Creating a Schedule and Meal Plan with Google Calendar

My FIRST tutorial! I'm so excited, but bear with me :) Simple Mom had a recent entry about creating a routine. I took that info and used it to form my own routine and also incorporated a meal plan. So here's how I use Google Calendar to stay organized. P.S. Click pics to enlarge and zoom :)

1. If you haven't already go to Google and sign up for a Gmail account. You will use this account to login and create your calendar.

2. When you login you'll see your blank calendar. From here you can start creating events. Here is a picture of my calendar (I have all four of my calendars showing). My default calendar is the blue, this is where I list actual events, times we'll be gone, play dates, etc. My Meal Plan calendar is turquoise. The kids basic schedule is in orangy-mustard color. The "Mom" schedule is in reddish-brick color.
3. To create an event click on the calendar during the time you want the event. A box will pop up, if you simply want the name of event and that time fill it in and click 'Create Event'. Or to add more info to your event or make it repeating click 'edit event detail' This screen will appear. Here is me creating an event for my Meal Plan Calendar. For my Meal Plan Calendar I enter the name of the meal, select "All Day', repeats weekly, every three weeks. Make sure you select the correct calendar you want it listed on. See I have chosen "Meal Plan" I also use the Description section to list the complete meal, like what sides or other items we'll be having that night. I also use the email reminder option (which I LOVE).
4. Here is the handing email that gets sent straight to my ipod and reminds me what we're having for dinner.

5. To create more calendars click 'create' in the My Calendars section. This is also where you can select or de-select the calendars to choose which ones you want to view. Below I have selected my default calendar and my Meal Plan calendar. You my also change the color of what your events are in a specific calendar by clicking the drop-down next to that calendar name. A color selection chart will pop-out, it will also include the Calendar settings link and a few other options.
I hope this was helpful for you. I print out weekly calendars with the Meal Plan and default calendar (blue one) shown. That way I can see at a glance what we're eating and what we're doing.