Real Housewives on Real Housewives
Disclaimer: We love Vicki. This book had us laughing up a storm…which probably wasn’t the point?!
In this episode, we discuss the 2009 book from Real Housewives of Orange County’s Vicki Gunvalson.
Episode Transcript (generated by eddy.headliner.app)
Sharon: Hm. Woohoo Productions shout out.
Caitlin: Oh, my God. This book was published by Woohoo Productions, first published in Rancho Santa Margarita, California by Woohoo Productions.
Sharon: We need an addendum.
Caitlin: It’s biographical, inspirational, and business.
Sharon: Are we recording this? Woohoo. We are.
Caitlin: Hi.
Sharon: This is Caitlin, and this is Sharon.
Caitlin: And welcome to Real Housewives on Real Housewives, where we unravel housewives story threads and keep the tea flowing.
Sharon: So chic.
Caitlin: Hold on to your reading glasses.
Sharon: Today we’re digging into more than a housewife by Vicki Gunvilson from OC.
Caitlin: Okay, I have a bone to pick. Yeah, it’s actually called Vicky Gunvilson is more than a housewives.
Sharon: This is so upsetting. Yes, I guess it is. Vicki Gunvilson is more than a housewife. And then the subtitle is talent, purpose, direction, drive.
Caitlin: I read it online, and I did not get that those were going to be the focuses, so I may have a complete. You were going in blind, incorrect understanding of this book.
Sharon: Even on the back.
Caitlin: Oh, my gosh.
Sharon: Okay, I’m going to read the dust jacket because no better way.
Caitlin: You need to read it.
Sharon: Vicki Gunvilson of the Real Housewives of Orange county fame shares through her book more than a housewife the reality of dealing with quote unquote reality. M starting with her childhood and progressing through her business life, she shares her personal insights with the reader on how to recognize their purpose and direction via the actions she took to create a profitable business and a very comfortable lifestyle. Included in Vicki’s book are many telltale insights and experiences. While being on the hit Bravo tv show, more than a housewife will appeal to men and women that want more out of life, but may not feel the opportunity exists. Quote unquote winners of the race don’t slow down is a motto Vicki adheres to as she continues to reach pinnacles that set her personal and business life into the upper echelons. Completing the book.
Caitlin: We’re still reading.
Sharon: Completing the book. With her philosophy on, living an inspirational life, Vicki shares some of her observations regarding marriage, kids, retiring, and the art of living. There’s one more paragraph. Oh, God, this one’s even better. This is the best.
Caitlin: Oh, no.
Sharon: Purchase this book and begin to reveal alternative ways of transitioning and creating a better lifestyle for you and your family.
Caitlin: Well, that’s unique. I don’t think I’ve ever been told to purchase a book from the back of the book. Well, that’s what you do with books.
Sharon: Okay.
Caitlin: I think, like disclaimer, we love Vicky. I love Vicky.
Sharon: I love Vicky.
Caitlin: I just want to say that I love Vicky.
Sharon: I do. Because we’re going to.
Caitlin: I’m not sure that the book’s 100% Vicky’s fault, because it was also, I know she’s a ghost writer. Not really. His name was on the thing. Jeff Scott. So he takes on, hi, James Scott.
Sharon: You suck so bad. This was 15 years ago. Maybe you’ve grown.
Caitlin: Yeah. Ah, maybe he’s grown. We know Vicky has. Maybe Jeff’s got it.
Sharon: I hate being mean, but I don’t even think it’s being meme. It’s just true.
Caitlin: I don’t know. There’s nothing else to mean. I got bored with you reading the back. Like, I almost took a little nappy nap. Yeah, that’s not a good sign.
Sharon: Also, that’s pretty much the book.
Caitlin: There’s actually a lie in the back. In the inside, there was a quote where she said, I know this book is mostly for women, but I don’t want to exclude men. And then on the back, it’s like, this book is for men, and it’s really not.
Sharon: It’s for anyone who has $15 in their pocket.
Caitlin: You can get it on thrift books.
Sharon: Yeah, I got it.
Caitlin: Caitlin, book.
Sharon: The thrift books tag. No, the goodwill tag is 229 m. I probably paid more for shipping.
Caitlin: More for shipping than for the book.
Sharon: All right.
Caitlin: It was written in 2000 and 914 years ago. Yeah. That’s a long time. All right, best part. What did you like about this book? The hot tea.
Sharon: I put the pictures at the end. Okay.
Caitlin: There weren’t that many pictures either.
Sharon: There was disappointed by that, and they were black and white. I absolutely hated this book. And this is what’s weird, kind of what you’re saying.
Caitlin: Yeah.
Sharon: I love Vicky.
Caitlin: Yeah.
Sharon: This book is very Vicky.
Caitlin: Yeah, it is.
Sharon: So I have just determined Vicki should not be in book four. She just doesn’t belong in book four.
