Since Toni Morrison’s Beloved, I have routinely ignored literary suggestions by Oprah, however, I decided to read this as it was reported to be a historical book.

The raves for this book really astonish me. If I had to take a wild guess I would say that the people claiming it’s “the best book they’ve ever read” are very, very young people who haven’t widely sampled much literature yet in their lives or perhaps those with a morbid fascination with rape.

Follett’s  method for keeping the reader in suspense is to have the good guys winning first, then the bad guys winning, then the good guys winning, then the bad guys winning… like a poorly written episode of “Dukes of Hazzard”.

The characters are one-dimensional. It’s as if the author did a quick outline before starting the book and gave each character a single trait to manifest. William is simply bad. Tom is simple yet hardworking. No one surprises you. The characters start out a certain way and end the same way. No development whatsoever. No depth of character.

It was a complete waste of 12 hours.

Celestial Seasonings India Spice Chai is my favorite tea. Prepared according to the package and served with a bit of milk, it’s simply the best out there, and I’ve tried them all.

In many countries of South Asia and the Middle East, “chai” simply means “tea,” but there’s nothing simple about a cup of India Spice Chai. This complex blend of robust black tea and piquant spices like black pepper, cloves and ginger has its roots in India and is traditionally enjoyed with warm milk and honey. India Spice Chai was specially created by our Blendmaster to bring you an authentic taste of India with every sip.

Ingredients: Black tea, spices (cinnamon, ginger, cloves, cardamom, nutmeg, black pepper and Chinese star anise), roasted chicory, natural flavor and vanilla bean.

At around $2 per box, it’s as affordable as it is good!

My sister, Alyssa, is a wife, mother of three and employed full-time as a volunteer coordinator at the church we attend. It’s a church with a weekly attendance of around 10,000 people so this is no small task.

I’m amazed by Alyssa’s ability to balance her life so well. In order to assure the best possible situation 
for her children while she’s at work, Alyssa drives about forty minutes one way to bring her children to my mother’s daycare and then turns around to head back to work, normally a fifteen minute drive from her home. At any given moment Good Housekeeping could enter her home and take photos for their magazine. In fact, I’ve sometimes fantasized about stopping in unexpectedly just to see towels laying on the bathroom floor. As it stands, I’m convinced they are a towel-less family.

Last weekend Alyssa spent one of her few days off to drive an insane distance to see my son wrestle (and lose). It meant the world to me that she would choose to spend her day in a smelly gymnasium when she could have chose to spend it in her pajamas eating a can of sweetened condensed milk with a spoon. Wait…that’s my ideal day. I’m projecting here. My point is that she works very hard to make people feel special. I wish the world was filled with people like her.

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• Girl Irritated That Her Mother Found All Missing Items in New Highlights Magazine

My brother, Jason, took this photo on his land. What a great shot! (literally!)