Conroe, Texas

Saw this post and laughed for some strange reason

A Texas Woman Sues 'Extreme Makeover'

Sep 21, 9:50 AM EST

The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES -- A woman is suing ABC's reality show "Extreme Makeover" for unspecified damages, alleging its decision to cancel her appearance contributed to her sister's suicide.

In a lawsuit filed Sept. 9 in Los Angeles Superior Court, Deleese Williams, 30, of Conroe, Texas, claimed the producers subjected her to needless humiliation and goaded her sister, Kellie McGee, into insulting her appearance.

Williams says a psychologist and numerous doctors told her she needed an "eye lift, ears pulled back, chin implant and breast implants."

She was also told she needed dental surgery to break and reset her jaw for a successful "makeover," the lawsuit said.

Just hours before the dental surgery was to take place, Williams was told she was being dropped from the show because the recovery time wouldn't fit into the schedule, the lawsuit said.

Williams said she returned to Texas devastated. Four months later, her sister killed herself.

"She knew that they could drop her at anytime, but she didn't believe they would," Williams' Houston-based lawyer, Wesley Cordova, said Tuesday.

The lawsuit said McGee suffered from bipolar disorder, but Cordova said the show drove Williams' sister to kill herself.

Williams is suing ABC and its parent company, The Walt Disney Co., for alleged breach of contract, willful infliction of emotional distress and negligence.

"The most tragic part is that Deleese is now too ashamed to even go out in public," Cordova said.

ABC said Tuesday that all participants know in advance that their makeover may not happen.

"The ABC Television Network wishes to express its sincere condolences to Deleese Williams and her family for the loss of Kellie McGee," the company said in a statement.

"In regards to `Extreme Makeover,' all participants are made aware that if doctors or producers have any concerns about a procedure, the makeover will not go forward. ... The producers endeavor to handle each potential makeover participant with the utmost care."

Williams said she applied to "Extreme Makeover" in December 2003 and was selected to meet with producers in Los Angeles.

There, Williams was videotaped recounting the ridicule she suffered as a child and her years in an abusive marriage to an ex-husband. Makeover'

Her lawsuit alleges that her husband and sisters were also interviewed and encouraged to make disparaging comments about her looks.

I very happy to report (no pics this time) that the dang blasted chair is gone. After getting my second fire started, I was able to watch the chair burn itself down to ashes.

The burn pile even lived till Tuesday afternoon when the wife saw it smoking and forced me to put it out. For some reason, leaving a nice bed of coals going so I can get a blaze easily in the evening just doesn't sit well with her. Oh well, I guess that is life. At least my burn pile will last a bit longer this way.

Now that I let everyone in on my secret past time of the burn pile, it almost appears that my FIL reads my blog. I walk into his house last night and pretty much the first thing out of his mouth was some snide remark about the chair and how it was never going to burn. Now, I would normally just go home, pour a ½ gallon of gasoline on the thing and be done with it, but after last night I took it personally. It wasn’t going to be a simple pour and torch job; I wanted to do it like a pro. That means build a real fire and let it have its natural way the damned chair without using any petroleum products. It’s taking pride in my work or in this case, my hobby that puts this kind pressure on me.

So, this morning I go in search of my fire building supplies. First off, I use dryer lint for my kindling. It is just the best thing for starting a fire the old fashioned way. Today though, my wife was shredding old bills and bank statements, so I grabbed a couple of handfuls and headed for the burn pile. Part of me was worried that this would doom the whole endeavor, but what the hell, if the shredded paper didn’t do the job then I would just go get my stash of lint and start over. The goal is burn the hell out of a chair, not build the perfect fire. Next thing I know I have a good base of shredded paper, shoved between two large logs, and covered with lots of nice dry twigs. This whole construct was covered by THE CHAIR.


The picture shows the sheer beauty and simplicity of what I was attempting to do. Start fire, burn chair, and dance a jig of success. Three matches later I had a great flame. The paper was an impressive fire starter, rivaling my usual lint and the game was on. Crackling flames, smoking wood, and a soon to be burning chair were going to start my day off just right.


Don’t those flames look great? For only using three matches and no gasoline it is not only a thing of beauty, but also a construct of great simplicity, which show cases my ability with dry material and a match. I would go as far as saying it was a work of art. I walked away to do some chores in the garden and eat lunch happy in the knowledge that when I returned, the offending chair would be gone and I could gloat a bit to my FIL the next time I saw him. The only problem was that four hours later the fire was out and that damned chair was still perched on top of the burn pile. It was laughing at me, mocking me, and gloating about my inability to destroy it. The urge to go get the gas and soak the whole show welled up inside me, but I fought it down and decided to investigate further before I took such an angry route. I poked and prodded the burn pile to uncover hot coals, but there didn’t seem to be any. That meant the fire had burned out without doing its job. I didn’t run for the gas, instead I went and got three handfuls of shredded bills and stuffed them between the two logs, stacked more twigs on top, centered the chair on the burn pile and grabbed a small, yet burnable looking log from the “to burn” pile.


My second construct as you can see is larger. More paper, more twigs and of course a back up log to toss on top. Once I got the flames going this time, I allowed the twigs to burn down a bit, then put the back up logs on the fire, under the chair. It may take all night, but the chair will die. I swear by all that I hold dear that the chair will burn. I will not be defeated in this battle.


And you thought life in Conroe, Texas was boring?

Life in and around Conroe, Texas is not that exciting. I have been here since 1972 and sometimes I have had to reach really far down into the bottom of my mind to come up with fun pastimes. Lets face it; small town Texas is not always a thrill ride. Last winter though, I stumbled upon a new hobby, which I refer to as my burn pile. It sounds strange and believe me, it doesn’t get much better from this point on. First, a small bit of background information. I live on about ½ an acre of land with my wife and daughter. Last winter my wife finally felt that the dead tree in the backyard had to go. I had held her off for over a year with the argument that “The woodpeckers live in the tree,” but when she could finally verify that no more woodpeckers were present, the tree had to go. It posed some sort of threat to her and our house, so it came down. After the initial fun of cutting the tree down, my father and I decided that we weren’t paying to have the stump ground out. Hell, why waste good money when you can burn it out.

As you can tell, it didn’t get very far. Like I said, I kinda half assed the first attempt, but that will be all. My father in law warned me that the chair will never burn. For various reasons he thinks I am a fool for even trying to burn the thing, but just wait. That chair is going to burn one way or another, just give me chance. Now that I committed to the burn pile I guess I should show everyone my “to burn” piles. These two photos show just what my primary material supply looks like at this point. It may not seem like much, but I will find more. There is hope that the lot across the street will get cleared and I can gather more fuel for the fire.


I warned you, the legend of the burn pile isn’t too exciting, but its life here where I live and I enjoy it.