It's after midnight and...

I can't sleep because apparently I'm awake in someone else's nightmares. So while I'm terrorizing them I'll just play with my tee shirt designs, that I officially suck at, but at least I have something to show for an hour's worth of effort, right?

See, somewhat productive, so there.

Weight loss is at a stall. Per usual.

So what to do?

Issue a Carb challenge, that's what.

If you don't have a FatSecret account go set one up now then find me. I am Melissa4869.

Once I know I have a couple of people onboard for a challenge then I'll design one on fatsecret.

For now, I need to go to bed.

Just a little taste of some of the things I do

How you can HELP with Harvey Pet Rescues

(Blogger note: The cutie patootie in this picture is not in need of rescue, he's my fur baby, but isn't that just the prettiest sit ever?)




This rescue near and dear to my heart and desperately needs help as they take in as many rescues from the flooding in Texas.

Big Fluffy Dog Rescue needs

Towels

Metal Food Bowls

Blankets

Indestructible toys like Kongs of all sizes, she respectfully requests no stuffed animals

If you would rather donate money to cover the expenses of animals who are injured or sick coming out of Texas and there are vets travelling with her as they pull dogs out of the afflicted area
this is her website

bigfluffydogs.com then follow the links


Her mailing address is
BFDR
196 Jefferson PK
LaVergne TN 37086

If you're in the area, she needs help with walking the dogs and quite possibly fosters, applications are on her website as well.

I know y'all can find a blanket or two you don't need or use...right?

Puppy Love Photo Bomb

This is my baby boy, Bandit. He just turned 8 months old.  He's a great Pyrenees, Australian shepherd mix who weighs 70 lbs. He's a rotten puppy lol!

What I do in my spare time

I LOVE doing tie dyed shoes!  To do this all you need are white canvas sneakers, Sharpie Permanent Markers,and eye dropper, and  91% rubbing alcohol. Color your design leaving a white border between each color, using your eye dropper liberally drop 91% rubbing alcohol in the colored areas and or along the edges of your colored areas. Let dry out for a day or two. Yes they will fade as tie dye is famous for.  Wash your sneakers and dry them well first before you start coloring then wash again after the alcohol has dried.  Don't forget to color the tongue of the shoe as well as the shoe strings for a cohesive look.

Tiered Cake Plates

The blue flowered plate wouldn't sit flat because of the scalloped edge on the candle holder but after experimenting food and other items are not affected by the slight angle and it is just a slight angle. This picture makes it look worse than it is

This is my personal favorite project so far.  Simple, but oh so elegant.  I gifted this to a sweetheart of a friend and he loves it!  Will I make another one?  I wish, but alas, Hobby Lobby only ordered them as a spring/summer item and they're all gone now. =(

Updates: I need a vacation and my hopes and dreams laid out for anyone who cares to read them

Things you may or may not know about me:

I really don't know if I'm coming or going of late.

I've lost 14 pound on keto not Atkins, though I think I may go back to Atkins, I just don't know yet.

I can't stand the sound of whistling.  It makes me want to throat punch someone.

I've decided to start back to making soaps and sewing and crafting my heart out because I'm tired of keeping all that creativity in me.   Now if I could just make a living at it things would be all kinds of rosy.

I would really love to open a coffee/gift shop full of antiques and shabby chic hand made items and musty dusty old books, but that takes money which is something I don't have.

I'd love to teach arts and crafts to middle schoolers who don't have anything to do in the afternoons or on weekends, again, the money thing. You know, there are all kinds of after school program for kids in pre-k through 6th grade, then nothing...no wonder we have such a time with kids between the ages of 13 and 18. There's no YMCA and if they don't play a sport then they're kind of left up to their own devices.

I want chickens and goats and pigs and cattle for my farm, but then again there are multiple gazillions of coyotes here. Time to have a coyote hunt.

I have 3 experimental raised beds, none of them are doing very well EXCEPT the birdhouse gourds. I have them everywhere but  I can't eat those.

I'm all kinds of tired and restless.

My online job is playing out.  I dont' want to go back to work in the real world. I'm too old for the nonsense that goes on there. LOL! Bet you never thought you'd hear me say that, huh?

