My Science Experiment

I am here to confess that I am a Diet Coke lover. I only have one a day….well, maybe two….but that’s it. I swear.

But I’ve come to find out that Diet Coke doesn’t love me.

A few years ago, I found I was disoriented, dizzy, “out to lunch”, and had lots of headaches. I finally realized it was the aspartame (Nutra Sweet) in the Diet Coke that was causing this. When I switched to regular (full strength!), all these symptoms went away. It was wild.

After a while though, I missed my old friend so switched back. I thought I’d be clever this time and outfox my Diet Coke. I started drinking Diet Coke with Splenda. It was a new product and rated to be much safer than aspartame.

Perhaps nine months have gone by since I made the switch. Maybe a year…I am not sure.

Ah, a year of bliss. I was in heaven.

But then strange things began to happen.

I noticed that my vision was blurry. It was only in one eye at a time and never the same one. Odd. I thought it was my contacts but when I took them out and wore glasses, nothing changed.

Hmmm.

I noticed other things too: breakouts on my face, headaches, foggy brain, and fatigue.

Hmmm.

I chalked it up to stress. After all, my life can be stressful.

I happened to mention to my principal about my weird eye thing….had to wear my glasses to school that day. First time in ten years. She immediately called in the school nurse who took my blood pressure.

Guess what? My blood pressure was elevated.

Another hmmmm.

The nurse said, “Well, it’s not like you’re stressed or anything, right?”

(insert tongue in cheek)

I know I’m stressed, don’t sleep extremely well at times, have not been exercising, and probably don’t eat the best (especially when life is really busy), but I had not expected this. Before running to the doctor, I thought I’d make a few life-style changes to see if that helped.

Well, two days ago, I got the brilliant idea to google Splenda.

Guess what I found? In some cases, people are super sensitive to this additive.

Guess what else? They display the same symptoms I have…including increased blood pressure. Toss in the headaches treated with ibuprofen, there is another blood pressure increase.

So, I kissed my old friend goodbye and will never return.

Forty-eight hours after being Splenda free, I had no vision issues at school today. None.

Kinda makes me wonder.

What about you?

Sweet, sweet bedtime......

I have a confession to make.

My kids are really weird.

Oh wait….I think I’ve admitted that before.

But who else has kids who would rather freeze at night to escape making their beds the next day?

Yep. Mine.

The little girls have decided that no matter the weather, they are sleeping ON TOP of their comforters with only a light fleece blanket to keep them warm. Thus you avoid having to make your bed the next day.

Huh. Who'd ever think of that?

I always thought bedtime was for being warm, cozy, and snuggled in your comforter.

Unless you live at my house and are flat out lazy.

Guess they were serious because last night when I went to check on them before going to bed, I found this……



Gee, someone is pretty bossy, don’t you think?

Cell Phones for Kids

Ah, the age of technology. Laptops, ipods, cell phones, blackberries, iphones…..anything we need is available at the touch of a finger. Amazing.

Not to be left out of this technological craze, the girls recently made laptops out of old Styrofoam containers so they could get on Facebook and check email. Yikes.

What made me think cell phones would be any different?

They know the lingo. Just text him, mom.

They ham it up for the video or pictures. Not on my phone though. Mine doesn’t do that.

They play with the old phones which have been discarded or broken due to death by texting.

Oh, and a side note for my friends: if a battery is still in a phone, it is still able to call 911. Learned that lesson. Yep.

We are now the proud owners of new cell phones designed just for kids.



As we did errands this weekend, and separated the girls, each yelled to the other…...”take your phone. I’ll text you!”

Funny thing is….when we got home from our separate shopping trips, they talked about texting and calling each other.

Cool thing about these phones is they don’t make noise. Only the user makes noise. And, you call someone by pushing the first letter in their name. Talk about speed dialing!

Downside is….we don’t know if we’re being called. Abby was very indignant when I did not answer my phone recently. Well, gee, I didn’t know it was ringing.

Hmmm…..wonder what technology will bring by the time the little ones are teenagers?

It Takes a Village

A certain six year old who lives in our house has been struggling with the rules at school. Talkative child that she is can’t seem to keep her mouth closed at the appropriate times.

Go figure. I am utterly shocked.

(those of you who know this child in question know I am being very sarcastic!)

Unfortunately, as the days passed, she began to dislike school. We’ve had many tears and meltdowns lately as we tried to work through this issue.

We put our heads together to come up with a plan…..thus enter the village.

Not just this village…



A true village with teacher, parents, siblings, grandparents, and friends.

Little sister tried to reassure by saying she had to move her clip at school to red. She has never moved her clip but wanted her sister to feel better. So sweet!

Big brother told her he used to “pull sticks” in school when he was little. But he never did….well, he might in high school if this system was used!

Big sister called her several mornings on the way to school to chat and wish her a good day.

Teacher and mom worked hard at finding a solution to help this certain child. Lots of ideas tossed around……some implemented.

Lots of virtual hugs from friends around the country…..

And today? Today brought us a package from Grandma. Look!








Aren’t they adorable?? Special reminders for school days.

Last week during school were good days. But after school? We didn’t even make it to the car before she completely melted down. Guess holding it together all day long was all she could handle. Sigh.

But this week? So far, knock on wood, we’ve had good days and good afternoons.

Perhaps in the back of her mind, she is remembering the ultimate prize……..a night at college with Katie.



It does indeed take a village to raise a child.

I am ever so thankful for our village.

The Job of Daughters.....

Whoever knew that the job of a daughter would be so extensive? Beyond the “let’s make dad crazy by dating this guy” or “what can I do to annoy my parents” or “how far can I drive the car and just leave a little bit of gas” kind of mentality, there’s so much more expected.

Daughters are caught in a tough position. Wanting to be independent yet trying to hold onto the family ties as long as possible. Wanting to pull away yet sucked in at the same time.

When I was a teenage/college kid, I would meet my dad at the door to tell him mom had a new haircut, so comment on it. You’d think he’d notice on his own. But, nope. He’s a guy. They notice nothing. Other tidbits would be offered as the proper situations arose. Dads owe their daughters so much……

Birthdays are no different. My recent one came and went with little notice. One half hearted, “let’s tell mommy happy birthday.” That was it.

Yippee.

No cake, no card, no flowers, no nothing. We don’t do gifts so that was fine. But, a little fanfare would be nice. Even just a smidgeon.

After a sad day, I emailed the eldest kid away at school and vented a bit. She vowed to come home this weekend and do a birthday celebration again…..but I hate to ask that of her.

She evidently also called her daddy and told him mom was bummed out. Not sure what else happened during that call.

All I know is, he arrived home from church tonight with a dozen roses in his hand.

Another case of daughter looking out for mom.

All I know is, I love my big girl and miss her when she’s gone. Yes, she drives me crazy and yes, she is partly the reason why my hair is gray.

But I can’t imagine life without her.