Diet Coke is evil...

Once upon a time, I was addicted to Diet Coke.  What I once started drinking because it was supposed to be better for me, turned into the cause of quite a few health problems. To name a few: brain fog, irritability,  weight gain. I stop drinking Diet Coke and bam I feel normal again.




I guess some people are simply not affected by the artificial sweetener, aspartame, that is in the majority of diet drinks. I am not one of those people. It effects every aspect of my well being. There are a gajillion articles online about the horrible effects this ingredient can have on your body, so I’ll let you do your own research. Suffice to say, there is study after study proving it’s negative side effects. I hate to sound like one of those crazy people who thinks the FDA is behind some evil plot to poison us all, but this stuff is horrible for you and they approved it. You cannot trust the government to tell you what is and is not good to put into your body.



Like I said, it’s in almost every artificially sweetened drink or product on the market. The two main things I had to eliminate in my every day life were Diet Coke and "lite" yogurt. Aspartame is even in some vitamins and medicine. Diet Coke seems to have the highest concentration of it that I’ve experienced, and in quitting drinking this alone I saw a drastic improvement in my mood. Every now and then I think I can have one Diet Coke and be fine, but 100% of the time I feel the effects. It’s so strange how something millions of people drink every day can effect me so greatly.



If you currently eat, drink, take or chew anything that is artificially sweetened I challenge you to eliminate these things from your diet for a week and take notice of the improvement in your quality of life.

Now, stepping off my crazy conspiracy soapbox.

Ressurection Weekend

What a fun, three-day weekend! The boys and I did a lot.

Thursday afternoon was filled with their parties at school.  I had to run home before joining them, so I was a little late. By the time I arrived, Cason and the four other toddlers in his class were doing this:



Clean-up was fun!

 After I got Cason cleaned up and re-dressed, we headed to Luke's class for his egg hunt. 



Luke, Cody, Paxton, and Vance

We had a game that evening and Lucas was on fire! I lost count of how many runs he had, and he had countless RBI's and got several people out! He almost had a triple out one inning, which was awesome! A double out is pretty cool, too though. We are so proud of him and all the boys on his team. They won 20-10.  A win is always good, but the most important and best part was they played as a team, and learned while having fun!



Our rainbow cakes in a jar were plenty yummy! I took a picture with my phone, but I can't get it to upload. I did post a pic on facebook, so if you are "friends" with me, then you saw them there.


We had plans to dye eggs with friends, but they got sick, so we had to change our plans, but that was ok too.  Lucas, Cason and I colored eggs at home on Saturday.  Lucas is a little on the artsy side (gets that from me) so he really got into it.  Cason, on the other hand, hasn't quite discovered his artistic abilities just yet.  He did paint the eggs and did well with that. He also squished one and launched one across the room which resulted in a nice crackle effect on the paint. Ha! He also decided that the paint looked yummy, so he bit the sponge roller.

After we colored eggs, Papaw and Nana came over !  They had been in Ft. Worth visiting Nannie for a few days so the boys were really excited to see them. (We usually see them at least 2-3 times per week).  And, they brought goodies! They got the boys some really nice clothes, and of course an Easter basket each. 

Lucas asked to go home with them, so we went ahead and gave the boys their baskets from us also.  They were so excited. I made them a basket with a Scentsy buddy and lots of goodies. I made similar baskets for my Scenstsy customers who purchased Buddies for their kids. Lucas kept asking, "Why don't me and Cason get one too?" That made the surprise that much better when he saw that he did get one afterall!

Cason smelling his buddy, "Ribbert". The Scentsy buddies have an opening in their back for a ScentPak.

Cason's basket



Luke's basket

Lucas went home with Papaw and Nana for the evening.  The next morning we had a special Easter lesson during Children's Church. More on that later !  My boys looked SO handsome in their "preacher suits", as Lucas calls them:



If Cason looks a little concerned here, it is because someone dressed
up as the Easter bunny after church and this event  left him somewhat traumatized.
He did not care for the big hairy thing in the polk-a-dot vest.  He is still in recovery mode
in this picture, and keeping his eye on the "EB".

 I will work on a seperate post about our special CC lesson, and more pictures of our Easter celebration!



Rolling in the mud...

After a tremendous storm in the wee hours of Sunday morning, our yard, drive and ditches were literally overflowing. The garden took a beating too, but HOPEFULLY Heath salvaged it. Lucas and his neighbor-friend Logan found a mud puddle to play in. The product:

On a serious note, my co-workers and I are taking the recent Swine Flu pandemic at it's utmost sincerity... We are practicing good, thorough handwashing skills, going through a bottle of Purell per day, and even sporting masks to help stop the spread of germs:

me

amy

sandy

I know you are dying to know...

10 things about me!

1. What is your current obsession? Washing hands!! No swine flu for us!

2. Which item of clothing do you wear most often? My Charlotte Russe jeans, I would wear them 24/7 if I could get away with it!

3. What's for dinner? hamburger helper, per request de hubby

4. What are you listening to? a conference call at work on the swine flu!

5. Say something about the one who tagged you. She's adorable and pregnant.

6. Favorite vacation spots? anywhere a beach is involved.

7. What am I reading right now? My sisters keeper, jodi piccoult

8. Four words to describe myself. Happy, Loving, creative, concerned.

9. Guilty pleasure? coffee and magazines

10. First spring thing to do? PLANT!

And now I tag....EVERYONE! I love all of my readers and all of the blogs I follow so you are all it!
haha I'm afraid if I tag or award my bloggie friends one more time they might become annoyed so if you have the time I challenge you all to do it!

