Messages By: desertnan

Your description of how you stuck by your husband through the tragic outcome of his heart attack so reminds me of how Dana deeply loved her husband Chris and how she took care of him after his devastating accident. That marriages can be so strong as to survive such trials and tribulations certainly demonstrate how some really do honor the vow to love one's mate through sickness and in health. I am glad you are left with good memories. desertnan

My own family has its problems that seem to stem from when one of my brothers came down with cirrhosis of the liver that led to kidney problems. He is under doctor's care and doing well, but since then, his personality seems to have changed judging from the nasty eMails he has been sending to my fraternal twin sister and, as of a few days ago, myself. I say "seems" because I live in Arizona while he lives in Pennsylvania and my sister lives in Connecticut. You can only tell so much from an eMail without the advantage of seeing someone face to face. What triggered Maureen's problems with her father may have been her mother's death as that happened about six months before her estrangement from her father. Maybe a coincidence, or it may have caused Kevin to "protect" his now-widowed father through isolation and brainwashing. I trust Dr. Phil will follow this situation and keep us posted as to what sort of professional help may be sought to bring this family together. Kevin does sound as though he needs a psychological help in his need to control his father while Richard needs the same to allow him to see things in a more realistic way.

Never have been a relationship, wholesome or otherwise, or raised in an unhealthy environment (my parents were divorced but it was not messy) all I can go by are case histories of abusive relationships. One message I read had a list of characteristics of abusers, the top one being they were abused as children. Another comment said abusers are not made that way by their spouses, they were already abusers. Certainly Jeffrey's stalking Jennifer, and setting up those cameras, the GPS on her car, tapping into her phone lines and all is frightening, and surely a sign things will continue to escalate unless they are stopped. I can't help wondering what changed what may have been a normal little boy into this abusive stalker. I watched parts I, III and IV, and remember Dr. Phil telling her she had to take the necessary steps to change her situation. She needs to develop the strength needed to acquire strength and determination to quit being victimized by him and do what it takes to bring about a complete separation or she will be endangering herself and her children. Jeffrey himself needs professional help in overcoming his need to control others, and become a respected member of our society. My heart of course goes out to Jennifer, but it also goes out to Jeffrey. He cannot be happy with his present behavior, and I hope it can be altered so someday he will be able to form a healthy relationship with someone. My opinion is neither can be helped as long as they continue to interact with each other.

S Dahl your country sounds beautiful. I was lucky to tour Ireland in 1991 but that is the only time I was able to travel outside the U.S. When my financial situation improves enough I would love to travel to Europe and Scandinavia. See how folks in the Eastern hemisphere live.

While I do not plan on reading every single message posted I have read several pages of them and while I think it great people of different viewpoints can state how they feel, I really get tired of seeing the TV character's name misspelled. The topic says The True Life of Marcia Brady, not The True Life of Marsha Brady. I know they are both pronounced the same, but I think it is a bit disrespectful of the actress to not spell her character's name right. I would prefer she be called by her real name anyway - Maureen. Marcia is make believe. Maureen is not. At this point there may be not be too many new postings as there are more recent shows to comment on, but maybe in the future people posting message could take the time to check the spelling of someone's name first. I am sure if any of you happened to find themselves a guest on the show you would appreciate seeing your name spelled correctly in the resulting postings.

I, like so many other people these days, am obese, weighing around 228 on my 4'10" frame. I just finished watching Dr. Phil's show on weight problems and was so impressed with these three women and all the support they got from their families and from the experts Dr. Phil sent to help them out. I think the word diet should only be used for a short-term fix, like if you are three pounds over your ideal weight, then you would diet to get the three pounds off. Otherwise, it is a makeover of your eating habits that is needed. I have high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels and very high triglyceride levels, and have switched from foods apt to raise those levels, to foods that will lower them. Prevention magazine has a list of foods that will lower blood pressure, and a list that are low in cholesterol. You need to check labels for type as well as amount of fat in the foods, and don't go overboard. I tell my family I am not on a salt-free diet, I just need to reduce the amount. When I saw DeeDee's change from 750 pounds to her current weight, I worry over the looks she still gets as she is still very obese. No one looking at her will know she has been successful at losing 250 pounds. They will only judge her current appearance. I wish people would stop judging others and leave it up to the individual's family, doctor, or themselves to handle the problem and keep their objective noses out of it. My favorite snack had been potato chips dipped in a mixture of sour cream and chunky blue cheese dressing, washed down with Barq's root beer. Now it's unadulterated popcorn (no melted butter on it) washed down with a glass of iced water. Dr. Phil's suggestion to Angelique that she stop eating those 13 cheeseburgers a week works for anyone. Pick a food you shouldn't eat, and stop eating it. You can still have other things to enjoy so you won't miss the one food you stopped eating. Little steps over time will bring about a gradual change. And by the way, why are no men included? Men are in the Arby's commercials while women are in the Weight Watchers, Slim Fast and Jenny Craig commercials. Are there no obese men??? Good luck to all who are attempting to change their habits to lose weight and keep it off, and nuts to those outsiders judging anyone they feel is too heavy.

