The Sparkle Box - Book Review

The Sparkle Box is the perfect way to start a new family tradition, teach your kids to help others, and add more meaning to Christmas. 

We received a copy to review and the kids and I Loved it! I'm so excited to add this to our family traditions. Such a great way to teach kids to be compasionate givers, while also showing the love of Christ. 

At the beginning of the story you see The Sparkle Box  sitting on a fireplace mantle and a child asking him mom about it.Throughout the story you read about the child and his family and the various things they are doing to help out someone or some charity. Simple things like donating money or giving a homeless person some gloves. As the story progresses the child continues to ask about the sparkle box, but the parents tell him he has to wait until Christmas to open it.

Finally Christmas comes and the child gets to open The Sparkle Box , but there is nothing in it except slips of paper. On the slips of paper are each of the kind acts that the family has done during the month of December. The parents explain that these were their gifts to Jesus, helping others.

The book comes with The Sparkle Box  and you can do the same thing the family does in the story.

101 Travel Tips - Free E-book

101 Travel Tips is a great  ebook, best of all it's FREE. It's a quick read and it's packed full of fantastic ideas. I travel all the time and had never heard half the tips in here. One tip is even from me! Find out why I always travel with a bag of rice.

Gone Girl - Book Review

Gone Girl

OK, it's been quite a while since I did a book review and part of the reason is that I haven't read anything worth reviewing in some time. Which means that I really liked Gone Girl. In fact I couldn't put it down. I read it in three days after a friend of mine mentioned that she couldn't put it down.

Gone Girl is a mystery book that takes place in Missouri. Amy, wife of Nick, has gone missing and you follow along the journey of finding out what happened.

The story changes directions drastically throughout the book. Just when you think you've figured out what's going to happen the author changes directions and almost transforms the characters into different people. After enough changes in direction you are dying to get to the end and see how it all plays out.

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Free or Cheap E-books

Did you know that everyday Kindle offers hundreds of books for free?

Most of the books listed here are free. If they are not free then they are under $3. I actually read all of these books last year and liked them enough to recommend them. I've gotten to where I really enjoy Ebooks. Although they are shorter than books I would normally read, it's nice to be able to finish them quickly with three kids around.
This one is a light read. It's funny and romantic with a happy ending.

This one had a happy ending, but a little too predictable.





 This was a great read.

I wouldn't normally read this kind of book,but it wasn't bad.




UnEnchanted was a good book. It is the first one in what will become a series as they are written. I didn't realize it was for teenagers or I probably would not have downloaded it. It was good enough that I may read the next one when it comes out.

A Reliable Wife - Book Review

A Reliable Wife is a best seller that's been around a while, but I only read it recently. I was chosen as a World Book night host and they sent me twenty copies. I decided to start a book club and we all read the book. I would be lying if I said my friends liked the book, but a few did! One of the gals in our group mentioned she saw a movie a while back that was the same story line as this book. So, of course I checked into it. My friend was spot on. This book came out ten years after the movie Original Sin starring Angelina Jolie and Antonio Banderas. I haven't seen the movie, but from what I read the book could be ripping off their movie.

I didn't like or not like the book. It's interesting to read and well written. I always enjoy historical fiction. I learned some new things about that time period in America. I hated most of the characters. Usually you can pick at least one character you want to succeed, but not in this book. I would try to summarize the book, but it's just to complicated. One thing is for sure, you will never guess the ending!

Memorize scriptures

Since becoming a mom my brain is always completely scrambled it seems. I have a harder time remembering things. I used to have what I considered a really good memory, but I would not dare make that claim these days!

My mom gave me a book by Lisa Whelchel called Taking Care of the ME in Mommy. In it she talks about something she calls Scripture Primping: writing out scriptures that coordinate with your primping tasks, and sticking them to the mirror where you put on your makeup each morning.

Foundation: "For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ" 1 Corinthians 3:11

Eyebrows: "And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell" Mark 9:47

Eye makeup: "All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirit" Proverbs 16:2

Mascara: "A rebuke impresses a man of discernment more than a hundred lashes a fool" Proverbs 17:10

Finishing powder: "Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything" James 1:4

Blush: "To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also" Luke 6:29

Lipstick: "Truthful lips endure forever, but a lying tongue is but for a moment" Proverbs 12:19