Caitlin: Not everyone’s a book. I don’t even know what to say. It’s like, it’s not that she’s not an author. Well, I think, okay, the main thing is, okay, we can get into it, but it lacked a lot of focus. Let’s start from there. What was your best part? I guess my best part was that I did enjoy the very first few pages, which could have been, like an article about her background. Like, I didn’t know about her childhood, so I did like learning about her childhood. The really interesting thing that I thought was that she had this. Okay. You know how I can’t say the names of anything, but it was non cancerous cholesteroma tetoma. Okay, well, whatever. That’s what we’re calling it. But she had a rare condition that, where it begins to eat the three small bones in your middle ear and if left unchecked, your whole brain can separate. So she had all these surgeries when she was really, really little and her mom thought she was going to die. And I thought that it kind of shaped the fact that maybe she is a bit of a go getter, like having that early life experience. And there were interesting stories about her sisters and her family. And it was sort of interesting to hear about her ex husband because I didn’t really understand that whole dynamic. I just knew he was out of the picture and the kids seemed mad at him and I didn’t really understand that. So I appreciated that. the only other thing that I was like, I was trying so hard to find something I wrote. I suppose it does bring up the emotional toll of filming for women on the housewives. And I guess that’s an important topic. But she doesn’t really take it anywhere. She just is like, it’s really hard. And I cried a. Like, well, sure, there’s a lot of things that are hard for me and I cry a.
Sharon: I had one more thing. I didn’t know the story of her and dawn, how they met, the fact that she met while she was married.
Sharon: But she liked him and she kept.
Caitlin: Him in the back of her mind.
Sharon: and then he came back into her life years later. That was just one of those really meant to be kind of things.
Caitlin: Yeah. Oh, and I did like the housewives tea of how the show started. Her son had sent an info for this show about Orange county kids called behind the gates or something.
Sharon: I’m side eyeing this whole.
Caitlin: Yeah, well, maybe. But the producer was shocked to find working women in the OC. But what I thought was sort of interesting is that Vicki was kind of. Now, I don’t know whether she made herself sound more like the pinnacle than she was, but is she the only og of it? I guess maybe she was, because, she was friends with Gina Keough and then Lori was working for her, so she was kind of the middle of some of it. And that was kind of interesting. That’s all I got. That’s it.
Sharon: Okay, Vicki, we got a few.
Caitlin: We tried really hard. Yeah. Okay, worst part. What didn’t you like about this book, the iced tea?
Sharon: okay, so the first section, transformations, that was the part you liked about our childhood. M then the whole thing became this meandering.
Caitlin: It was literally like three pages that I liked.
Sharon: After that, it was about, like, business and drive and working hard. I don’t know, it was just. It was the focus. No focus. And so Mr. Non ghostwriter.
Sharon: In the beginning, he says, I wonder.
Caitlin: If we have the exact same thing written down.
Sharon: I hope you will understand that this book is kept simple through the use of metaphors or shared personal experiences. They’re to be used to figure out one’s own situations in life and to possibly start, new ideas and understandings of how some things may work.
Caitlin: Yes, I have that exact same quote. Because he said, I read a fun fact that stated 95% of material read in self help books is not retained by the reader, but over 85% of fictional stories are.
Sharon: So I don’t understand.
Caitlin: So is he calling Vicky’s a fictional story?
Sharon: Yeah. Or did he try to fictionalize her story? And what are the metaphors? I do not recall one metaphor.
Caitlin: There was one weird moment where she was like, Sally did this and this and this, and Bonnie did this and this. And I was like, where did this come from? As like an. Like, she didn’t know those people.
Sharon: That’s not really.
Caitlin: But it’s not really a metaphor. But that’s the only thing I can.
Sharon: I don’t think he knows what a metaphor is.
Caitlin: Know. Also, did you find. I found it so weird that she wrote, like, this intro that was sort of like, it felt like how she was pitching the book to Random house. I’m sure it wasn’t random house. I think it was Jeff.
Sharon: What’s that, dude?
Caitlin: No, it was a random house. But I feel like it was her pitch for how the book would work. And then she just made that the intro, and then it’s like, ah, a bad. Like when I used to edit people’s thesis, it’s a bad thesis intro. And then his was like, clout chasing. Like, Vicky’s amazing. Vicky’s wonderful. I’m like, well, I appreciate that, because she is.
Sharon: Yeah.
Caitlin: What’s the book about, jeff? Yeah, it’s so just tell Vicki she’s wonderful. And a nice note later.
Sharon: Yeah. the other notes I had was it kind of jumped around at times, which, as you said, lacks focus a lot. Okay. The part I hated most about this book was they have a section that is literally word for word Facebook exchange. What they did is they put out on, hey, like, do you have any questions for Vicki for our book? And people asked them, and she answered them on Facebook, and, they literally posted, like, the username, the question, and the answer, even when it was already answered or it was a partial question. So this is, for example, this is one of the questions. Page 147. Brenda t the backstory of your life answer. That is the whole section regarding my childhood and young adult years.
Caitlin: Brenda probably felt really good to get that answer.
Sharon: Like, what?
Caitlin: Yeah.
Sharon: And it went on for pages.
Caitlin: Pages.
Sharon: And one was like, I already answered that, or, thanks. If you like the book, let me know.
Caitlin: It would have been, like, an amazing book launch to be like, hey, so I’ve got this book coming out. Come huh? On Facebook, and I’ll answer questions about. You. Don’t just get to post them in your book.
Sharon: It’s like, she needed more pages.
Caitlin: I think she did well.
Sharon: And it was also like, look at all my adoring fans.
Caitlin: Oh, I know.
Sharon: Like, she didn’t include any of the you suck, your book’s gonna suck or.
