What is a girl to do when she has a sweet tooth, is constantly on the go, but is striving to eat in a healthy manner? My friends, this is something that I struggle with on a daily basis. I’m a vegetarian. I try my best to eat foods that are good for me. But, gosh darn it, I love sweets. And I love to bake. Here’s the problem: I am, like all of you, very busy most of the time. At times, I’ll have a pocket of time free to do some baking, but most of the time I don’t. So I find myself indulging in store bought cookies and cakes. As my husband is also a certified sweet lover, you can see the trouble we’re headed for here. Wait a minute! There just might be a solution to this problem. Enter two new products from Newtons. (Yes, the Newtons as in Fig Newtons, a long-time favorite of mine.)

Please say hello to Fruit Thins Banana Drizzled with Dark Fudge and Fruit Thins Coconut Drizzled with Dark Fudge. Newtons calls them a truly unique cookie and I have to agree. They are made with whole grains, dark fudge and real fruit.  Already, we are ahead of most cookies in the cookie aisle of your neighborhood supermarket. I really try to use whole grains when I cook (or more accurately, when my husband cooks.) Real fruit instead of something fruit flavored? Yes. And do I have to say anything about Dark Fudge? I didn’t think so. As soon as I opened the cookies, my husband magically appeared (how did he know?) and we sampled some. I’m being totally honest with you here. We loved them. We ate quite a few in that first session and we’ve eaten even more since. We will definitely be buying these in the future.

There. You needed to see a close up. Oh, so good. So good that, even though I’m not a big fan of coconut, I loved the Fruit Thins Coconut Drizzled with Dark Fudge. I’m a certified banana lover and the Fruit Thins Banana Drizzled with Dark Fudge did not disappoint. Did you know that there are 8g of whole grains per 31g serving? That matters to me. I suspect it matters to you, too. Listen. If I had the time, I would be making my own healthy cookies because I do love to bake. But I am on the go most of the time. I’ve been very busy lately. I work in the theater and sometimes have to work out of town for 5 to 10 weeks at a time. I just got back from 5 weeks away from home. It’s far too easy for me to eat the wrong foods, especially when I’m far away from my family and need ‘comfort’ foods. I just grab something sweet without thinking. When I’m home, especially at this time of the year, I’m out in the garden or working around the property. I barely stop to eat. I want to have a balanced, healthy diet in spite of being so busy. These cookies will be perfect for us because they’re made of whole grains, real fruit and dark fudge – a combination that says to me, it’s okay to indulge in a little sweetness. Yummy!

I really love the graphics on the packaging, complete with a ‘Newtonism.’ Please visit newtonscookies.com to read more about all the new fruit flavors and get access to some great tips. Now I’m hungry. I’m off to eat another cookie.

Be sure to check out the Newtons brand page on BlogHer.com to read other bloggers’ posts!

Was it a full moon yesterday? Was it the incessant rain? I don’t know, but it was a strange day. We were trapped in the house all day with sheets of rain coming down. I worked on two more acts of Much Ado (only one more to go) and then there was the weird spam thing that happened to one of my readers. Thanks to those of you who responded to my previous post, which asked if any of you had received a Comment Reply email from this blog with some offensive spam on it. I trust you know that I would never send that kind of thing. When the reader wrote me about it, I went into panic mode and tried to figure out what the problem was. I’m pretty sure now that the site is secure and I’ve also added another level of security.

Why is my initial response to this kind of thing always “I’ll just stop blogging?” That only lasts a minute or two and then I move on.

I deleted the plugin that allows me to notify you if I respond to your comments. This will be problematic, as I respond to most comments on a daily basis and now that box you used to check that enables an email to be sent to you if I reply won’t be there. I’ll look for a better plugin but, in the meantime, you’ll just have to check back to see the replies. So sorry.

I like responding to comments, darn it! I like the conversation we have. So if you have time in your busy days to check back, I would love that. I tend to think, since no one else has written me complaining of a spammy reply being sent to them, that this might have been limited to that one response….hopefully. Meanwhile, I’ll keep investigating.

Ah, the internet. Wonderful and, at the same time, a pain in the tush. I’d use another word and do on a daily basis, but I try to maintain a certain level of decorum here. Ahem.

Right now, the entire property looks water logged, as if it was dunked under water for several days. And, it sort of was. I have no idea what’s blooming or attempting to bloom or bent over from the force of the rain. I’ll have to make a little tour of the grounds and investigate. Better put on my muck boots.

We watched an Austin Powers movie last night (we also watched it last week) and laughed ourselves silly. Yay for laughter. I needed it. Don, who is so patient when I go into blog worry mode, needed it. Laughter is the best medicine, for sure. It pulls me out of my head and into the present. Thank goodness.

I’ll leave you with a glimpse of Scout’s white eyelashes. And the freckles on her nose.

Pretty, pretty girl.

Happy Friday.