My Weight Loss Toolbox: Meal Calendar (Part 4)

Food/Calorie Journal
Scale
Walking App
Meal Calendar
Digital Food Scale that Weighs in Grams
Weekly, Detailed, Shopping List
Walking Buddy (My Daughter & My Dogs)
Yeti 36oz Rambler
Walking Shoes and Walking Socks

Let’s explore these one at a time.

FYI: There are a lot of calendar pictures in this post.  Plus it is long, so I will be splitting it up in to several parts. This is Part 4. Parts 1 & 2 contain all of 2018 and Part 3 contains the beginning of 2019. If you are interested in seeing these meal ideas, take a look at the three previous posts.

Catawba-Lynn and I went camping with my family to a Yogi Bear campground in July.  Lucas said he could fend for himself food wise – I left him leftovers and slow cooker meals.  My dad and his siblings, plus two of my cousins were all camping together in cabins.  I had my teardrop with Catawba-Lynn and Jude.  That was an event filled week as I worked hard on getting Catawba-Lynn to all the scheduled events that Yogi Bear offers that I could get her to.  My Aunt Lucy cooked all the meals – which was amazing.  It was all real meals, such as chop suey, pork – vegetables – mashed potatoes and gravy, these sorts of meals.  I do believe there was an evening of pizza and evening of burgers – but my family had two cabins and they utilized the kitchens.  (I stayed in my teardrop with Catawba-Lynn and Jude).  It was amazing because I had time to take Catawba-Lynn to everything, I did not have to worry about the meals, and it is Summer – so who does not cook with the oven in Summer?  Me.  I had not had these meals in months.  And I did not have to sweat it out in the kitchen to make it happen – however I did do the dishes as a thank you for the meals.

The next weekend we did a family camping trip.  I packed cold foods, which ended up being a life saver, as it rained the whole weekend.  We did not need the fire to cook our meals.

July is also when we found my husband’s contract with his client was going to be wrapping up in a couple of months.  So my meal plans changed from available funds to conservation mode.  I started planning a lot more egg dishes and other coast effective meals.

We had already planned another camping trip for August before we found out Luke’s contract was ending so we went to Door County to go to the county fair.  We enjoyed the weekend together and I packed food to eat at the campground so we would not have to pay for fair food or have to rely on a fire to cook food.  We were staying in the campground so we could go to the fair.  Camping was secondary for this trip.

As you can see, cheap proteins have been immediately introduced.  I was cooking eggs as the main dish almost once weekly.  It was disappointing.  Lucas and I had a plan to pay off the house by the end of the year – and we were so close to doing so.  But we needed Lucas to be employed throughout that year.  We had to tap the breaks on spending and save until Lucas could find the next client.  The 16^th is our dating anniversary – so I bought Lucas Aldi frozen sushi.  No, it is not the best – but he did get sushi on our dating anniversary.

SK = Skokie (we were in a hotel for Luke’s client.  He was finishing up the work they needed and transferring the projects to employees).

BY (in September) = Brick Yard 400 – the NASCAR race.  My dad has gone to all of them, I have been to many of them, and this was Catawba-Lynn’s first.  My dad was in charge of food and I gladly accepted not needing to plan for a couple of days.  This trip was already planned and paid for, almost a year in advance, so we went and enjoyed the trip.

Camp-Inn Camp-Outt is posted on the 28^th.  This is a teardrop get together that I used to go to yearly.  Car accident, the business, surprise baby…I had missed a couple of them – but I try to head out at least for the day, so I can say “Salut” to all my teardrop buddies – my friends.

The 14^th says “Fox and Hounds” and I know it has been written on a couple of other days.  Fox and Hounds is a restaurant in Hubertus, Wisconsin.  I have very fond memories of this place.  It is a large log cabin/hunting lodge, with many working fireplaces, wonderful ambience, and great food.  When my brother and I were younger, my parents tried taking us here once a year so that we could learn proper etiquette at fancy restaurants or in proper settings.  So now that I am an adult, I love it, but we save the place for special occasions – such as celebrating my brother’s birthday.