Caitlin: Something like that, because we know there’s mean people.
Sharon: And then, one more thing, and I’ll let you get to your worst. there’s this weird section at the end called worldviews, where she goes into politics and economics and taxes, but it’s, like four pages, so it wouldn’t actually get into anything deep.
Caitlin: No, it was just, like, this bizarre somewhere.
Sharon: I’m so smart, and this is what our country should do. No one knows what they’re doing, right?
Caitlin: And it was like, yeah, hold people accountable at the end of their terms for stuff. Thank you.
Sharon: It was like, a lot of.
Caitlin: What are those things?
Sharon: Like, things you just.
Caitlin: Exactly. But didn’t have a lot of backing behind.
Sharon: Okay, sorry, I hijacked that.
Caitlin: We’re smart. No, you didn’t, because there’s just not. I mean, you can’t just, again, write the whole. And, like, I felt like, at least with Kyle’s that we hated, we could be mad from a feminist standpoint. This is just like, I’m mad as a. And that’s, like, the thing I guess I hated the most was that I did not enjoy when she was sitting, like, at the point of my first and only divorce. And it’s like, we’re sitting here in whatever year this is, 2023, 2024 by the time it comes out, knowing that she and Don broke up. So it was really hard to sit there and have her be like, well, Don and I have to stick it out and make it work, and our midwestern values will pull us through. And it’s like, well, no, they won’t it was just really painful to read that stuff. And it made me feel sad because I’ve always thought she really did love dawn, and he was kind of the one that got away to her. And then I thought, well, maybe I misread that, but didn’t. She really did love don. And I guess I’d really like to know what happened there. And we’re not going to find that out because this book’s so old. So that was just a bummer to read because it just felt so like, I don’t want to read this book, Vicki. It’s not going to work out. I know.
Sharon: Sorry, Vicki.
Caitlin: He’s just not that into you. How long did it take you to finish the book? Did you have to force yourself to read it or couldn’t put it down? The sheer volume of text I got from Sharon being like, kill me now.
Sharon: Forced myself so bad, I don’t know how many hours, because I had to stop and start.
Caitlin: Yeah, I’d say it took me, like two days to really work on it, but I false started it multiple times and then had to go back. And had to go back.
Sharon: It’s so bad.
Caitlin: It was awful. Okay, were there parts of the book you need to talk about?
Sharon: yes, absolutely. So I got really upset. She threw tons of shade at housewives, actual housewives who don’t work when she’s on a show called Housewives. and so did the ghostwriter. The ghostwriter wrote the housewives across the country that sit home and watch their soap operas. Don’t understand someone like Vicky. So condescending.
Caitlin: It was so.
Sharon: That really made me angry because he was speaking to me. You jerk. I’m not an idiot. And I can understand Vicki, and I’m pretty sure I’m smarter than Vicki in some ways. She’s smarter than me in other ways. But anyway, the other thing, don’t bite.
Caitlin: The hand that feeds you.
Sharon: The other thing is, she says, a viewer asks her at one point, how is she the only housewife that made her own money? And she acts like she is, and she says, nothing can prepare you for the women living in a high society under the guise that they are self made. She acted like she was the only housewife.
Caitlin: No, that did.
Sharon: That made herself.
Caitlin: Because I could list multiple ones in my head. I was thinking about candy was on Atlanta at the time, and within New York, there’s a bunch. I mean, no, that’s not even fair. And a lot of the women worked for her. And, Vicki, I thought, was real. More of a feminist than to put up with that.
Sharon: But see, her brand of feminism is you have to work and provide for yourself, whereas I guess we’re more the. You do what works for your family.
Caitlin: Right, exactly. And just what works for you. I mean, like, women should support women no matter what the outcome is. what drove me nuts is, as much as she’s a strong woman, she defines so many chapters of her life by her relationships with men. So on the one hand, she’s going, I work really hard on. And then it was all like, so thinking back, I was always happiest when I had a crush or a guy. And then she talked about the guy she fake married in third grade. And then in 8th grade I had a crush on. And I forget, but she actually listed his name. And then it was like. And then there was Michael and then there was dawn. And it’s like she couldn’t. Like, her chapters of her life could have just been men’s name.
Sharon: Yeah, you’re right.
Caitlin: So then it’s like you’re going to sit here and tell all these women, like, I’m a feminist and I work and I don’t need a man. Then why are you listing them constantly? And then when you think later about her with Brooks and her with that cop guy, and then whoever she’s with, like she very much has to have a man to be happy.
Sharon: And she even says this much in the book.
Caitlin: Yeah. And she was like, I cared more about my dad than my mom. She’s always wanted that. I feel like maybe it’s an inferiority thing. Like she feels like, well, I have to work, but really I would just like to have the man. And it’s like, okay, that’s okay too. But then don’t just sit here and act like you don’t need a man because you really want one. Yeah, exactly.
Sharon: I almost feel like she’s jealous of the woman that feels secure that has a man and feels secure that they don’t need to work.
Caitlin: Exactly.
Sharon: that’s what she wants. But she can’t. She won’t secure it without working.
Caitlin: Yeah, because she did. She had to pick up her family’s pieces. A lot of mean and I don’t be grudge for that at.
Sharon: Oh, one of the things I hated because we’re kind of going to the guys.
