About 3 years ago Marie Osmond arrived in Los Angeles with two of her seven children to visit her best friend and speak to a group of young girls. She had brought her youngest of girls along only because she had this annoying intuition that she HAD to bring her, even tho’ it was going to be very inconvenient to bring a toddler on a business trip. Awaking to the morning news, she quickly saw WHY her intuition kept demanding she bring the child–her home in Utah had caught fire in the night destroying their garage, Marie’s office and the bedroom of the two girls with her–everyone else survived. If she had NOT brought her two little girls on this trip, chances are they would have died in the blaze. This is how this book of memories from Mare’s life opens. All of Marie’s journals she had faithfully written over the years sadly burned in the fire. So when the publishers asked her to write this book she had to sit down to reminisce afresh on memories that helped shape who she is today. The results an endearing look into a real person we can all relate to. She encourages us all to pay attention to our “gut” and intuition as it can prevent us from disaster (i.e. the fire) and to listen to the lessons we come upon at inconvenient and unexpected times to help us make the right choices (i.e the encounter she had with a bitter drunken Shelly Winters, the Oscar winning star, about how she wished SHE had spent more time with her own daughter). There are several mystic encounters Osmond shares which you have to take her word for. She is a woman who passionately believes in her personal faith in her God and has charming stories to share of parenthood, midlife and womanhood.This is NOT an autobiography of her entire life, rather it is glimpses of her life since motherhood , including her divorce from her 2nd husband, with a lot of emphasis on her time on Dancing with the Stars. A throughly fun read–I read the entire book on a cross-country flight and was left wanting even more.

I just finished reading Celebrity Detox by Rosie O’Donell. My complete review is below. What I took most from her book is a lesson for all of us…beware of placing unfair and unrealistic expectation on others to fill the void in your life someone ELSE left. Rosie is desperately seeking a “perfect mother figure” to be what her deceased mother never was. What Rosie really seeks is God and she keeps being devastated everytime her godlike idols/heros let her down by revealing their human imperfection. Look into your recent disappointment in relationships. Were you expecting too much from him/her? Did you put that person on a pedestal they were destined to fall off? No human can make you happy. Happiness can only be found within and with a relationship with your creator. Victorya Rogers CELEBRITY DETOX, the review I have been a longtime fan of the talk show personality of Rosie O’Donnell, even tho’ I do not agree with her personal views (let’s just say I am more Elisabeth Hasselbeck than Rosie O’Donnell). As a talk show host Rosie was the perfect host because she made it okay for every day people to be intrigued with the celebrities she interviewed. After all, Rosie was into her guests as much as the audience. She was and is authentic and real, even with her extremely rough edges and all. Thus I enjoyed her autobiography CELEBRITY DETOX. It is all over the board and abruptly goes from one thing to the other but not in an irritating way, more so in the way I bet she lives her life. The book makes it clear she is a victim of abuse desperately seeking salvation from her wounds but searching in places salvation can not be found–in the arms of her two celebrity heros/icons Barbra Streisand and Barbara Walters both of whome were also heros of her mothers. Tho’ only alluded to, it is apparent that Rosie was not only abandoned by her mother when she died when Rosie was 10, but she was also betrayed and unprotected by her mother–3 issues that have haunted her and continue to haunt her–abandonement, betrayal and unprotection. Rosie told her mom of the abuse in the only way she could…her mom humored her to the extent of literally cutting down the tree “bad man” climbed up, but when Rosie told her it didn’t work, the bad man still comes in her room at night, her mom betrayed her by calling her a liar and implying Rosie would lose her love if she didn’t drop this lie. So Rosie lived on with the abuse, defending herself by breaking her own bones to obtain not only attention but “nightime weapons” with the casts. Heartbreaking for any little girl to live through. I am not surprised that she was more devastated by Barbara Walters’ betrayal than she was of Donald Trump’s public annialation of her. She already thought of Donald Trump as a pathetic human being. He can only hurt her in the pocket book. She was devasted by Barbara Walters because she made Barbara her surrogate mother so much so she hoped Barbara would do everything RIGHT her mother did WRONG–i.e. protect her and definitely NOT abandon her nor betray her. By not defending her to Donald Trump and the public Ms. Walters did everything Rosie’s mother did to her–left her once more alone, unprotected and open to abuse.

Wow. I watched the first episode of the new reality show on the E! Channel “Denise Richards, It’s Complicated.” She said she did the show to expose to the world that she is not as bad as all the press makes her out to be. She’s tired of the reputation of one who stole her best friend’s (Heather Locklear’s) husband (Richie Sambora) and the disgruntled wife trying to destroy her husband’s (Charlie Sheen’s) reputation as she takes $40 from his fame.