In fact, at 4'10" and 228 pounds, I am obese. You said what I was thinking during the commercial before Dr. Phil said the same thing, she needs counseling, and so does her fiance (I have trouble remembering, but I think his name is Daniel). They need to work together to enable her to have a healthy self-image of herself, and he needs to understand, as Dr. Phil told him, that it is not something she needs to get over. She needs professional help to overcome her fears that she's fat, and he needs more understanding of what it means to be a recovering bulimic. I can believe she truly feels she is fat and she will need to get over that feeling and know that, rather than fat ,she is underweight, before thinking of marriage. I hope Daniel truly means what he said in that he will work with her to help her overcome her problem.

I am registered with both PayPal and eBay and sometimes get eMails saying my account is being suspended due to suspicious activity, or telling me someone is trying to gain access to my account but they are addred to PayPal Member or eBay Member. I contacted eBay and received a reply from PayPal (or maybe the other way around) telling me a genuine eMail will begin with my own name, not Member. They also gave me an eMail address to send any eMails that look fraudulent to me which I have done. This will alert them to those sites sending out numerous such eMails. By the way, even though I closed my account with a particular bank several years ago, I still get eMails concerning my account with them, which I simply delete.

I love the small claims court shows and watch some most every day. I do not recall which show this was on, though I am thinking it was on The People's Court. The Plaintiff was suing his son, a woman, and her boyfriend for $5,000 of the $6,000 they had scammed him out of. Bear in mind, this man (in this 40s I think, but could have been older) had been taking care of the man's four childre with no help from the parents or the state. How do they pay him back? By her asking him (she is not the mother but I cannot recall who she is) to cash a check for her. He took it to his bank and deposited it. Days later, the bank called him and told him the check had CLEARED so he withdrew $2500 to give to the woman, then later gave her the other $3500. Some time later, the bank found out the check was counterfeit and went to the man for the $6,000 back. To me, if the bank tells a customer a check cleared, that should be the end of it. If the bank erred, why should the customer pay? I do not know how your situation will end, but if the law is on the bank's side, all you can do is declare bankruptcy and see if that will discharge the debt. And only deposit checks from people you know, or cash it at the bank it is from. It really hurts that good people get hurt so criminals can get rich.

I am sure many will draw comparisons between this coming show's topic and the one from last Friday on Biggest Reunions Ever. How many of these "little boys" will end up weighing half a ton, if they live that long? Such a contrast, but yet a parallel, to animal owners I see on Animal Planet who have starved their pets almost to the point of death and claim they love them and feed them several times a day, only they don't. So these pet owners who "love" their animals withhold food until they are walking skeltons while some parents who "love" their children allow them to eat foods high in calories, sugar, fat until they are so obese they can hardly walk, hastening them to a life of diabetes, heart problems, being unable to use a standard tub or toilet, ride in a car, or live a normal life span. My mom raised me and my twin sister in the days before Twinkies and Lunchables, but she also raised us without giving us sodas or candy. I still developed a weight problem which I am taking care of by staying away from foods with a lot of refined sugar, bad types of fats, and empty calories and trying to eat foods proven to lower cholesterol and blood pressure, and avoid Diabetes. If you do not have a healthy food plan you will not feel good about yourself, and these children are so young to start out in life with poor eating habits indulged in or even encouraged by their parents. With the thought in mind on how staggering the health care costs are for these people who develop life-long health conditions they usually cannot afford, why can't these children who are in danger be removed from the home and placed in an environment geared to turning them around, and returned to the parents only through a program of intense monitoring to ensure these children do not become obese again? I am glad I am single with no children, but my heart aches for innocent children born to parents who can be so abusive. And for those whose children eat healthy and are still obese, fight doctors and specilists for a cause and treatment before it is too late.