I had a sweet tooth last night that I couldn't shake. It almost led me to wanting to quit the diet and just eat some ice cream.  I mean, I couldn't shake it.  Bed time took forever to "get here" just because it was stuck in my head. Just came out of nowhere, too, not like anyone was eating anything to tempt me.  Well, I finally got to bed and now - that whole thing is gone out of my mind, thankfully. 

What I really need to do is make some keto friendly brownies or something and have them frozen and ready to eat when that feeling hits me.  They have all kinds of sweet tooth recipes, I just haven't tried making any of them. Haven't really had these kinds of urges for quite a long time.  I'm going to look up some recipes and think - at least think about - making one of them. As it stands, I'm going to make cloud bread today - it's zero carb bread that is allegedly delicious and fairly easy to make.  Of course, you can buy cloud bread online, for like $30. 

Keto is such a scam in terms of people making baked goods and selling it at outrageous prices that I really have half a mind to solicit Maria to start baking the stuff and selling it online.  She loves baking, I love to make money.  Lots of people are doing that on a local basis - making their own, fresh baked "keto friendly" pastries, donuts and cookies, posting them for sale on Facebook groups and making tidy profits. Keto is starting to really take a hold of this nation in terms of a diet that is very effective and people willing to shell out the bucks for it. 

An actual bakery that is licensed, selling it online, would be awesome. But I have no knowledge of how to go about doing that.  Well I have a bit of info on it.  Just the complexities of selling such things, shipping them and dealing with potential customer complaints.  Plus you have to have it all labeled and the chart that food has to have on it.  I was visiting with Maria yesterday and it totally escaped my mind, discussing with her a couple of business propositions she could engage in from home.  I'm still on this tank full of fish thing.  There is no possibility of losing the money spent on it, if it were slow sales, the fish would live, grow bigger and be worth more money.  Minimal maintenance, the only costs really are to buy the equipment to keep them in - probably around $500 for a smaller version that could keep 200 small fish in it - and the cost of buying the fish bulk. 

They send them to you overnight on FedEX.  It's like almost $200 just in shipping charges as well. 

The house is finally empty, I get a day home alone, thankfully. Grandma and Grandpa left early this morning, the same time James heads out to work. These folks visiting wasn't anything like that family that was living here for a month, tho.  That really started to annoy me, mostly because the dude, when he was here, would do literally nothing. He wouldn't even run the dishwasher and clean up after themselves.  He is an attentive father as far as dealing with his girls, but that's where it ends.  I was reeeeeaaaaalllllllyyyyyy glad when they left.

But, these folks are really cool. They didn't accept me at first - for quite a while they didn't.  I mean, they didn't shun me but it was obvious they considered me something as a temporary fixture, something that wouldn't be around long.  I don't really know how much these kinds of situations are going on in the US - with strangers living with strangers - at least starting out as strangers.  I do know the cost of housing and the costs associated with it - electric, wifi, water, sewer trash - bills, all of it, add up to putting the average family in quite the bind to be able to pay the bills every month.  How much is left over for any kind of recreational use? I'm guessing a lot of families don't have any extra money.

It's a viable alternative -if you can handle having someone you don't know, initially, moving into a bedroom in your house and helping you pay those bills.  I am thinking they thought of me as just a temporary dweller.  But I'm called Uncle Ben now, this has has transgressed far beyond any "tenant living in a room in the house" situation.  It may or may not be permanent, who knows. But as for the here and now, it works and I am content with the setup.  I really do like meeting all kinds of new people, James and Taylor have mostly really cool friends.

Anyway, I was talking with the grandpa for several hours yesterday.  I didn't get up to see them off tho, lol, I was sleeping and no reason to disrupt that sleep cycle. I'll see them again next month when they come get the boys while we go off on vacation.  It's exactly what Taylor needs, a break from those kids and being in the same rut day after day.  Which reminds me, I really need to get dressed, get out the door and take the dogs to the doggy park and get them and I exercised today.  They love it, I don't really love it considering the temps and humidity, but I endure it.  About a half hour of brisk walking in giant circles. The dogs pounce around for about the first 15 to 20 minutes, then they start to succumb to the heat and slow wayyyy down.  It's nice tho, no leashes required and a lot of room for them to gallop around.

Meanwhile, my manager called me this morning. My real manager, not the interim one while my manager was on vacation.  Wasn't really sure what she was calling me about, but I hoped she was in a good mood.  I was sleeping - the ringer wasn't on but the vibration from the phone woke me up anyway, I'm a really light sleeper.  Unfortunately : (   So many people I know that could sleep with a fire truck wailing sirens on it driving next to their heads and not even stir them.  Why can't I be like that?  Anyway, she said she was just checking in, first day back at work.  She sounded happy and refreshed, at least.  She should have done that long ago.  A short discussion about her vacation and then asking me when I'm ready to go back to work? Uhh, right now? lol .... whenever you have something for me. 

I have West Virginia going out 2cd load tomorrow, does that work? Heck ya it works!  Here's the kicker, it's not even 9am and I'm getting notification in advance!  I wish she would do this on every trip, it would make planning sooooo much easier.  I am always in limbo until usually late afternoon of the day before a trip.  I dunno, but I"m headed to Charleston, West Virginia tomorrow.  I haven't been on that run in a long, long time.  It's a great run at almost 2,000 miles.  About a $1,200 trip which can, theoretically, be done in 3 days if the planets are aligned correctly.

In other words, everything has to work seamlessly and I have to make it a certain, minimum distance each day to make it work.  Tomorrow, I'll have to make it at least as far as Cross Plains, Tennessee on I-65 northbound.  That's minimum distance.  The next day, I'd have to make it to Charleston, drop and hook trailers, and get back at least as far as Elizabethtown.  Preferably further down I-65 if possible, such as as far as Franklin.  But I have to make it back to I-65 at least that day to even have a chance of getting back to the yard the next day.  Those are long days.  But the pay makes it worth it. 

My goal would be the 3 days if at all possible, tho, because then it would be getting back to the yard on Friday evening and having that trip pay next week.  Right now, I think the only thing going on for next week is the Portland/Corpus Christie trip.  I think I'm going to make around $800 on it because of extra pay for the second load, but that's not much of a paycheck in and of itself.  Most drivers I have found aren't motivated to do things like making this upcoming trip a 3 day version.  They're content to make it a 4 day trip and call it a day.  But besides getting me back in 3 days and getting on the pay cycle I want it to, it also puts me back in queue for another run faster. 

Anyway, I'm going to prepare some dishes to take out with me, including that nice cloud bread.  Some ribs, a little pork loin and a nice large serving of chicken wings.  Add a keto friend veggie bowl to that, a large one and some other things.  There really aren't many places to stop and eat on this particular run, if I don't take stuff with me, I'm doomed to be eating unhealthy stuff that I don't want to eat but will out of being forced to if I don't prepare enough food in advance. 

I'm not, however, smoking any of it today.  I just don't feel like sitting out there in the heat today tending to a smoker all day long.  Oven cooked works.  And a small pork loin roast, a rack of ribs and chicken wings don't take long to make.  30 minutes for the chicken wings, something like an hour and 20 minutes in the oven for the pork loin and a couple of hours on low heat for the ribs.  I might do the ribs on 225 for a more tender meat outcome. 

Now then. Gong to spend sometime online today - now that the house is quiet and I can focus better - on attempting to learn the basics of stock trading.  It just isn't conducive to studying with kids screaming running around the house all day ..... but that not until after I take the dogs for a nice walk.

G'day.