Caitlin: Yeah.
Sharon: The talk of divorce. So we already talked about how cringey it is that we know that she and Don are going to divorce and.
Caitlin: Her parents were not okay with divorce. Oh my God. That is what you’re going to say.
Sharon: Her parents said that they don’t condone divorce. But in this situation with Michael, her first husband, it’s like, then you condone divorce. Right. you are recognizing that there are situations, uh-huh. Where people want to get divorced, and it should be an option. So I guess it was kind of like, no divorce is wrong unless you’re my daughter and my daughter’s special. She can get divorced. It really made me mad.
Caitlin: No, that made me mad, too. And also, we were Lutheran, not Catholic. I mean, that’s part of the reason that those churches came out. Know, Henry Vi wanted to get divorces and stuff. So then we started branching off from the, don’t just sit there. I mean, it wasn’t even a part of your religion.
Sharon: Yeah, I thought she was Catholic. I was shocked to find her.
Caitlin: I was too, like, really? I also thought it was interesting that she was saying the shows she disliked the most are ones where she hurt someone’s feelings just because that’s interesting to hear. I don’t know whether I 100% believe it or not, but I also thought it was interesting for her to say just to think about what the camera shows versus. It doesn’t, because she was saying, there were so many times with dawn where people were like, don should leave you. You’re awful to him. And she was like, we’d have an argument. He’d say something to me. The camera would pick up only on my response. So it looked like I was coming at him from out of nowhere. And I really do remember thinking that there were times when I was like, God, leave that poor man alone. It really felt like one sided did. So it was interesting. Now, whether that’s true or not, I don’t know.
Sharon: I was thinking, like, at first I’m like, yeah, I could totally say, is she lying?
Caitlin: I know. I don’t know. But it’s interesting to think, because I’m sure there are times where they’re like, well, we’re focusing on the housewives, not the.
Sharon: Yes.
Caitlin: But again, wouldn’t it make sense to have the husbands? I don’t know.
Sharon: She definitely kept saying, oh, you only see 10 minutes of me in a show. She was very much, this is not real me. Some of the other housewives, we’ve read their books. They’re like, what you see is what you get, not her.
Caitlin: Which is funny, because I would think she would have said that so many times. So I was surprised by that.
Sharon: another thing. Okay. I was sick of figuring out my purpose then next, I like the fact this is actually something I liked Vicki, she said, have a to don’t list as well as a to do list, which is kind of like, obvious. Hers was like, don’t drink soda. But anyway, I just kind of thought that.
Sharon: Actually, the more I think about it, this is kind of like trying to.
Caitlin: Decide what I put on my not soda.
Sharon: Maybe you should write down. But I guess I say that you don’t tell the time we had it. Okay, let’s move on.
Caitlin: Well, no, I think when we’re done, we need to make a to don’t list.
Sharon: I think it’s not a bad idea.
Caitlin: No, it’s not a bad idea.
Sharon: Think in those terms.
Caitlin: Yes. No, I agree.
Sharon: I don’t know. we talked about the. She kept saying in the book about how proud she is to be an insurance agent, because when a spouse dies, she gets to go hand the remaining spouse a check. But she talks about it so much, like she’s so excited that this person died, and she gets to walk in with this big old publisher’s house querying.
Caitlin: We’re pretty sure it’s like Ed McMahon and flowers.
Sharon: Hey, everyone, look at me. I’m bringing you a check. Oh, so sorry about. Oh, my God. They feel. It’s like when Vicki walks in, like everyone in the funeral home. do you have Marsha?
Caitlin: No. I do. Vicki coined cackling hags a little bit. I saw that because she said it’s difficult to grasp the concept that a reality show made up of cackling women would find a big audience, become a hit. I’m like, oh, cackling hags existed long before New York, long before Jeffrey hated.
Sharon: the whole cliche. Okay, I hate this thing. When people talk about my first kiss, who’s in second grade, and she did the whole. My first taste of business was Sugary sweet. I was a little girl with my own kool aid stand. I was just pissed off at that point. I made me m angry. Part, of her teaching us how to do business was to buy one of the idiots guides to like, go buy those.
Caitlin: I’ve never learned anything from idiot.
Sharon: Her advice to business for doing business is to buy the idiot’s guide to business. Her advice is to get advice, I guess so. It was so dumb, and I can’t.
Caitlin: Tell you how to do it, but this other guy did. If you read his book, it’s much better.
Sharon: And then at one point, she literally tells us how to make a line graph.
Caitlin: Oh, yeah.
Sharon: And I thought she was just at first being like, yeah, even if you just did something as simple as plot this, you could see this. But no, she’s like literally telling you how to make a line graph.
Caitlin: Apparently very important.
Sharon: Xs is my. I was like, yeah, I went to fourth grade. Thank you. Oh, my God.
Caitlin: We even have some line graphs for our podcast.
Sharon: Yeah, we do. Except Spotify does them for us. No one needs to sit there and plot the right.
Caitlin: Not anymore. Yeah, I mean, below us, she had.
Sharon: This whole section on chaos control theory. I didn’t understand.
Caitlin: Super confused. Okay, I was going to ask if you got it. I almost was like, should I go back? And then.
Sharon: I don’t understand what she.
Caitlin: Was trying to, because I thought maybe she was saying one was better than the other, but then at the end she was saying, they were both good.
