The Seven Experiment: clothing

My seven for home

My seven for work

the shoes I will not be wearing this month

the work clothes I will not be wearing this month

the other clothes I will not be wearing this month

William's seven

John's seven

Justin's seven

Ted's seven

The 7 Experiment: Food

After reading 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess by Jen Hatmaker

 

I was moved to wage my own war against American Excess.

 

A few brave souls have joined in the journey of "The 7 Experiment: staging your own mutiny again excess"

Please know that this is not strictly about behavior modification.  Believe me I can follow a rule like nobody's business.  Can you say Type A?! 

 

This is about living intentionally.

 

This is about living a Christ-centered life.

 

This is about me trying to see the "log in my own eye".  We live in a culture of excess.  A culture of bigger and better.  This is a little bit about living counter culturally because quite honestly Jesus was counter cultural!

 

This is about what Jesus is trying to do and can do through me if I'm open and listening.

 

This is about me becoming smaller and Jesus becoming larger.

 

May 1st is the start of our journey.

 

Our first area of excess is: Food.  The original experiment involved Jen and her husband eating only seven foods for a month.  I'm still unsettled on what I'm doing.

 

In the hopes of settling on something today I inventoried our household food supply.

 

We have more than enough food in our household.  But as I inventoried my cupboards and refrigerators and freezers...yes we have multiple refrigerators and freezers...I found myself already hedging.  I found myself thinking, "Hey, we don't have THAT much food." I'm starting to fail before I even begin!  Seriously?!  The flesh is weak!!

 

So here are my results... 

Kitchen cupboard No 1:  2 lbs potatoes; 2 cans green beans; 2 cans sweet corn; 1 can sweet peas; 1 can sliced olives; 1 can red beans; 20 pkg of Swiss Miss hot cocoa with marshmallows; 2 Keurig Dark cocoa servings



House refrigerator and freezer:  Sour cream; 2 eggs; margarine; chocolate syrup; leftover steak; skim milk; lunch meat-ham & turkey; bologna; Tillamook cheddar cheese; American cheese; mozzarella cheese; flour tortillas; tomatoes; celery; iceberg lettuce; Parmesan cheese; stick butter & margarine; tuna; pickles; jelly; Tabasco; A-1 steak sauce; mustard; Hershey chocolate bars; salad dressing-various; salsa-various; ketchup; BBQ sauce; taco sauce-various; loaf of wheat bread; 2 gallons of ice cream; hamburger buns; waffles; blue berries; chicken; peas; green beans; broccoli; zucchini



Garage upright freezer: 1/4 beef--purchased from Murdock Cattle

Garage refrigerator/freezer: Hugs; gallon of milk; 10 lbs of flour

Kitchen counter:  Cereal-Crispix; Mini-Wheats; Toasted whole wheat berry flakes & flax seed; Tootie Fruities; Butter; french bread; Sarah lee multi-grain; GV wheat bread; roasted dandelion root tea; nectresse sweetener; chocolate cake

The spice cupboard: even I'm not OCD enough to inventory that bad boy

Tea and coffee...and my kids allergy meds

Kitchen cupboard #2 top shelf:  Parmesan cheese; brown rice; pancake mix; jello; tastefully simple butterscotch cocoa; lentils; tapioca; baker's chocolate; peanut butter; Crisco shortening; marshmallows; chocolate chips; powdered sugar; white sugar; flour; graham cracker crumbs; croutons; Italian bread crumbs; rolled oats  bottom shelf: Cheez-its; wheat thins; corn taco shells; fruit snacks; granola bars; saltines; lasagna noodles; soy sauce; suddenly salad pasta salad mix; instant white rice



I'm leaning toward mimicking Jen's original experiment. 

I'll be thinking it over as I finish off the jar of carmel corn Lindsay delivered to me this morning!

warmth

did you know that it is estimated that there are 30 to 40 people in our area that are chronically homeless?

did you know that there are dozens more that are temporarily homeless on any given night?

did you know that the predicted low for tonight is 14 degrees?

did you know that we have a warming station here in town?

there is.

these people...these homeless people...are part of our community.  they are people with stories and families and hopes and dreams.  whatever their story, they deserve a warm, safe place to sleep at night.

I'm not here to discuss the hows and whys of their homelessness.  what I am here to discuss is the possibility of each of us reaching out and helping these people. 

to become a volunteer.  to offer these people a little of your time and some kindness.

please consider checking it out.  more volunteers are need to work shifts at the station and to volunteer to do laundry.

i wouldn't ask you to commit to something that I'm not already committed to myself.  I've worked shift at the warming center and I've spent Sundays afternoons at the laundry mat doing the laundry.

many hands make light work.  consider throwing yours in the mix.