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I keep thinking of non-Mollie related things I want to write about, so I guess it's time to pick this blog up again.

In case you haven't noticed, this blog doesn't have a particular theme. It is just my ramblings about topics that are on my mind. So today's topic is juice. I admit that I like it. I prefer it to plain water. Actually, my favorite drink (besides beer and wine) is sparkling water with a splash of juice.

My kids, Lucy in particular, like juice, so I do buy juice. I only buy 100% juice, I always try to cut it with water to lessen the sugar content, and I laugh when I read how many servings of fruit this juice contains. Seriously? Juice is liquid sugar. They have taken fruit and removed most of the healthy stuff (fiber), so why does it still count as a serving of fruit?

There are some fruit juices out there that have fruit or vegetable puree added; I can appreciate the nutritional value of those. I think using diluted juice as a thirst quencher is okay, but I seriously question the health claim that juice is a serving of fruit. There are a lot of studies about juice consumption and health so I'm off to do some research. I would like to find a comparison of people who ate the same number of fruit servings, but one group ate whole fruits and the other got theirs through juice.

I'll let you know what I find out.

Maternity Leave?

Oops. I thought I scheduled this post for weeks ago, turns out I scheduled it for 2011. Yeah. This is what happens when you have 3 kids.

Anyway, with the arrival of this not-so-little "little guy", I just haven't had time to keep up this blog AND Mollie's blog (www.allaboutmollie.blogspot.com).

I'll be back when Liam starts sleeping through the night... stay tuned.

Shutterboo Photo Challenge: Fire

We've been having fires every night this week because it's been chilly! It has been in the low 20's at night and a little higher during the day. Yeah, nothing compared to Boston (or Moscow, Toronto, etc), but pretty cold for the Deep South.

Matt and his dad cut down a dead tree in the yard a few weeks ago. We have now burned up all that wood, plus all the fallen limbs from our yard. Matt is anxious to cut down another tree (we have lots and some spindly and unhealthy).

My submission to the photo challenge this week, though, is a photo I took on Christmas Eve. Our whole neighborhood puts out luminaries and it is gorgeous. It is peaceful. Calm. Perfect for Christmas Eve. We walked with the girls in the wagon and enjoyed the soft luminaries lining both sides of the streets.


Be sure to check out the other photos in the flickr pool. There are some fabulous flames!

Shutterboo Photo Challenge: Brown (catching up from last week)

Last week's photo challenge was "brown". To me, that means chocolate!!

My mother-in-law made these "unbaked" chocolate cookies. They are delicious!

Here's the recipe:

3 C rolled oats
1 C shredded coconut
1/2 C cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 C sugar
1/2 C milk
1/2 C butter
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix first 4 ingredients together in a large bowl. Mix sugar, milk, & butter in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix well. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto waxed paper until cool and hardened.