Sharon: But you should control.
Caitlin: But one was maybe more controlled and one wasn’t. But then maybe you could control both. And then I just thought like, well, yeah, I mean, are, you just one of those people who likes to control everything and so you’re. Yeah, I don’t know.
Sharon: It was weird.
Caitlin: And it’s also unfair to say sometimes that if other people have chaos, it’s because they’re not controlling enough. M that’s not a fair thing to say either. Like, chaos is chaos. Yes, kids, that’s the whole point of chaos. Chaos can’t just be like, oops.
Sharon: then she has this whole idea throughout the book where m. I think she thinks she’s a psychologist, because that was rough. How you react to situations is based on previous situations, which.
Caitlin: Wow, Vicki, I’m not a psychiatrist, I’m not a psychologist or something like that.
Sharon: She’s like, you know the reason with the minivan incident?
Caitlin: She brings that up, but she just.
Sharon: Reacted to that minivan incident because of a prior incident in her life.
Caitlin: You mean your prior life events form.
Sharon: Who you are currently, especially ones from how you react.
Caitlin: Childhood.
Sharon: Oh, my God.
Caitlin: I think she thought we’d all be like, wow. But we weren’t so much.
Sharon: oh, I would like to talk to you about the whole thing with Michael and starting the show.
Caitlin: Oh, yes, Vicky. Okay.
Sharon: I was really annoyed that she made it sound like without Michael.
Sharon: They never would have come to Vicki. Without Vicki, they never would have come up with the housewives idea. No, she. No one has ever thought of this idea.
Caitlin: No, she took, it’s not like maybe.
Sharon: They were like, hey, you know that idea we had about housewives? Well, I met this woman in there maybe she’d be good for.
Caitlin: Hm.
Sharon: No, that’s what happened. This idea was not birthed until they met her.
Caitlin: Right. And once they saw Vicky, they were like, the skies open and the angels sang and it was like, you know what, you guys? We’re not going to talk about some people. Dumb kids. We’re talking about these women behind the gate. And they actually work. She kept saying 42 times, too, they actually work.
Sharon: yeah. another thing. When did it go from Woohoo to WHOOP it up?
Caitlin: Oh, I know. She was a woohoo girl there.
Sharon: She was a woo. And then she wants women to work and then she says, find a home based business if you’re a stay at home mom.
Sharon: Oh, it’s that easy. I was like, wouldn’t we all love to be like Etsy millionaires crocheting at home while we watch our kids play in the garden? No, doesn’t work that way. Being a stay at home mom is our business. Yeah, that is our business.
Caitlin: And it’s a bit of controlling chaos and. What was the other word? it’s that balance between what it.
Sharon: I’m just so mad. Okay, I’m done with that.
Caitlin: I did like that. She said it was a crime that kids aren’t taught finances earlier in their life and money management. I do agree with that.
Sharon: Okay, did you agree where she said, I don’t think you should hit kids and later in the book she says, I think you should hit kids?
Caitlin: I did not notice the second one. I noticed when she said, I don’t think you should. I didn’t know I was giving permission to hit kids later in the.
Sharon: Well, no, maybe she didn’t give you permission. It works better.
Caitlin: Okay, well, there’s a lot of things that work better that I’m not supposed to do. Works better. Well, that makes that, I guess that leads us right into what makes this book unique. I put. It’s terrible. Chapter titles. I mean, they’re so bad. I was going to look at them, but then I forgot. Let’s throw and just read us a few.
Sharon: Okay.
Caitlin: Find the table of contents or whatever here. Is there a table of contents?
Sharon: Yes.
Caitlin: There might not be it. Okay, so they have subtitles, which is what makes them better. So we’re in childhood. Reflections of the past. Young adult. This one’s my favorite. A maturing mind, purpose and direction. Growth of self driven in the blood. Now we’re in professionalism, beginning in business, the growing years. Oh, here we go. Breaking out of the pack. Chaos and control.
Sharon: Oh, there we go.
Caitlin: Pushing through, creating affluence, pinnacles, manifestations of thought and measures of success.
Sharon: That’s that line graph.
Caitlin: OC housewife. The real show, in quotes. Seven to 10 minutes or less. Which sounds like a cooking thing. Hey, seven to 10 minutes less. Out on the town. What people expect. Then we have social media questions from fans.
Sharon: Oh, that’s what I say.
Caitlin: There we go.
Sharon: Oh, my God.
Caitlin: The experience. Overall, I feel like I should stop it. I’m just going to keep reading. Personal. Oh, these are my thoughts. Personal foundations and beliefs. Business views, communication, as in money, family, where families have gone awry. Yeah, thanks, Vicky.
Sharon: Hitting your kids?
Caitlin: That’s right. I wonder where they’re at. World. Why aren’t we solving men and women? Same traits, different gender.
Sharon: Wow.
Caitlin: Yeah. Friendships, the glue of life, maturing a life, completing my puzzle. And then Kodo insurance, becoming an agent. That was my little scene. That was my play.
Sharon: Oh, yeah. I think we talk about this later. Okay. The end of the book.
Caitlin: We talked about the structure of the book.
Sharon: Let’s talk about this at the end of the book. She literally has a whole chapter on becoming a Kodo insurance agent.
