I don't know why, but it's been really tough to get back into this keto diet. Just weird that it's so difficult to get into that regimen again.  I'm back into mild ketosis, which will increase in the next few days and start using fat for energy.  I"m doing it, just not as easy as it seemed to be before I stopped doing it for a few months.  Of course, no one claims that this diet is easy and if they do, they probably aren't exactly being truthful about it.  If you like potatoes, rice and beans, you will find this diet a tough cookie to crack.  Oh, no cookies. At least not the kind you grew up with lol.

I'm off 2 full days, plus the more than half day when I got back from Oklahoma yesterday.  I asked the manager after he texted me that it "looks like you're going out on Thursday" if we had slowed down.  No, not really, you just missed it by 15 minutes lol.

I didn't bother to ask him what that meant, for when I got back to the yard, I was the only driver there besides one other that had been sitting there over a day. He was already en-queue for a load, so his statement made no sense.  Complaining about it isn't going to change anything, I"ll just ask him nonchalantly what he meant next time I see him.

Nothing much new, really.  Women fretting over finding a place to live.  Wanting me to contact the owner of the house - who sent a letter stating he was happy about how we treated the place, but he has a family member he wants to move in there.  I can't do anything to change that situation.  It's not my house, he has the right.  I'm not going to try again. I made my pitch, it was rejected, it is what it is.

I could buy a house. Nothing that I want, I'm not getting bogged down in that.  People are fickle, things happen, people find new opportunities.  I'm actually hoping that some opportunity opens up for Maria to live elsewhere. Family, friends, whatever.  My dogs can stay at home in the back yard when I"m gone, come in at night into the bedroom.

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Talk of another meat shortage prompted me to head to the store.  The reimposed limits on beef, pork and chicken. But another 9 pounds of hamburger meat and a large tray of chicken breast, plus some sliced ham for road trips.  And a bunch of canned food.  The pantry is really starting to look nicely stocked with all kinds of canned and dried food. We're good for a couple of months if things really got bad. 

I also bought another thing of toilet paper. Not because we need it, but because it's so hard to find, I figured to buy an extra and give it away to whosoever needs it.  Note that i said give away, not price gouge - and it would be easy to price gouge in this community right now. The TP aisles are either always empty or almost empty and getting empty quickly.  There's no in between and hasn't been for 2 months now.  Trust me, someone will need toilet paper and I can give them a whole 8 pack of Scott 1,000 count each roll.

Brownsville tomorrow. I was beginning to wonder if I'd get any of those again. I have not complained about the runs.  This week's paycheck will be a bit spartan as only one run on it, but it is the West Virginia run so it's not going to be too terribly bad. At least enough to pay the mortgage in Phoenix. Yes, they sent the rent from that house, yes I have it in the bank, but I tend to pay the mortgage the last day it's due before I get zapped with a late fee, which is on the 16th of every month.  The reason I do that is to keep as much cash available on hand as possible up to the last minute I need it.  Yes, I've needed it in the past and yes I ate the late fee and had the money for something else that I needed ti for, making up the payment later on. I'm hoping I can get back from Brownsville on Friday so I can get that run on next week's pay, otherwise next week will be an Oklahoma run only and that isn't a paycheck. That's just pay the government, my 401k and my health insurance.  Maybe a bit left over but not much.

Not much else today.  Still looking for a rental house for them.  One house was $900 and was terrible.  The place looked like it had been ravaged by previous tenants and they decided not to fix it, including bare plywood floors.  $900 for that?  Filthy, dirty, nasty looking place.  Good luck renting that out. I'll be watching that one to see if anyone actually rents it - or if they bring the price down.  Bring it down to around $600 per month and I'll replace the flooring on a long term rental - tho I won't bother to tell them that.  Other than that, way over priced homes.  1,400 square foot homes going at $1,500 and higher.  Ridiculous.  If we get to the end of the road and we still haven't found anything? I don't really know what to do.  I can only say I tried to find a place. Maria is talking to moving to a house 2 towns over - where I work.  So taking the dogs wouldn't be a big deal. 

But that would pretty much end child watching arrangement.  Taylor isn't going to want to drive 35-40 miles each way to take the kids if something happens and they get sick or whatever the precludes them from going to daycare.  I guess as a last resort. I'll watch them - if I ''m home.  But that's not reliable.  Met some people at Kroger's, we got into a long discussion about the impending meat shortage. Lady helps run a foster care with 27 children and having trouble finding enough meat to feed them all.  I gave her some suggestions - the Kroger's we were at was out of ground beef. Out, that is, until the butcher came out with a huge tray of 3 pound chubs and told her to take as much as she needed.

She had already asked about getting some.  I took 2 - that was the limit.  We're not going to starve over here if I have anything to do with it.  I know, doom and gloom, I think it's common sense and reasonable to prepare for the worst and hope it doesn't go there. But when this pandemic broke out, the grocery stores were veritably emptied out of everything.  I posted pics of the meat coolers - there wasn't a pound of anything in  them.  They were virtually wiped out and they stayed that way for along time.

Canned food was also gone, dried beans, pasta, tuna fish, etc etc etc.  I bought a little of all of that today. On top of what I have already bought for the pantry, it's pretty much full. Could make room elsewhere and very well may.  I have peace of mind we could survive 2 or 3 months without buying anything. Kids wouldn't be eating their chicken nuggets or taquitos, but they would have meat on their plate.  Eat - or don't eat.  That's the 3 year old currently. He has a very limited list of food he'll eat, the rest he'll just sit there and stare at you with an ugly face and refuse to eat it. It's delicious food, btw.  Brisket, steak, burgers, all kinds of good stuff, but the boy just wants the junk food. At least the parents refuse to cave, eat your food or don't eat.  Many times he doesn't eat, then tries to steal cookies and other stuff. 

Since we have a lot of hamburger meat, it's hamburgers for dinner! 

With that, I'm offa here.