Thursday, March 10, 2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
I'm Back!
International Folk Alliance Conference
w/ Aaron Youngberg (Finders & Youngberg), Slias Lowe (Atomic Duo)
and Dango Rose (Elephant Revival)
I guess if I don't tell myself that I'm going to update EVERY SINGLE DAY I don't update.
Life got a little crazy there for a bit right after we started our $2 per day expansion diet. When we first started with the $2 per day, we could not believe the wealth of food that it provided! If we just stick to oats, rice, beans, and sprouts, we don't really need to spend the full $2 each. On the other hand, the minute we added in hearty greens and vegetables, our two dollars went really fast!
We mainly have been keeping it to the diet that we were eating on our 30 day project with the occasional treat added in. Our daily totals have been averaging around $2.38.
We did make a big exception this past week, though. We were down in Memphis for the International Folk Alliance Conference. Now, I did prepare by taking a rice cooker and lots of dry food to cook in it. We made oats, coffee, rice, and beans in the hotel room. It was a busy conference, though and it wasn't really possible for us to take the time to cook all our meals in the hotel room. We ate out 1 meal a day while we were there. That certainly did not fit into our $2 per day. We took a hiatus from our parameters and indulged a bit - it was really the only way we were going to get food and when you're getting up at 8:00am for workshops and then staying up until 5:00am to see/play music, you definitely need food!!!
Since we've been home, we are back to our oats, bananas, rice, beans with the occasional hearty green thrown in. I started a new job this week as Director of The Folk School of St. Louis and we got a big surprise when one of Ryan's students brought us a huge home cooked meal plus snacks to make my first week of work easier. What an unbelievable treat to have someone cook such goodness for us - Thanks Eileen!
My plan is to update a bit more often as we continue to explore the gap.
Thanks for reading.
Just a little bit of food for thought,
Kelly
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
First Day To Eat Whatever We Want!
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Day Thirty!
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Day Twenty-nine
Friday, February 4, 2011
Day Twenty-eight
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Day Twenty-seven
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Day Twenty-six
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Day Twenty-five
Monday, January 31, 2011
Day Twenty-four
THE HOMELESS PROBLEM
"Homelessness is a persistent problem nationally and the situation is little different in St. Louis. Lack of education, lower socio-economic standing in the society, psychological problems caused by trauma, war, rape and a host of other causes, inaccessibility to adequate housing: these are just a few of the problems that face people who are at risk of losing their residences and live in dangerous, uninhabitable conditions, are doubled-up and/or are living on the streets.
Calculating a fair estimate of the number of homeless people in the city of St. Louis is difficult; estimates range from a low of 8,000 to 13,000 (see "Needs and Challenges" section). Though definitive numbers are difficult to quantify, the problem of homeless has not improved in recent years, and will in all probability become worse with the continuing implementation of welfare reform. Governments and private agencies often end up providing stopgap measures in the face of complex problems associated with this often-desperate population. Real change in the overall situation is hard to quantify; often, the best that can be hoped for is adequate provision of maintenance services to homeless individuals and families, with the expectation that the families will not fall into even worse situations than they presently find themselves.
In the midst of this otherwise bleak picture, many agencies in St. Louis have been providing important services to the homeless. Special populations, such as veterans, the mentally ill, HIV/AIDS clients, adolescents, families with children, pregnant women, and domestic abuse survivors are being attended to with programs that attempt to adequately address their issues. Improvements, often difficult to manifest in this environment, have occurred, such as a centralized intake system that has been created to more efficiently refer homeless persons to programs which can best serve them, and outreach aimed at the hard to reach homeless, plus a modicum of prevention programs."
I'm feeling very thankful for my warm home tonight and acknowledging how blessed we are.
Daily Meals ~
Daily Totals ~ $1.19
Kelly
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Day Twenty-three
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Day Twenty-two
Friday, January 28, 2011
Day Twenty-One
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Day Twenty
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Day Nineteen
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Day Eighteen
Monday, January 24, 2011
Day Seventeen
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Day Sixteen
"He who distinguishes the true savor of his food can never be a glutton; he who does not cannot be otherwise"
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Day Fifteen
Friday, January 21, 2011
Day Fourteen
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Day Thirteen
Snow Day in St. Louis! It is a rare thing for us not to have anywhere we have to be and we approached the day with excitement! What would we do with all this time. Without even discussing it and without eating breakfast, Ryan headed downstairs to his basement workshop and I headed to the sewing machine. We both worked steadily for hours before reconvening for "breakfast" around one o'clock. We realized how different this day was from previous snow days. Normally, we would have gone to the store yesterday and stocked up...not on necessities, but on "fun" stuff for the snow day. We would have bought snacks, extra food, and alcohol. We would have enjoyed our day at home and we would have "treated" ourselves with all of our food and beverage purchases.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Day Twelve
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Day Eleven
Here's another gentleman who ate for $30 for a month:http://hungryforamonth.blogspot.com/2006_11_01_hungryforamonth_archive.html
Monday, January 17, 2011
Day Ten
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Day Nine
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Day Eight
Friday, January 14, 2011
Day Seven
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Day Six
Calories: 294
Protein: 17.3g
Carbohydrate: 57g
Total Fat: 0.23g
Fiber: 16.8g
*Excellent source of:
Iron (4.6mg)
Magnesium (119.6mg)
Potassium (1,223mg)
Zinc (4.0mg)
Folate (278mcg)