Values are only words . . .

I had a "debrief" meeting today with organizers and fellow participants of the Saskatoon Food Basket Challenge. The participants were given a lovely and very unique thank you gift. (Can you see the photo in the middle of the tree?)

"Values are only words . . . until it costs us something to stand behind them."

The Food Basket Challenge Experience

I started thinking about having my own blog when I was asked to take part in the Food Basket Challenge – to live off the contents of a food basket from the Saskatoon Food Bank for a week (Sept 13 - 19, 2011) and blog about my experiences. I didn’t get my act together in time to copy my posts to a blog of my own (had a bit of trouble coming up with a blog name that wasn’t already spoken for) but really found the whole process incredibly interesting, including the blogging!

Here are my Food Basket Challenge posts in chronological order . . . kept here for posterity!

Profiles of all the participants 

Expectations - What I "think" the week is going to be like. 

Motivation - Why am I doing this???? 

Food Prices and Another Challenge - "She has a spreadsheet!" my friend Deirdra says! In hindsight, this post shows some of my ignorance as to what I'll get in my food basket. 

Pleasantly Surprised - Expecting Worse - Our food baskets were better than expected! Well, for the first few days anyway! 

Sleepless Night - The obsession gets going full steam ahead! 

Dumpster Diving - Thank goodness this is as close as I got! 

Lentils - One way to use lentils. Here's another. 

What Does Poverty Look Like? - There is such a wide range! 

Living the Challenge - People share the "real" life experience. 

Long Day - Two events to volunteer at! 

Similarities and Differences - How Food Basket meals differed from "normal" meals. 

A Peach! - Mmmmm, a lovely peach! 

Shelley & Ann at the Friendship Inn - Thanks Jackie for going with me! 

On Being Vegetarian - And trying to live a Food Basket diet. Also includes a list of what I ate all week. 

The Answers??? (I'm all out of catchy titles too!) - Answering some followup questions from the windup forum held at the Indian & Metis Friendship Centre on Sept 20. 

The Adventure Begins!

I'm starting an adventure! Yes, I’m the proud new owner of a blog! If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em!

To steal a couple lines from my niece Julie, I’m not going to “analyze the world” like my husband Andrew and I’m not going to “analyze books” like my nephew Andrew. Nor am I going to analyze movies or post funny pictures like Julie does; nor am I going to analyze food, wine and restaurants (well, at least not much) like my sister-in-law Penny does.

I’m simply going to blab once in a while about my adventures in life. Whether it be climbing, diving, travel or any of life’s other amazing experiences.

Oh, and I’m also not going to obsess about stats and how many people are reading this drivel!  Because really, who cares!?!   J