Oprah Fridays

I’m a few days behind due to the earthquake in Haiti but I still wanted to put my thoughts out there about an Oprah episode. The show was about husbands with secret lives and the Matermarino family story was shocking to me.

Here is a quick summary if you missed it. Barbra Mastromarino married her perfect guy, he was cute, an oral surgeon and her soul mate. They were wealthy and lived in luxury. Michael along the line developed a drug problem, had many affairs and lost his medical license.

With the worst yet to come Barbra forgave him and stood by his side. To Barbra’s knowledge Michael finally cleaned up and got his life back on track. He was bringing home a great income again and life was great.

What Barbra didn’t know was that her husband created a business stealing body parts from dead bodies. He was stealing skin and bones and selling the parts. Michael would place garbage and pipes into the mutilated bodies to cover up the theft.

Michael was thankfully caught and sent to jail. His horrific crimes have left many innocent families hurt, disgusted and far beyond angry. Imagine your loved ones body being mutilated for money. Police reports say that Michael dissected more than 1000 bodies and another note is that some of the tissue and bones that Michael sold were infected with HIV and other diseases.

A family member of one of the victims was very angry with Barbra on the show. The family member pointed out how Barbra made millions off of these victims and it was wrong. After watching this it got me wondering how accountable is Barbra for this situation? Should Barbra be blamed for her husband’s crimes?

I say yes and no. Barbra had already been used to leading a cushy lifestyle so Michael coming home with lots of money should not raise any red flags. On the other hand after everything he had done to Barbra in the past. Wouldn’t a girl do a little checking up on her husband? I still think it would have been difficult for her to figure this out.

Michael and Barbra had two children together. Imagine the suffering that these children are going through. Think of what high school is like for these two boys as kids are brutal sometimes. Barbra and the boys ended up with nothing in the end and it made me sad for the boys. All the money went to the victims’ families.

What do you think? Is Barbra innocent or guilty?

Michael’s actions hurt many people not just the families of the deceased victims. The patients receiving the infected parts now have a whole new problem on their hands. I just wanted to express how sorry I am for what all of these families are going through.

To read the entire story and some others go here http://www.oprah.com/relationships/Husbands-Secret-Lives-Revealed/1

Watch an interesting Infidelity Around the World video at Oprah's site http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/Perceptions-of-Infidelity-Around-the-Worl...

Disclaimer… This material is subject to our Terms and Conditions Policy. Please view our Terms and Conditions Policy on our site.

1/15/09

This quiz over at Oprah.com gives you results on how efficient your life is. My score was a 35 and the news was not good. I have a lot of work to do. Here is what my result said

Total score: 35.

Looking at your score:
26–35 points:

Your life is inefficient and is getting more so. You have a sense that you are treading water rather than getting ahead. Too much is out of your control, and your ability to cope with everyday challenges is only adequate. To begin to feel comfortable, you will have to address negative areas you've been overlooking and change your habits and beliefs in those areas. Look realistically at your inefficient ways, because one or the other—sloppiness, disorganization, procrastination, denial, impulsiveness—is draining your energy. Your available energy for positive growth is limited.

Yikes, take the quiz and tell me what your score is. I’m sure it will be much better than mine.

http://www.oprah.com/survey/spirit/emotionalhealth/20091104-orig-efficie...

1/12/09

Thought for Today

"The single greatest thing you can do to change your life today would be to start being grateful for what you have right now. And the more grateful you are, the more you get."

— Oprah

I am very grateful for all that I have in my life. How about you? Great thought Oprah.

According to Nina Shen Rastogi at Oprah mag here are some interesting tree facts.

20 is the number of years a consumer must reuse an artificial tree before it has a lower carbon footprint than a real tree, according to one study.

28.2 million is the number of real Christmas trees sold in the United States in 2008.

600,000 is the approximate number of US homes that could be powered for an entire year with the energy used by decorative lights every holiday season. Switch from incandescent lights to longer lasting LED’s and you’ll use about 90% less energy per string. To recycle your old incandescent, go to holidayleds.com

This makes me think twice about my tree but I could never let it go. What about you? I was going to add more lights this year but now I wont. I dont need all the fancy lights outside where I cant see them anyway.

To read the rest of this article and find more recycling places go here http://www.oprah.com/slideshow/omagazine/200912-omag-green-christmas-tree

Due to all the chocolate that I’m consuming lately I found this article appropriate too. http://www.oprah.com/article/food/cookingadvice/pkgfoodfamily/20091217-o...

12/17/09