My oldest son graduated from tech college today.  My younger was accepted into the tech college but is on a 2 year waiting list. Seems to me it's time to build a larger campus or another campus, this isn't fair to kids who don't want to go to a traditional college but can't get in to get the skills needed to get a good job.  Sure, they could go on to the 2 year college but they end up in debt.  At least the tech school they can get in and get out without using up pell grants, scholarships, and taking out student loans.

I think I just need a warm tropical vacation.

Where's hotels.com and Carnival Cruise Line when I need them?  Well, except I am pretty much unemployed, but hey, I can dream right?

To state the obvious And the things that stall weight loss

I've been away for a while, mostly on facebook because,well, it's an addiction.  I feel important in my little corner of the Facebook world.  I know about soap making, so I hang around the soap making pages offering help/advice to newbies.  I hang around low carb pages too, sort of feeling like a stranger in this 'new age' low carb world.

I've had militant, and I mean MILITANT women tell me I have no idea what I'm talking about, of course they can have bread, sugar, and fruits, and veggies, not eat fats and keep their carb count around 100-200 a day and still lose weight.  A week later they're whining that they've not lost gained on this diet, it's a gimmick, it's too much trouble, because O.M.G!  They GAINED weight.

While their less militant friends pet and console them, I'm in my little corner, because that's where I let them shove me off to...muttering to myself I told you so....

Their biggest downfall is thinking they can game the system.  That works out well doesn't it?  Let's start with gaming the system.

 Bread..sure you can have it.  They all try the cloud bread which is just cream cheese, eggs, cream of tartar and they promptly hate it, it tastes, get this...too eggy..  Same for cauliflower bread.  Personally, I like it but rarely make it because I'm simply not a bread kind of girl.  So they all end up with the low carb breads made with wheat (stall number one) and pure cane juice...venture a guess what cane juice is?  Certainly isn't rocket science and it's stall number 2.

What I don't get is this OMG I MUST HAVE BREAD!!! Mentality.  I know why folks ate it back in the day, it was cheap. It was filling, and relatively easy to make.  It also didn't have all the garbage ingredients in it that store purchased bread does have these days, like pure cane juice...also known as sugar.  And there it is.  My answer.

Sugar addiction.

Hi. my name is Melissa and I'm a sugar addict.

It's like a heroin addiction, damn near impossible to kick.  It's the one thing I see repeatedly.  The desire to lose weight, but not give up anything to do it and it's all just an addiction. It's the one thing I struggle with and these days my body has a lot to say about my addiction.

Every time I eat a carb laden treat, I end up with a yeast infection that has been known to spread along my inner thighs and under that lovely mother's apron that won't go away as long as I keep shoveling carrot cake and brownies in my face.  Better yet I break out head to toe in psoriasis every time I pop a luscious brownie in my mouth, because gluten is a psoriasis trigger, guess what else feeds the psoriasis outbreak, candida.  What feeds the candida? Sugar, wheat, starch.

Candida also causes bloat and swelling and stubborn weight gain.  I now have eczema on my feet, guess what causes that (besides stress), candida, fueled by gluten, fueled by wheat and sugar.  So I'm trapped in a vicious circle.

I'm itching just talking about it.

There's only 1 way out and I'm working on it, again.

Dear Lord, I'm back to 240 pounds, only 40 more and I'll be back where I started 6 years ago, only older.

Confession is good for the soul.  I confess I've been a horrible blogger. I've been a horrible dieter. And it really is time to get over myself and get healthy again.  I'll confess, the only thing even remotely motivating me is that I don't want to buy any more bigger sized clothing when I have a huge wardrobe of cute things hanging in my closet. The other thing motivating me is the infernal itching from hell!  I had to cut my nails off because I itch so badly some days that I have actually drawn blood.  I liked my longer nails.

I confess that I saw a picture of me from a Christmas party and thought OMG am I really that fat again!

I am the woman in the black and white blouse standing behind another woman in a red jacket in the Christmas picture.  I am in the peach striped tee shirt in the picture under it. I've actually put on another 20 lbs since the striped tee shirt pic was taken.

I am singularly embarrassed by both pictures.  This is not where I thought I would be by now.

SMH.

And now I get to start over....