactlife. They read our article in the newspaper and were intrigued by what we were doing and want to feature us on a new news program they are producing. We will blog about it after and give details how you can watch us on tv. I am sure that I will say nothing profound in it because I often utter the most ridiculous things when I am being interviewed by the media (not that it happens all the time). I will post the “amazing” things that slip out next week!

I am pretty happy with the way things turned out in our little painting renovation. It was a lot of work and we are still recovering from the long process! We are not sure what to do about the floors. Winter is coming and cement floors may just freeze our feet off… you never know. I am wondering what happens to all the perfectly good carpet that gets ripped out of homes to be replaced by hard wood, and also wondering how I could get my hands on some of that.

In other news, while we were painting and everything was unplugged on our computer, magically our computer destroyed itself. It would not turn on and that was that. This, very unexpected loss made me think that a LOT of things have broken in the Mulhern house this year. So I thought I would make a list (because that is what I do) of all the things that have broken so far on our year of the compact and what we have done (if anything) to replace it.

Computer Monitor- Our good friends gave us one from their basement. We recycled our old one

Blender- bought a new one from MCC thrift store for $8 – and it works better than my other one ever did! We recycled the old one.

Mix master- still use it with just one beater.

Computer tower- bought a refurbished laptop. We recycled all the parts.

TV antenna- got another one for free and are using that one in addition to our broken one (I don’t understand why either)

Iron-have somewhat mastered the art of filling it up with enough water so that it sprays but does not leak all over the clothing I am attempting to press.

electric tooth brush charger- it is a bit finicky. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. I should be using my non-electric one anyway.

Mattress cover zipper- I tried to just drape the cover over the mattress for a while, but I gave up and now there is no cover on the memory foam and it piles all over the place.

many many glass cups, dishes and bowls in my quest to get rid of plastic dishware for a three year old- I have been able to find more at the thrift store. I got some little Corelle dishes and they are fabulous and do not break! I recycled the glass bits.

bread maker- yes, it is not working properly anymore. So I have been making bread in the oven. I am going to recycle it at our depot in Cochrane. We have a fabulous recycling place that accepts appliances and such.

I personally think that is a ridiculous amount of broken items. It is not like we are careless with our things either. Most of these things just conked out. I was really reminded of the concept of planned obsolescence discussed in The Story of Stuff. They just don’t make things like they used to. The amount of waste that is produced from these appliances makes me really grumpy.

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Ok, so maybe I am being a little melodramatic, but after living in our basement suite for almost a year, the wood paneling was graining on me (ha- graining). So, I painted the walls. Well, we are in the midst of painting the walls. What I am trying to say is, I bought white paint. So, technically, we never said anything about not buying paint, but it wasn’t a necessity. I am happy to report that I bought used outlet covers though- now, that is something to be proud of.

I will show you the before picture now of the living room area of our basement home, and you can decide for yourself if it was an emergency or not:

There you have it. I will upload the new improved pics when we are finished.

I find that this year I have a deep pull inside myself to take something and renew it. I am very happy where we live, but it is not super trendy and beautiful to look at. It looks like a reject from 1972. We have made a decision to be content with less, not strive for more and more. But at the same time, I don’t think that means that you can’t take something that you already have and renew it. I find a lot of joy in that process. I think that Christ has that same kind of joy when he can take our out of date, delapitated life, and make it beautiful and new.

I have been making some bread lately. Some friends of ours heard what we were doing and thought they would give us some of their stuff they don’t use anymore(smile). One awesome thing in the pile was a bread maker. I thought at first it was too huge to keep (b/c I have all of two cupboards in my kitchen) but once I used it I was hooked. It is so easy and wonderful to use and the results are fabulous. Even though I don’t eat bread, the boys really enjoy it and the smell is enough for me. I also feel a lot better giving my family food that I know exactly what is in it, because I put everything in it!

Here is the bounty from our garden today:

Man I love living in the country!

In other news, I have been cleaning and purging like nobody’s business. We have this area in our living space that is all of our storage covered by a curtain. I loath that area. I hate not having storage. But, it got me to thinking today, what is the point of having a whole bunch of stuff piled up in a corner that you just don’t use? I mean, there are some things that I use occasionally, but most was just sitting there collecting dust. It drives me nutters. So, I purged. Tom hates it when I do this, but he has become used to it in the five years that we have been married! So, not only am I buying nothing, I am also giving stuff away! Happy day.

We got back from holidays in Colorado and I got a little more than I bargained for as far as the garden is concerned. It looks good now, but when I first got back, dill had overtaken everything! There were no little rows, it was just a mass of green, two feet tall at least. So, I guess it doesn’t work so well to leave a garden unattended for three weeks.  After a couple hours with my Mom, Tom and I weeding, it is looking fabulous if I do say so myself!

We picked some baby carrots today for a little snack. I am attempting to thin out the mass of carrots, and pretty much everything that I planted. I planted everything really close together. My radishes didn’t turn out too well b/c they needed more room to grow, I guess. Live and learn. It was so fun today to sit outside and eat some carrots that we planted and God grew in our very own little garden! Super cool!

I have been doing not so good on the “not buying”. I have been doing really good at the “buying only second hand”. As far as not consuming goes,  I have such a weakness with clothing. Spring is here and I have bought some new cute springy things. I am very impressed with what I have found at thrift stores, but that is not the point. I didn’t need all that I bought.

It has become second nature to look for things that we need second hand. Tom’s razor broke (that is how he gives himself “haircuts” – let’s be honest buzz cuts). So he found one used on kijiji.com. We don’t even really think about buying new things anymore, but the thrift store has become so inviting and thrilling.

 I think I need to get a bit more of a life.

I get so excited about the things I get and the prices I get for them. then I go about telling others about the amazing deal I found and how the item looks as though it has never been used. Although that is thrilling, I am still consuming. I am still being consumed by consuming.

I think we are all consumed with something. It is so easy to lose focus and bend the rules with this compact. yikes.

My garden is starting to sprout. This is the start of little radishes! We have had a lot of rain mixed with warm weather. I guess I picked a pretty good year to become a gardener. Soon I will not even have to buy food! I will never have to go to the grocery store again! (ha ha, just jokes).

Speaking of being self sufficient. Tom and I watched a documentary called “Garbage Warrior”

It was really, really fabulous and interesting! It is about this guy who makes these awesome houses called earthships. They are made from recycled materials (old tires and bottles, ect.) They are totally off the grid (there is no electricity going into them, no sewer, no heat) They are powered by solar and wind energy. Plants and food grow in the house. It is just the coolest thing. I really reccomend watching the documentary. You can learn more about it here.

In my continual quest to get rid of plastic, I have set up a new system. I am trying to reuse empty glass jars, that I would just normally recycle, to put bulk items in. When I buy the bulk items I am going to use my little bags I made and then transfer the food into the jars. I think that will reduce our plastic a lot.

Notice the plastic in behind the jars… my enemies! I have to find a good place to get organic bulk food. The little place I go to right now is SO expensive. I spent $17 on raw almonds the other day (I didn’t even get that many!) NO THANK YOU!