Caroline Manzo - Let Me Tell You Something: Life as a Real Housewife, Tough-Love Mother, and Street-Smart Businesswoman

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This book was a labor of love and I really want to thank the people who helped make it a reality.

Lisa Sharkey, Amy Bendell, Paige Hazzan, and the team at HarperCollins, thank you for having faith in me and believing in this project.

Brian Dow, thank you so much for your support in dealing with the craziness that has become my life.

And to Kevin Dickson, my partner in crime: we did it. I love you to death.

I love affirmations. Every time I read one that touches me, I print it out and pin it to a corkboard in my office. I look at that board all the time, and I find endless inspiration in these sentences. I hope you like them too!

My thoughts are under my control.

You gotta love livin, baby, cause dyin is a pain in the ass.

Frank Sinatra

Critics dont bother me because if I do badly, I know Im bad before they even write it. And if Im good, I know Im good. I know best about myself, so a critic doesnt anger me.

Frank Sinatra

Happiness is an attitude. We either make ourselves miserable, or happy and strong. The amount of work is the same.

Francesca Reigler

There is nothing wrong with making mistakes. Just dont respond with encores.

Dont let yourself forget what its like to be sixteen.

If you really do put a small value upon yourself, rest assured that the world will not raise your price.

Every tomorrow has two handles. We can take hold of it by the handle of anxiety, or by the handle of faith.

Dont let what you cant do interfere with what you can do.

We come to love not by finding a perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly.

I love people who make me laugh. I honestly think its the thing I like most, to laugh. It cures a multitude of ills. Its probably the most important thing in a person.

Audrey Hepburn

Nothing is impossible, the word itself says Im possible.

Audrey Hepburn

We have to dare to be ourselves, however frightening or strange that self may prove to be.

May Sarton

But better to be hurt by the truth than comforted with a lie.

Khaled Hosseini

Lifes under no obligation to give us what we expect.

Margaret Mitchell

Give thanks for what you are now, and keep fighting for what you want to be tomorrow.

Fernanda Miramontes-Landeros

Enjoy when you can, and endure when you must.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The three great essentials to achieve anything worthwhile are, first, hard work; second, stick-to-itiveness; third, common sense.

Thomas Edison

When you lose, dont lose the lesson.

Do not worry if you have built your castles in the air. They are where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.

Henry David Thoreau

Thats the best revenge of all: happiness. Nothing drives people crazier than seeing someone have a good fucking life.

Chuck Palahniuk

If you believe in yourself, have dedication and pride and never quit, youll be a winner.

Paul Bryant

Life is full of surprises and serendipity. Being open to unexpected turns in the road is an important part of success. If you try to plan every step, you may miss those wonderful twists and turns. Just find your next adventuredo it well, enjoy itand then, not now, think about what comes next.

Condoleezza Rice

Life is like one big Mardi Gras. But instead of showing your boobs, show people your brain, and if they like what they see, youll have more beads than you know what to do with.

Ellen DeGeneres

Sometimes life is going to hit you in the head with a brick. Dont lose faith.

Steve Jobs

If it doesnt feel right, dont do it. Thats the lesson. That lesson alone will save you a lot of grief. Even doubt means dont.

Oprah Winfrey

If you have made mistakes, even serious ones, there is always another chance for you. What we call failure is not the falling down but the staying down.

Mary Pickford

Success isnt permanent, and failure isnt fatal.

Mike Ditka

We laugh a lot. Thats for sure. Sure beats the alternative, doesnt it?

Betty White

Laughter gives us distance. It allows us to step back from an event, deal with it and then move on.

Bob Newhart

Natural ability without education has more often raised a man to glory and virtue than education without natural ability.

Marcus Tullius Cicero

[Kids] dont remember what you try to teach them. They remember what you are.

Jim Henson

Ive tried to give you a clear picture of who I am, and hopefully you now have a better understanding of me and the rules I live my life by. I hope you got a few laughs out of it, and maybe figured out how to solve a problem or two in your own life.

Ive shared a lot more than you would ordinarily see on the show, because Ive been able to speak to you in my own words, from my own mouth.

I still chose to keep a lot of my private life private, and I hope youre OK with that. Some things have to remain the private possessions of my family. The feuds with various cast mates will continue to be addressed in upcoming seasons, and thats the appropriate place for them. They didnt need to be addressed here. Its been a very difficult tightrope to walk in terms of what I will allow the show to film, and which aspects of my life I want them to show on TV. Its been even more intense during the process of writing this book. Ive been driven to talk about things, such as the loss of my father-in-law, that are deeply personal and still carry a lot of hurt with them.

It was an interesting process to be writing this book at the same time as our most difficult season was airing. Season four was filmed directly following season three. We normally have an eight-month break between seasons, but that time we just went right into the next season. This meant that season four was filmed a year before it aired. I was miserable for most of the season. I resented being forced into situations Id rather avoid with people I didnt want to associate with. It was painful to be reminded of just how much I did not enjoy that season, and to have to relive it.

My own advice in this book helped me deal with a lot of the frustrations that came from watching how this fourth season played out on-screen. It also helped me get my head straight for the fourth-season reunion show, which Id been dreading. I took my own advice, and it worked! I was positive, confident, and I stuck to my guns.