What fresh hell is this?

Can I just say how much I was looking forward to my morning cup of coffee todat? This past week I have not gotten enough sleep to make myself a decent cup of coffee before leaving the house. So I figured I could make up for it this morning. Saturday morning is swim lesson morning for my daughter. We have to be there and in the pool at 8:00 so we leave the house at 7:20. On Saturday. No problem, really. I'll just make a cappuccino and head about my merry way with a handy dandy thermal cup. I make up an nice double shot cappuccino, froth the milk, add ample sugar (like my coffee sweet) and head out. I get about a mile down the road and take a sip and oh Sweet Mary Mother of God.

I don't mean that in a good way. I mean that in a, "What fresh Hell is this" way. Apparantly, my mother-in-law, who is staying with us until tomorrow, has replaced my regular sugar with artifical. As in Splenda. This is the same woman who has somehow replaced all my brand name whatever-they-hell-it-is with generic in order to prove to me that I am a slave to marketing and the Kroger brand is just as good as the Ziploc bags, which she washes out and hangs over my faucet after use, by the way. I can only picture her, smiling in my kitchen like the, "We've replaced the regular restaurant gourmet coffee with Folger's Crystals, let's see if they notice the difference" guy. Let's say I noticed the difference. I HATE all artificial sweeteners. Period. None of them taste like sugar. At all. Never met a single one I liked. I had heard some good things about Splenda so I tried to changed my opinion. See? I'm pliable. I'm not THAT stubborn. Nope, it sucks. I cannot even imagine people baking with it. The horror. This, of course, coming from a woman who refuses to use margarine and uses only real butter. And let me say this: If I come to your house and you even attempt to serve me Folger's Crystals with or without artificial sweetener, I will kick you ass nine ways to Sunday.

Apparantly, the Splenda had ended up in the sugar jar because my mother-in-law could not find the regular sugar. I have had an entire lesson on pantry organization as it should be. I'd tell you more about it but really, I have no idea what she said as I'm sure I fell asleep standing up in the middle of the conversation.