06/11/2012: Accounting 102

Last week completed week 2 of my month long endeavor to not eat out.  How'd we do?


Well...some might consider me a failure.  I can see that argument.  I, however, feel like I did "a'ight".  I am actually pleased with the results!


Yes, we ate out.


So how can I be pleased with the results?  Because it was mostly controlled and on purpose.  It has moved past the compulsion that it was just a mere three weeks ago.


Here's the week.


Monday - ate out for dinner.  BBQ.  Got it on the way home.  We were both just H.U.N.G.R.Y. for ribs from a local joint that does 'em best on Mondays for whatever reason.  Monday was a weak spot - but it was not a compulsion, if that makes sense.  We were both fine with saying no.  It truly felt like a choice.


Tuesday - ate "at home", which means we either ate food from home at home or ate food from home at our designated appropriate places to be during the day (i.e. work).


Wednesday - ate "at home".


Thursday - ate "at home".


Friday.  Ate breakfast and lunch "at home" and dinner we picked up.  This was probably the one meal I would say really truly was more of a compulsion than a plan.  I picked up Husby from work and declared I wanted sushi.  'Cause I did.  We hemmed and hawed.  We agreed we needed to get the boys and feed them and that it wasn't worth it to go back out for sushi.  And getting sushi to take it home isn't worth it, either.  Sushi is one of those we can't make it at home in the same way, so it is truly an 'eat out food'.  Yes, I could make sushi.  But I cannot make it as fresh and I cannot create the same variety for the same cost effectiveness.  We always get a shrimp/crab combo as well as a smoked salmon, a salmon, and probably a tuna.  I can't do all that at home without having a lot of waste.  Well...we decided sushi would fit the schedule better on Saturday for lunch while we were out and about running errands and getting cars washed and generally taking care of stuff.


Sounds reasonable, right?  Yeah.  Until we decided to "get something else".  We had tri-tip steaks marinating at home and we opted for something else anyway.  Something we could take home.  A definite weak spot.  Yes.  We should have just said no.  After going through all that and talking ourselves out of sushi until a more reasonable and appropriate time, we should have said no and eaten at home.  But we got take out Hooters instead.  Yes, I do like Hooters and yes, I do think their chicken is good.


Irony is - we never did get the sushi.


Saturday - ate "at home" for breakfast.  When we got up, we realized our out and about wasn't happening.  Husby had plans with a neighbor to go golfing.  So no errand running until late in the afternoon - and ultimately, we opted out of it saving it all for next weekend as nothing was pressing.  But because of the no out and about thing, that shelved sushi.  Good for us, eh?  We cooked up those still marinating tri-tip steaks Saturday for dinner.  But lunch, yeah, another weak spot.  Excuses excuses but the end result was Taco Bell (a taco salad for me, yum!) that Husby brought home with him after his golfing excursion.  I will say, in my one line of defense, the babies were in fine form Saturday as they are in full on teething mode right now and I had nary a second to myself that entire day.  There was no way I woulda been able to conjure up myself a lunch while Husby was gone.  But yes, he coulda conjured for us both once he got home.  Taco Bell was our compromise for no sushi.  Yikes - poor trade!


Sunday - ate "at home" as planned and ate out for dinner - as planned.  Yesterday was one of our best friends' birthday and she opted for a group gathering at the original Carrabba's.  The original Carrabba's is still owned by the family and is NOT part of the chain you might know.  The menus have a few similarities but, by far, they are incredibly different.  And I chose pretty well - grilled shrimp and scallops with a side of pasta.  Funniest thing ever - we ordered an appetizer for the table - a goat cheese and marinara brusccheta that is beyond amazing.  And eating my 1 1/2 slices of that, I was full by the time dinner came.  Gotta love that time of the month!  


So there's my week.  In general, it was ok.  More days than not were good.  Monday truly felt like an ok decision, we wore the decision and not vice versa.  But the Friday/Saturday sushi/no-sushi thing - the decision wore us, that time.  I consider it the one blip for the week.  


At the end of the day, last week, we finished with more money in the bank than we normally do - and that's a good thing.  Something busted with our pool equipment over the weekend and having that extra money in the bank meant we could fix that component without touching savings.  So, already, a benefit. 


If I did a calorie count for the week I'm pretty sure I'd be in my ballpark of 8400 for the week which means I'm getting my gaining issues back under control.  As I said a few times last week, I'm not into the weightloss aspect right now.  I just want to not be gaining.  If I lose, great.  But I absolutely have to stop gaining!


So there's my accountability for week two of my endeavor to not eat out.  Definitely coulda been better.  But it's a hell of a lot better than it was!