So now I'm eating sugar...by choice

For the past two days, I've done something I haven't done in ages.  Which, when you read what it is, seems really trivial, but to me is kind of a big deal.

Thing is, I've been making my oatmeal with sugar.  Yeah, actual sugar.  Brown sugar to be precise.

I eat a half a cup of oatmeal for breakfast most mornings during the week.  As is, we're looking at 150 calories for half a cup, made with water.  Sometimes I add fruit, sometimes raisins.  But until recently I always added Splenda.

I had a big old bag of Splenda that I thought would last me forever.  Well, it finally ran out sometime last week.  What to do?

So I went with the brown sugar.  With about 15 calories (some say 17) in a teaspoon, in moderation it's really not so bad.  So I add 2 teaspoons to my oats for a grand total of 180 calories, which is not too shabby.  And let me just say, it tastes delicious!

I also attempted real sugar in my coffee.  1 tablespoon was too much, but 1 teaspoon was too little, so I'm still working on refining that.

So tell me, what's your take on artificial sweeteners?  Do you use them or do you use the real stuff?