Book excerpt: The Rebel Housewife Rules is a whole new set of rules for today's housewives. The book contains 38 short chapters--four pages each--because that is about all that a mom can read locked in the bathroom with a three-year-old while the dog vomits outside the door. Each chapter: Exposes a myth about being a housewife: "Compared to an outside career, taking care of a house and family--and myself--will be a breeze." Reveals the reality behind the myth: "My husband comes home to a disheveled wife, a disaster of a house, and laundry all over the stairs." Lays down a new rule: "Your day will never go as planned." And offers a rule Rx, a prescription for real domestic happiness: "Be proud of your most important accomplishments every day." Following the often hilarious adventures and advice of Rebel Housewives Sherri Caldwell and Vicki Todd, readers learn to be themselves, get what they want, and love in new and deeper ways. Sherri and Vicki share their hard-won wisdom in this "survivors' guide" to momhood, housecleaning, budgets, self-care, and love after kids and babies. Bottom line? Happiness is more important than passing the white-glove test. In The Rebel Housewife Rules, the recently engaged, new brides, or long-married wives find the courage to live by the greatest housewife rule of all: "Live, Love, and Laugh, one day at a time, baby."