Caitlin: Ah. And it’s not general insurance. It’s like her insurance. And how do you become an agent?
Sharon: Like the names of her courses, like how much money certain of her products cost.
Caitlin: There are classes you can attend in either a classroom setting or online in parentheses, which is through the Internet, if you didn’t. Guys, you can find this podcast online, which is through the Internet. And then she gives you the costs, like $200 to $400. Here’s how you get your license. 50 plus hours of class.
Sharon: She puts some website with a bunch.
Caitlin: Of huge, random numbers. 4523, lowercase t, big case t. She’s like the cost for everything, which you know is going to be wrong in six months. Again, it’s just put a link at the end of the book.
Sharon: Yeah. Takodo insurance.
Caitlin: This is one of my other favorite parts of that chapter. There are many more things I could tell you regarding the insurance industry and its rewards, but I’d rather meet you in person one day, perhaps at one of Kodo’s motivational boot camps or cruises. Also, please, please, can we go on the cruise?
Sharon: I didn’t know that was a thing. I need to go screw. Bravo card.
Caitlin: I know. We’re going on Vicky’s underwriting cruise. God, I hope they have the big checks there. Yeah.
Sharon: Wait, does she throw some people off the boat so afterwards she can meet the spouse at the bottom?
Caitlin: She’s like, we’ll just meet them when they come to pick you up. Well, your wife didn’t make it on the cruise, but here’s your bells ring.
Sharon: It was so bad.
Caitlin: It was so bad.
Sharon: So were we on what makes the book unique? Yeah, I wrote kind of same thing I wrote. It’s an, MLM pitch and autobiography in one.
Caitlin: That’s a very good way to say I just wrote merging of genres. Okay, so here’s also the cliffs note she gave near the end of the book, what she needed. And it’s like she listed all the things, and it’s like, this was what she should have. It was just a list. It was like, find your exact purpose. Know what your talent is. Create drive. passion. Take action. Sorry, I can’t turn the page. Apparently. confidence. Communication. Statistics or stats? Money. It matters. Confronting. I mean, it’s like, okay, I wish she’d just done that. Almost like, if that was the point of the book, that was the cliff’s notes right there. M. And then she kind of beat those themes to the ends of the earth a little bit. Yeah. And actually, I was kind of hoping to get some communication tips, and I didn’t get any. No.
Sharon: All we know is it’s important.
Caitlin: And she was like, it’s often if there’s a problem, it was in communication, and then she just leaves it at that.
Sharon: And then she basically says that everything is communication.
Caitlin: Dark. Yeah.
Sharon: Any way we interact with someone else is communication.
Caitlin: Next time I have an argument with my husband, I’m like, how could we communicate better? But someone should tell us how.
Sharon: You know what? There’s this idiots guy communicating better.
Caitlin: Idiots guide to that. Well, actually, Vicky should read that.
Sharon: what surprised you about the book?
Sharon: Okay.
Caitlin: I felt like this about it. I’m sad because you’re giving Vicki Gunvilson, who is, like, five years into the OC, she’s, like, this vivacious person. She has an interesting ish life story, and I wrote in big cuffs. And this is what you did to like, I didn’t expect all the advice. I didn’t expect the infomercial last chapter. Maybe all these things seemed like a good idea. Like the media. Q a. Vicki worked at Wendy’s. I just thought I’d throw that out there. I put that that was the only other thing.
Sharon: Oh, I forgot that part.
Caitlin: Well, she called it Wendy’s burgers, which I assume is still just Wendy’s, but I felt like maybe she and Lisa Barlow need to have a chat. She, has a cosmetology degree. That’s the other thing.
Sharon: Yeah, that was interesting.
Caitlin: But I don’t understand why with as like bright light of a human being that Vicki is and as interesting as she is and as long as she’s been on the show and I realized this was only five years, m like, she has a staying again, this is. She had another writer. She didn’t like it. She switched to this guy. And this is. Yes.
Sharon: Oh my God.
Caitlin: She contacted her and she was like, well, actually, I’m m writing a book with somebody else and it’s not going well. and this is what happened.
Sharon: Never.
Caitlin: This is like the second draft. I know.
Sharon: that’s exactly what I was thinking. I was expecting maybe it to be cheesy.
Sharon: But I didn’t think I would hate it.
Caitlin: Yeah, exactly.
Sharon: And I couldn’t believe what a huge commercial it was for her company. And I wrote, I feel like I got duped into participating in a Kodo insurance seminar.
Caitlin: That’s exactly, that’s a great way to say it. Oh my gosh.
Sharon: do you have any lingering questions after finishing the book?
Caitlin: Yeah, my big one was like, okay, so she kept dawn in the back of her mind for years. I wish I had a book to understand what broke down between her and dawn and the divorce. I just wish there was.
Sharon: Do you think she would ever honestly say that, though?
Caitlin: I don’t know. I feel like as she gets older now, she would. Maybe not anytime in the past few years, but I kind of think she would have. how honest do you think the.
Sharon: Author, she wasn’t quite sure what to do with that. Yeah, because she didn’t say anything that revealed her mean, I think she was honest about wanting you to work for an insurance company.
