When REAL Life Gets In The Way

I probably have not already mentioned that I have a cat. She is not only my fur baby, but my anchor to the living world. She is also the sweetest most loving creature you could ever possibly hope to meet.

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Salome, on her favorite shop-rag bed.

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So, it should come as no shock when I say that I nearly fell apart when I found out she was not feeling well.

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To make a long story short, and to spare you all the medical details, she tolerated the trip to the vet quite well. Better even than I expected. The vet was very compassionate, even with regards to my extremely meager finances, and kept cost to about $60. Not really money I had to spend, but for my baby girl, if I have it, I will give it to save her.

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Now that we are home, she seems entirely unaffected. She's not even showing symptoms anymore. And unless she does, I'm not going to use the pain medication given to me by the vet. Why risk it?

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As for me; my nerves still feel extremely frayed (even raw). I'm still having difficulty doing even simple things (like getting my food). Even though I'm pretty sure she's fine now, I still feel like I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. Not to mention, I'm still concerned there may be additional expenses to come.

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In the event that anyone would like to help, I'm including a link below. Every little bit helps. And anything would be appreciated. But for the record, if you are in a similar financial situation to myself, I would prefer not to further burden you.

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Help LilMischif

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It did occur to me, looking at the picture I posted of my baby girl, that I could actually offer a very small tip with this is story.

That sleeping box, she's sitting in, is extremely inexpensive to prepare. All you really need is a box, of a good size for your cat, and $5 or maybe as much as $15 worth of synthetic chenille type shop rags (I found them at Walmart, in the automotive section). I would recommend washing them, before you throw them into the box, for your cat to enjoy. They are also very easily washable. Do be sure to dry them with a softener sheet. Otherwise the static would become quite unmanageable. It might even prove painful for your beloved pet.

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My cat adores the shop rags. It gives her plenty of opportunity to dig and move the material around, for her comfort and even entertainment. And these rags are extremely cheap (about $5 for 10 conveniently sized rags). So if your cat gets fierce with them, even destroys them, they are inexpensive to replace. They're so cheap, you might even want to grab an extra package, to keep for use around the house.

A Tip for Making Calorie Reduction Easier

I recently had a doctor's appointment. My doctor told me that I need to cut back by over a hundred calories. So I made some small adjustments to all of my meals. Breakfast is usually my largest actual meal of my day. If you can see the picture below, you can see that it's bacon and eggs.
I used to have two strips of extra thick bacon and one egg. And I beat the egg into the bacon fat, in the pan. I believe I posted the very simple recipe some while ago.
The change I made to my breakfast is removing one slice of the bacon and replacing some of the fat with coconut oil and reserved bacon fat.  I used to just cut the bacon slice in half, which makes it fit better in my pan better.

By the way, I can honestly recommend the Extra Virgin Coconut Oil (I get mine from Sam's Club) over the Refined. It's your choice to use Organic or not. Mine is, though I don't have much of an option. I just find that the Extra Virgin adds a nice coconut flavor, without the texture of the "meat", that I personally can't deal with.
The trick I came up with is really quite simple. As soon as I take the bacon strips out of the pan, I cut each half into 4 more pieces (that's 8 total). Then I carefully arrange them back as they would have been if they were not cut. See the picture below for clarification.

 

I know it seems unbelievably simple, but there is some science behind it. The appearance of the larger strips, on the plate, lets your brain know there's more than just a little bit there. But when you go to eat, the little pieces make it more difficult for you to just scarfed down a whole piece of bacon, or even half of one, all at once. And if you cut similar-sized pieces from the egg, it gives you the impression that you're actually eating more food than you are. And it is super critical to take your time and enjoy your food. Obviously this doesn't just work for bacon and eggs. It can be adapted for just about any meal you might possibly want to prepare.

But don't just take my word for it. Give it a try yourself. I know it works for me. And I hope it does as much for you.
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If you appreciate the information I'm providing, please feel free to use the following link:

Thank LilMischif

A Cure for the Common Blah

As I have been on one low-carb diet or another for an extremely long time, I have found it necessary to find alternative ways to add flavor (especially the fruity kind) to my life.  One of the most efficient ways I found, so far, is direct application by squeeze bottle drink mixes.
They are not only great, as advertised, in water. They can work well in cooking and other applications. Some flavors work better than others when heat is applied. One thing I have found quite difficult, is finding flavors that will work with cream (as cream has a strong tendency to curdle with anything containing citric acid). 
I'm including a photo of a bunch of the flavors that I use and therefore recommend more highly than others you may find. Of course, your local store may have flavors I've never seen here in the Midwest.

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Oops! I noticed that the picture I took doesn't really portray the flavors very well so here's a list of the ones in the photo:

• Crystal Light Flavors;  Blackberry lemonade, strawberry lemonade, tropical coconut, mandarin orange (iced tea), strawberry pineapple refresh (caffeinated).
• Dasani Drops Flavors;  tropical coconut, pear acai, pink lemonade. Not included, due to being out; mixed berry.
• Generic Flavors;  peach mango passion fruit, pineapple coconut lime, raspberry black tea. Absent in photo;  orange blast.
• Mio Flavors;  sweet tea, acai berry storm (caffeinated), orange vanilla. Some of the generic flavors are also Mio in origin.
• And then, to round out the photo grouping, there's Tang.

For clarification, because it doesn't actually show in the photo, all of these flavors are sugar-free. A few do have a small carb footprint, but not so much that you need to avoid them entirely. Just be sure to read the labels prior to purchase.

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Some folks may have noticed that I posted, quite a while ago, regarding an unusual observation. For your convenience, I will recap it here. My earlier observation was that any drink mixes, containing propylene glycol, are no longer palatable since I've been on keto. And I began noticing this after maybe a few weeks. They may still be viable flavor options if you're only on the Atkins diet. I however have no intention of returning to using them. After all, propylene glycol is a purely synthetic sweetener.

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Because I know almost nobody, who just starts reading my blog, is going to read back just for S&G, I think it's probably prudent to go ahead and repeat myself here. None of my recommendations are paid for. Nor do I publicly endorse any particular company or product, for a fee. The only income I may possibly achieve, from these recommendations, is that which you give freely in appreciation.

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If you do appreciate the information I'm providing, please feel free to use the following link:

Thank LilMischif

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