Reminiscing...

Just some older pics of Lucas. He is growing up so quickly. Heath and I were noticing last night how tall he is getting. He's definately not a baby anymore! Last night at church, Heath met baby Klayton for the very first time. He thought he was a pretty cute little fella. H just looks so natural with a baby, unlike most men! I'm not sure what Lucas thought about Daddy holding a baby, though. Guess when we have little brother (or sister), we'll really find out what he thinks!

Random

While visiting with friends last night, I heard one of the most random statements I've heard, possbily in my life.

We were all (about 10 of us) standing outside talking about various subjects. Conversation died down and was almost silent, when Daniel randomly says..."Well, I found out that Wild Turkey doesn't kills wasps. "

No one had come close to talking about wasps, or Wild Turkey for that matter. Weird. He definately got a few strange looks, but we all laughed.

Oh, and food for thought: Raid or Hot Shot is a whole lot cheaper than Wild Turkey. Of this, I am sure.

While thinking about wasps, I forgot to mention that our neighbor killed a coral snake right in the backyard! I've heard that they run in pairs so I've been like a mad mama bear looking for its mate!! Heres what I discovered about this specific snake:

The Texas Coral Snake is a brightly colored diurnal snake (active during the day) which can be found throughout the state. However, their preferred habitat is rotting wood in densely forested areas, so a rotting board in your backyard would not be sufficient habitat for them. Although venomous snakes are not as commonly seen in our area as most people are led to believe, this is one that could be encountered due to their daytime activity patterns.
First the bad news: Texas Coral Snakes are in a family of snakes called Elapidae, which includes potentially deadly snakes (cobras, mambas, taipans, sea snakes) found in other parts of the world. Their venom is neurotoxic, which means it attacks the nervous system. Neurotoxic venom in sufficient quantities can cause dizziness, numbness, slurred speech, loss of muscle control, paralysis and even respiratory and heart failure.
Now the good news: Generally speaking, the Texas Coral Snake averages 2 to 2 1/2 feet in length as an adult and has a very small head and very small mouth. They also do not have the highly pressurized venom delivery system of the pit vipers, and have fangs that are no more than 1/8 inch long. This means that a coral snake would have to chew on a victim, and I don't know of too many people that will let ANY kind of snake chew on them for long, let alone a coral snake!!
Texas Coral Snakes can be easily identified by the particular order of the bright red, black and yellow bands encircling the body. Wherever there is a red band on a Texas Coral Snake, there will be yellow bands on each side of it. In contrast, the harmless Louisiana Milksnake, Lampropeltis triangulum amaura, has red bands that are bordered by black bands. Hence the rhyme:
Red touch yellow can kill a fellow; Red touch black, venom lack.

The Texas Coral Snake also has black speckling in the red bands, whereas the milksnake does not. Keep in mind that the Texas Coral Snake is generally diurnal and the Louisiana Milksnake is generally nocturnal, so you are more likely to see a coral snake than a milksnake during the day.

YIKES!!!

Weekend...

Few notes about the weekend.

Saturday was MIL's 59th birthday. Heath, Lucas and I went to breakfast first thing that morning, then went to the store to get supplies so that I could make her a gift basket:

Complete with her favorite candy, flowers, new earrings, bracelet and necklace (pink and bronze pearls), a fun magazine, pics of Lucas, and some pampering items!

My FIL and I had a small suprise dinner for her at El Chico. Heath had to work, so he wasn't able to make it. There were about 30 people there I think. She was really surprised, as she thought she was going on a 'date' with her hubby!

Sunday morning we went to church. The kids and I had a great time. We are learning all about the Fruits of the Spirit. Last week we studied "love" and this week we are learning about "joy". The kids have been really resposive and are seeming to enjoy learning about the gifts that God has given us. And, I am finding that in teaching them, I am learning a lot as well! Also, Ashley dedicated her new little prince, Klayton Tyler. This was the first time Lucas had seen Klayton. In fact it was the first time Lucas had seen a baby that small. He thought Klayton was so cool. He was very sweet and very soft with him. He said thats how little his little brother will be one day. ;)

Sunday afternoon Amber and I decided to run to WalMart and buy Lucas and Irenee a slip-n-slide. When we got there, they found a small pool with a slide, and a Zebra that sprays water and decided that looked like more fun. After we finally got it blown up and ready to go they had a great time!

At church last night, Lucas was determined that he was going to preach. Papaw offered to let him sing instead, and he accepted. He seemed to be satisfied. I'm so proud of my little man.

He sang Jesus Loves Me. And, yes, He sure does love you baby and so do I.

Now, it's MONDAY! Fun's over, time to get to work. It's been a rough morning. I still have Chris on my mind constantly. I have dreamt, in some form or fashion, of him for the last 5 nights in a row. RIP my friend.

So, my break is over, Back to work. Lots to do today as I was in training all day Friday...didn't get much accomplished in the office. After several nights without much rest, I have really been hitting the coffee pot hard this morning!