Caitlin: The author said, regarding Vicki, I found her to be very forthcoming and open with anything that was asked of her. He also said this book represents Vicki in a different light. Which did you think? No, but not all that far from the woman you see on tv, which is a show after show. People are referring to her work habits and extolling their ideas that she needs to slow down. Please feel free to take notes when I tell you that she can’t slow.
Sharon: Wait, wait, I got to write that down.
Caitlin: To do so would take her to a place she doesn’t want to go. She’s so used to performing at an extremely fast pace and with an exorbitant amounts of energy that it has become normal to her existence. To take that ability away from her would be like asking Einstein to teach the theory of relativity to a group in a mental ward. That’s awful to say, by the way.
Sharon: That is really like, offensive.
Caitlin: And then he wrote a real waste of talent. And it was like at that moment I was like, I’m not going to like this book. And we were like just in the.
Sharon: Intro, hey, the one guy, that one really famous dude, right?
Sharon: the one. Game theory. What’s that guy’s name?
Caitlin: Was that Stephen Hawke?
Sharon: No, there’s a whole movie about him.
Caitlin: Okay.
Sharon: Anyway, yeah. I don’t know. He had schizophrenia.
Caitlin: Exactly. But he would be brilliant at the same time. Yeah. I just felt like, okay, you’re just not a great person to write this book.
Sharon: I think she’s a governor. oh, the other thing I wrote was I did think she was unapologetic about m wanting to be wealthy and about being wealthy, which I thought was good. It’s important to her and she was.
Caitlin: She was almost rude about it. Yeah, exactly. Okay. Did reading this book change your view of the author or the housewives franchise?
Sharon: I love her. I still do. But it did take her down. I dated this book, took her down.
Caitlin: A notch for, I mean, like, again, I kind of wrote what I said earlier. I liked hearing about Michael and some of the background stuff in her life because that’s always interesting to me, but. I did think one thing I did like is when she was kind of talking about how, the press will label housewives as like A-B-I-T-C-H-A lot. And she just kind of kept saying in this show, if women are ever seen as assertive or arguing, then that word is applied to them. And that’s really not fair. There’s no real reason to be that way. But at the same time, it’s almost like you can’t show yourself as being strong or argumentative or standing up for yourself, because for women that’s seen as that. Whereas if men were doing it, it would just be like, oh, he’s a little aggressive or he’s really strong. I liked that she pointed that out, but it didn’t really have a place in the book. I think it was interesting.
Sharon: Definitely. Yeah, that’s a very true thing. However, on housewives, I feel like that’s one of the places where women can be with each other and.
Sharon: They’re applauded, for it, I guess.
Caitlin: Yeah. I think maybe earlier on maybe it wasn’t as much and so maybe that’s a thing that’s grown because now some.
Sharon: Of our favorite people are those.
Caitlin: Absolutely.
Sharon: I don’t know.
Caitlin: And people really take the names that are put on them and use them as a badge of honor instead of, Being like, oh, yeah, everybody thinks I’m this. They’re like, nope, I’m just going to use that. I’m going to make mugs with it. Exactly.
Sharon: If you can make money off it.
Caitlin: Vicki should appreciate that.
Sharon: She should.
Caitlin: All right, let’s judge the book by its cover. So it’s. Vicki Gunvilson is more than a housewife. It has two oranges on it. And I told Sharon, this is literally the same way that I do sometimes with our Instagram posts. I’ll be like, oh, there’s a moving full orange and a moving cut orange. I’m going to put them at the top of our Oc episode. And then Vicki is wearing a peacock blue. That’s the color I’m going to choose to, like, a tank. toppy halter top. Yeah. What is that called? And it’s kind of before. She’s had a lot of work done, so she looks a little bit different.
Sharon: And she looks like she’s, like, on a patio with.
Caitlin: Yeah, it’s a pageant stand. It’s actually like a senior picture.
Sharon: It is. That is exactly it. Oh, my goodness.
Caitlin: Yeah. So there’s palm leaves and stuff on the back. There’s her sitting in a very similar shirt, but she’s got a laptop next to one.
Sharon: They didn’t know which one to use.
Caitlin: For the COVID She wanted the laptop one, you know? And they were like, no, we just want the housewife one. Okay.
Sharon: I just love the fact that they put the random Oranges. They’re like, oh, you guys, this cover needs something.
Caitlin: What if they don’t know who Vicki Gunvilson is?
Sharon: Put in orange.
Caitlin: She’s more than a housewife. What if they don’t know from where?
Sharon: It’s just totally generic. I mean, she’s fine. It’s fine. I did not like the font, but this is just me being mean.
Caitlin: You know, when kids get books that, ah, they’ll bring home from the library and it’s like, Neil Armstrong is the first man on the moon. It’s that kind of COVID where it just has the picture of the person. Yeah.
Sharon: And this looks like it was photocopied at.
Caitlin: Kinko’s line is terribly spaced. Terribly. Like, the subheads are not good. Like, the font is not good. It runs together.
Sharon: There were some spelling errors in here.
Caitlin: There were.
Sharon: I didn’t notice ten, but not as.
Caitlin: Many as I thought.
Sharon: but, yeah, it looks like, it was self published. It looks like maybe she went and had her assistant put it together and sell.
Caitlin: It’s like when you accidentally get one of those books on Amazon that you think it’s going to be like a real cookbook, and it’s not. It’s like some guy just made this. It’s that. Okay, was there a ghostwriter? So there was co author Jeff Scott. Can we talk about this?