Those who know me know I crave stability.  And financial stability is one of the most important things to me.  I never want any entity to take away my possessions.  My house is more than a possession, it is an investment – not only my investment, by an investment for my child.  And maybe her children, if she has any.  Our house in Hartford, Wisconsin, cost us less than $400 monthly in taxes and insurance – the escrow portion of it.  It cost us around $300 monthly for energy and water, without cutting back or living frugally.  Once we paid off the house, we could afford to live in and power a full duplex for less than $700 a month – not taking into account what a tenant would pay.  This meant a lot to me, as I felt that if anything happened to either Lucas or I, we could get by with a stable home for our daughter.  If something happened to me, Lucas could reduce hours and still be present with Catawba-Lynn, all while retaining the house.  If something happened to Lucas, I could pick up many different jobs to keep the house and juggle a schedule to be present and active in Catawba-Lynn’s life.  Furthermore, Lucas and I were making repairs to the duplex with the intent of doing the repairs once – correctly – so that we could eventually gift Catawba-Lynn that duplex and she could use it for business purposes.  All work had warranties that were “life-time” warranties that were transferable to the next owner (Catawba-Lynn).  This was truly an investment for not only us but for Catawba-Lynn as well.  And then our house payment schedule got thrown off with the closing of Luke’s contract.  We were so close to making it happen – so close to having the house paid off.  This disappointment and this fear of losing my house (even though we had savings and a decent plan to weather the financial storm – a plan that would allow us to chill for two years). I was still afraid of a financial disaster.  My meal planning reflected that.

Lucas is not a vegetarian, I am.  Catawba-Lynn eats small amounts of meat for health and growth purposes (this topic is a debate, I know, but this is how we function in our house).  I would cook meals with meat in them for my family and guests, and I would either make myself a duplicate dish with no meat or I would simply eat the sides of the meal – no issues.  With the lack of a stable stream of money, meat purchases went down, egg purchases went up and sometimes meals like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, like that on the 26^th, became a new normal.  Was it needed?  Probably not – but I needed to find a way to save money so I felt more in control of our situation.  I will also note here that I had picked up a part-time job in August and I would start another part-time job in October.  I was not just sitting and waiting to see what would happen financially.  I was actively attempting to ease into a budget with Lucas not having a paycheck for a while.

Luke’s contract got extended one extra week and we stayed down in Skokie in the week leading up to my birthday, one last time.  Lucas knew he would be working heavy amounts of hours that week, so we rented a hotel suite instead of a room – a $25 a night difference – which allowed Catawba-Lynn a place to sleep while Lucas worked late at night in a different room.  I considered this suite my birthday present, calling it my condo in Chicago.  I had fun with it and cooked great meals in the tiny kitchen that was supplied in the hotel suite.  For my actual birthday, on the 6^th, we turned around and drove back to the Chicago area and spent the day at the Chicago Botanic Garden.  I knew a place where we could park for free and walk in – it is connected to the trails that stretch through the garden, but my father preferred to pay for parking to get a close parking spot.  After our morning and day at the garden, with a packed finger food lunch (cut fruits, vegetables, cheeses, and such) we grabbed a salad from the salad bar at Mariano’s, went to one of my favorite walking spots in the area and ate dinner.

“D-Train” was a weekend of Coast Guard Auxiliary training that we went to as a family.  I went to the training and Lucas and Catawba-Lynn hung out in the hotel room (a bit of a role reversal for a change, as I was the one going to training and Lucas was chilling with Tawbs).

Explanation of food: “Texas Breakfast”.  Before Lucas and I met, he dated a woman in Texas.  He said that they were so poor that almost the only thing they ate was instant potatoes and canned corn because that is all they could afford.  My husband poured potato flakes, can of corn with the liquids, and a scoop of butter into a butter container and microwaved it.  What came out was a “meal” that he called “Texas Breakfast.”  I do not make it like that – I refuse.  But every once in a while I have “Texas Breakfast” for dinner by preparing the instant mashed potatoes on the stove and warming the corn (and other vegetables) separately.  Even with portion control, this is not a healthy meal, and I do not recommend it, however it tastes good and we have it occasionally.

I am sorry – I do not have December 2019.  Like I said, I had no intentions of sharing all of these calendar entries.  I did not make them to post on a blog – I made the to use as a tool and when they were done, I was to use them as scrap for crafting with my daughter – which is what we did with the December 2019 page.  It is the only one I am missing.

That finishes out 2019! What a year. Our meals changed quite a bit half way through the year. My “conservation mode” was already in place for 2020 and I have not gotten out of it yet, even though life in early 2021 is somewhat stable in the Brisingamen household. We will see how long it takes to “go back to normal.” I will be posting 2020 in two posts, same as I did for 2018 and 2019. Those posts will be coming shortly, along with the rest of my toolbox and some short posts of trails I have completed. Stay tuned and I am excited to post again shortly. Again, if there are any questions about the meals, write a message below and I will respond to them! Take care, be well, and let’s all have a great 2021!