Sadly, what you see on the show thus far does little to counter her bad press. For example, in Richards media appearances leading up to the show, she makes a big deal that she agreed to do this show because she has to feed her children just like all of us and she didn’t want a nanny raising her kids. That sounded great, but then you see on the show she has her dad, two nannies, and two assistants at her home to help her “raise her kids on her own.” 

I know, it’s complicated for her, and she’s living the mess in her mind so she doesn’t see how ludicrous this appears. To her, with her complicated and unfulfilled life, she NEEDS that much help for two kids, even though she brings about all the complications herself. But then again, she says on camera that she wouldn’t need two assistants if the first one did his f  &”#@%  job. You see it’s not her fault (maybe she doesn’t know that you can fire someone). Then there is her problem with dating and always going for the same type of man who happens to be famous bad boy rockers and movie stars. She shares her male preferences in colorful and descriptive language your child need not be present to hear. Basically she likes the bad boys and can’t help herself, even though by now she admits that all bad boys are serious trouble for her.

It’s really not as complicated as Denise feels. She is just a beautiful girl who is sadly very, very lost. She has so much on the outside and so little on the inside and yet she’s doing every thing she can to try and make it all work and fill that void. She even has 10 dogs, 3 pigs and 3 cats to try and fill her void and even that is not enough. Things, people, bad boys and animals don’t fill empitness inside.

So what is the answer for Denise and every other single woman who is chronically going for the bad boys yet wants to stop the madness? Only YOU can stop the madness for yourself by taking the time to find out what you want and how you got so far away from that. Here’s how: Take your computer or a blank journal off by yourself and ask God to reveal what is truly behind it all, including why you keep going for men you know upfront are really bad for you. There is a reason Denise Richards says she craves a marriage of 37 loving commited years likes her parents had, yet she does everything to avoid the possibility of that happening. Like Denise, for you to find the reason your life is so complicated, you have the willingness to stop and look at your past, your pain, your patterns, and your own choice to participate in what brought you where you are. You play a role in the mess you’re in. We all do.

 No matter how complicated your life, love yourself enough to stop, in a quiet place, and ask God to show you what is going on and to reveal to you steps to get you on track to the life you always wanted. (I promise, God’s plans for you are not boring. You can have an exciting relationship with men who are not bad guys who leave you!)

 For more dating and life secrets, go to my website www.mantokeep.com.

I took part in my neighborhood garage sale yesterday. I have an overwhelming amount of STUFF that is just in my way, so I spent a week cleaning out, setting up and pricing each item (minimum of 75% off everything). The day came and man was I disappointed and irritable. Most every shopper haggled over things even priced at 50 cents (they wanted it cheaper). I even had an extra car for sale that is valued over $8500 in the blue book, My sign said “$7000 OBO” and someone at the garage sale actually offered $1000. Hey it’s a garage sale, why not? Then a grandma came by and wanted a book for her granddaughter that was one of my daughter’s favorite books. Painfully my daughter priced it at a $1 for this nice hard cover and the grandma kept haggling with my 5 year old daughter saying she only wanted to pay 25 cents. Then she opened her wallet full of cash and dug out a quarter to give to my daughter. It was shameful to rip off a little girl in my opinion. Come on Grandma, it was a little girl and you flaunted your cash in front of her. That was the way the 5 hour event went. Frankly, I turned down a lot of offers on some of my things because the offers were ridiculous and insulting. Instead of selling them, I’m turning around and happily GIVING them away to needy friends because I’d rather give it away and have someone cherish them than have them stolen from me for pennies. So there.

Okay, okay, so I’m over the disappointing garage sale. What is my take away from this event? First, if you want to get your money out of an item, don’t sell it at a garage sale. People only want dirt cheap, extremely underpriced bargains. So sell your valuables on Ebay or Craig’s list or through a classified ad.My second take away from the garage sale is that all of our daily experiences relate to another area of life. As a dating coach, of course I relate everything to relationships. So, have you ever been so hopeful for an upcoming first date that you seemingly spent the entire week getting ready, shopping for that special outfit, and hoping he would be “the one”, only to be disappointed when the day arrived and your man was a complete dud—far from the man you described on your ideal man list? Here’s the great news! If this happened, be thrilled that you have your wish list already written out and you realized you deserve better than the man who showed up for your date! You are far above most of today’s single women who figure “hey if he asks me out he must be worth it.” No he’s not. He has to measure up to what iyou truly want in a man to be worthy of your heart. If he clearly is not that man on date one, he’s not going to improve. Save yourself much anguish and move on. As Scarlet O’Hare says, “Tomorrow is another day.” And there will be another first date around the corner!

For more first date tips, check out my latest book The Automatic 2^nd Date and/or subscribe to my blog at www.mantokeep.com/blog.