Sharon: Yes, let’s.
Caitlin: Was he even necessary? Did he do anything?
Sharon: I don’t know.
Caitlin: Okay. So I went to his website, and you know what he does? He is empowering through story. Here’s some of the titles of the books on his website. Oh, God, who will be my Judas? The Palindrome, which is like a bike race fiction about fear of commitment.
Sharon: Race car isn’t Palindrome. Same front and back.
Caitlin: Oh, yeah. But then why is it about cycling?
Sharon: I don’t know.
Caitlin: Okay. I don’t know. and then there was some kids books. One about being new to high school and needing confidence. Oh, and then there was one he wrote, like, about his dog called Harley speaks wisdom for humans. Chew the shoe. And it had two exclamation marks on the title. Two.
Sharon: Oh, so the dog is telling us how to be happy in life.
Caitlin: Yeah, I guess. Chew the shoe.
Sharon: The shoe.
Caitlin: Next time you’re unhappy. Something I’d be like, can you just chew the shoe? Get over it.
Sharon: I wrote it’s all about. So in the beginning, he has a forward, which I think is kind of weird to begin.
Caitlin: I think it was kind of.
Sharon: The whole point of a ghostwriter is to. You’re not there. It is not about you. It is not about what you thought of Vicki. It is not about your interactions with Vicki. You are merely a mouthpiece.
Sharon: For Vicki, to help her express her thoughts.
Caitlin: And this is why journalists should do it honestly and not authors, because authors are used to being front and center. Journalists are used to writing things where nobody pays any attention and nobody cares what you think. Yeah. And that’s why authors shouldn’t do it.
Sharon: Okay, so at the end of the book, there’s like another little paragraph about him.
Caitlin: Oh, I know, the forward wasn’t enough. Yeah.
Sharon: And at the end, he said he’s talking about what he does, and he said he authors his own materials under self help fiction. Is this like the chew the shoes self help fiction? What is his obsession with, like, I probably know metaphors because he read that.
Caitlin: Thing about how only 98% of whatever it was, I still didn’t like when he was like, okay. He was like, vicky’s so tenacious and stuff. And then he’s like, when it comes to the OC housewives, I would hope the public in Orange county and the rest of the nation would stop for a moment and think before believing that these women of reality are threatening or gossiping about each other. Twenty four seven. I tend to find that’s been the viewer’s job. Like, you were insulting me, like, three paragraphs in, I don’t want to read this book anymore.
Sharon: And then she insults women that stay, or he insults women that stay home.
Caitlin: And apparently, like, people know, have mental problems.
Sharon: Soap operas. I’m surprised you didn’t say, how many.
Caitlin: More people can you attack in your intro? Do you want anyone to read this book? At least wait till the end? I don’t know.
Sharon: Oh, God.
Caitlin: Okay, I have an extra question.
Sharon: Yeah?
Caitlin: Do you wish that Vicki’s daughter, Brianna would write a book? I kind of do because I like her and she’s really smart. But I think it’d be interesting. She’s the original kid growing up on the housewives. I think it might be an interesting take to see how growing up on tv like that affects, because there’s so many kids that are coming out of it. I just think it would be interesting. I like her. I think she’d write I like her.
Sharon: And I especially like her because she’s a nurse, but I have zero interest in reading that.
Caitlin: I guess I just think it would.
Sharon: Zero be better than Vicki. Unless maybe she. I would be interested in her reviewing Vicki’s book.
Caitlin: Oh, that would be fun.
Sharon: That might be interesting.
Caitlin: Yeah, she might be like, this is a do over. Okay. Real housewives. Unreal housewives. Thumbs up or thumbs down?
Sharon: I can’t even be bothered to move my thumb down.
Caitlin: And I like self help. And, like, we complain less about Mauricio’s book about finances, even though that isn’t even our jam at all. Yeah, it’s all over the place. It needed focus so bad. I don’t know. Know. I mean, I want Vicky back on the OC, but I don’t want Vicky to write another book.
Sharon: I want her back.
Caitlin: Guys, you need to put her back because otherwise she might get bored and write a book. I think that’s the takeaway.
Sharon: Can someone put Jeff Scott out of his material?
Caitlin: Yeah. Well, he looked like he was getting pretty old.
Sharon: You know, Vicky can bring his wife a check. We probably shouldn’t joke. What if he actually dies?
Caitlin: We should make sure Jeff is okay. Sorry, Jeff. We’re sorry.
Sharon: We’re totally joking, Jeff.
Caitlin: And we don’t mean for you to be gone. We just want you to not write.
Sharon: Any more Vicky or with dogs in shoes.
Caitlin: Maybe more of those. That might have been a great book. We don’t know. Don’t judge a book that seemed like the most book I would be willing to read of his when I looked at the list. That cute dog cover, you got to give it that. All right, well, that is our, take on Vicki’s book. And, yeah, don’t read it. So just listen. And remember, half size brings drama. We bring the receipts. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, please hit the subscribe button. If you’d like to help support us, please share it with others and leave a rating and review. Also visit us on Instagram and Twitter, both at rhythm underscore RH for fun pictures and polls, or email us at rhonrhpodcast@gmail.com. Thanks again, and remember to stay out of the shade.