EXCERPT: 'Here's the Deal: Don't Touch Me' by Howie Mandel - ABC News

EXCERPT: 'Here's the Deal: Don't Touch Me' by Howie Mandel - ABC News

Howie Mandel talks about his struggle with OCD, an anxiety disorder.  To learn more about living with mental illness and how to help, please visit NAMI.org and please buy Howie's new book!

Turkey Day!

Thanksgiving grocery shopping at WalMart this morning: sweet potatos, green beans, dinner rolls, cans of fruit cocktail and pecans for the fruit salad, cream cheese in case Marissa makes a cheese cake, and a turkey! I was looking at the selection and spotted this Jennie-O "oven ready" bird! How could you not love this! :D

Chayei Sarah

I am sitting in the blue chair with the Haftarah (Prophets) portion for today 1 Kings 1:1-31, balanced on my lap. I just sent a text to my son Roy - he is in Tucson and we visit by text when he is out of town. I am reading and thinking. King David, even on his death bed, could not escape intrigue. Adonijah trys to take the throne without David's knowledge or consent.

Plotting and schemes and ill treatment bubble up in families. Life is so hard, there is much sorrow, how much more is this magnified when you can not trust your wife or husband, or child, or parent.

I have been reading Diana's new book "An Echo in the Bone" and marked this quote the other night: "Home is where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in."
Right. But what if "they" are not safe, even when they take you in?

This afternoon I saw a very small, fragile looking little blond boy being yanked through Danny's car wash by his left arm, which was pulled unnaturally high up in the air by a woman who appeared to be his mother, grim faced and angry, loudly exclaiming that he could not "steal any candy this week!," pulling him toward the glass exit doors. Two blond wide eyed and somber little girls trailed after, one of the girls looked to be about 5. The smallest girl and the crying small boy looked about 2, perhaps twins?
I turned to Roy and said, how awful to have a mom who is so unkind and cruel, to yell at a baby about stealing! And literally drag him through the store by wrenching his arm.

I still feel bad about witnessing this scene and I now have a headache so I'll get some ibuprophen in a minute. What in the world is it like for those babies behind closed doors when the mother is so openly mean in public? I have two girls and a boy and I love them so much! And I do remember, not just in my head but I physically remember with my body, the feeling of reaching down and picking up my small child, the weight of holding, the embrace of my solid little baby hugging me back with arms around my neck.
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As You Wish

I am sitting in the parking lot at AMC 30, the sun is down and big Roy is getting dinner at Samurai Sams. I am window shopping from my front seat through the windshield view I have in our Ford pickup truck. As You Wish is all lit up, on the left side of the front door are shelves of thanksgiving turkeys and plates and mugs, on the right side are shelves of Christmas cookie jars and figurines and plates and mugs, so pretty! I remember a "ceramic painting" Birthday party we had for Alyssa when she was small, it would have been about this time of year because her birthday is in October. Emily and Courtney were there I think and Brittany, not sure about Laci she was probably too little, and Marissa and Roy Samuel too. Marissa still loves to paint plates and figurines. She did a lovely job on a Disney Ariel figurine as a present for Alyssa before Alyssa left for the University of Hawaii her freshman year (I'm glad she was only gone for a year I missed her so much) anyway, Ariel was beautiful with bright, glossy red hair and she sat on a colorful sea shell with her aqua mermaid tail curled gracefully around the shell base, and Alyssa did not want to take it with her to the dorm in case something might happen to her, because she was lovely and fragile and Marissa had worked on her for hours to make her beautiful. So, I wrapped Ariel carefully in clean, ink-free newsprint and put her in a box with other treasures, and now we can not find Ariel at all and I have unwrapped so many things in so many boxes! With five of us my ability to collect and store keepsakes is wonderfully amazing except there is the problem of finding anything specific or needed once it is put away. Sigh.
I got out of the truck and took a picture through the store window tonight - maybe the girls can go back together and paint something and I will keep it in plain sight or at least I will label the box Thanksgiving so that the treasures can reappear.
Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone provided by Alltel

Sitting down after dinner

Feels great to sit on the couch with my feet up next to baby Angel cat and watch TV! Had a busy afternoon at the dental board, drove home late and noticed I have very little gas left. Listened to Mac and Gaydos on KTAR talk about how Sky Harbor had at least 1,000 suitcases stolen over who knows how long a time period - how's that for airport security right? I remember how bad I felt for Roy when he went to West Point for summer training in 2005 and his suitcase was late, but hey at least it showed up! The man and woman with the home stuffed with stolen luggage sure hurt a lot of people. Makes me sad.
Yankees just won they are World Champions! (Queen's song is playing in the background). Diamondbacks beat the Yankees in 2001, I remember that game, we all stood and yelled and jumped up and down the whole last inning in the living room, so happy! The announcer says this is the 27th World Championship for the Yankees.
Neat! Talent and hard work, lots of effort, and teamwork! None of do much on our own, we sure do need each other.
Weird news story today, a cat got the swine flu from its human family.
Time to crawl under the covers and read "Echo In The Bone," goodnight - may we all sleep well with a prayer on our lips, no bad thoughts and no bad dreams -.-