**MONDAY ROLL CALL**

Hi everyone. Happy New Year! It is a glorious day, and I am so glad to be alive! 2005 was a tough year, but I made it to 2006! PTL! I hope our board will continue to grow as we come here to support each other and to draw strength from one another. I "gleaned" some questions of the day from another board, but I don't think they will mind. I thought they were pretty good questions. Here they are. Peg 1. Besides continuing to lose and/or maintain weight, what goals do you have for 2006? 2. What is the greatest miracle in your life? 3. Did you ever dread a birthday? If so, which one? 4. If married or dating, how did you meet your spouse/date? 5. What year did you get your first computer? ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ My Answers: 1. Besides continuing to lose weight, what goals do you have for 2006? Get healthy. Join a support group. Travel!!! 2. What is the greatest miracle in your life? That I made it to 2006! PTL! My husband and family are also the greatest miracles in my life. You can't measure love that is poured out in such abundance. 3. Did you ever dread a birthday? If so, which one? I dreaded 25. I had married at 18 and had my first son just a month before I turned 20. By 25, I had been married almost 7 years and had 2 sons ages 5 and 2 1/2. Many of my friends had gone on to college, and I felt like I had been left behind. I am now 56, and I LOVE every birthday I have! 4. If married or dating, how did you meet your spouse/date? I met my DH at a dance. I was almost 16, and he was 20. He thought I WAS 16! I wonder how he got that idea? Of course, when I turned 16 the following month, I had to "fess up!" The only reason my folks let me date him was because our dads knew each other...plus my mom made me double date for a few times before she allowed me to go out with him alone. He is such a sweetie. He won my whole family over in no time! That was 40 years ago, and we just celebrated our 38th wedding anniversary the day after Thanksgiving. 5. What year did you get your first computer? "1985!" Can you believe that?! It was very limited, and we had to know a little bit of the language BASIC, but we made it work for some simple tasks and games. Then we moved on to the Apple Macintosh. Much better. I loved that computer. We have never been without one since then.

Great questions Peg - I had a date with a new guy and got lucky - woo hoo. 1. Besides continuing to lose and/or maintain weight, what goals do you have for 2006? Get my food under control, for me, eat healthier, and more frequenglty, bulk up a little. 1 - get my money in order - I'm in Debtor's anonymous - so stop debting, start working the steps., etc, go to meetings, Pray daily, go to church on sunday, exercise 3 x/day, do a treasure map 2. What is the greatest miracle in your life? by far my job - being thin and healthy enough to do it, happy enough to do it. I love it. 3. Did you ever dread a birthday? If so, which one? I love birthdays 4. If married or dating, how did you meet your spouse/date? I meet my newest bow on Match - we've been out 3 times and we've done it - woo hoo. 5. What year did you get your first computer? 1996

Dianne...Hi five for 'doin' it' Hope you don't mind this personal question, but how did you bring up the skin issue. I have a friend that is three years out and is dreading finding someone she likes (though she really wants to) because of her skin. Any advice? Thanks, Rachel

I didn't really bring it up. I told him I had a gastric bypass, so I guess he figured out I had lost a lot of weight. He didn't say anything. I was dreading it to. But at least it's over with. I have decided to tell people on the first date, or pretty soon, because, when I was dating Barry - and really liked him the longer we went out the harder it got to tell him. It wound up not working out, because of him, (he has intimacy issues), but I told Kurt on the first date, I don't eat sugar because I had a gastric bypass. LOL. Just put it out there. I figure if someones going to dump me because of it better they do it before I have feelings for them. Then if it ever gets to the intimacy stage they will figure I have some extra skin (maybe) I don't know. I also look at the fact that at 42, everyone has some flaws. Dianne

Great questions Peg - I had a date with a new guy and got lucky - woo hoo. 1. Besides continuing to lose and/or maintain weight, what goals do you have for 2006? Get my food under control, for me, eat healthier, and more frequenglty, bulk up a little. 1 - get my money in order - I'm in Debtor's anonymous - so stop debting, start working the steps., etc, go to meetings, Pray daily, go to church on sunday, exercise 3 x/day, do a treasure map 2. What is the greatest miracle in your life? by far my job - being thin and healthy enough to do it, happy enough to do it. I love it. 3. Did you ever dread a birthday? If so, which one? I love birthdays 4. If married or dating, how did you meet your spouse/date? I meet my newest bow on Match - we've been out 3 times and we've done it - woo hoo. 5. What year did you get your first computer? 1996

Great questions... 1. Besides continuing to lose and/or maintain weight, what goals do you have for 2006? My goal is to get my daily living under control...things like maintaining order in the house...doing things today rather than putting off until tomorrow...also, get/stay healty....continue healthy eating habits. I have been doing both of these for a while now but I want both to become even more habit than thought. 2. What is the greatest miracle in your life? The greatest miracle has to be that I met and married my husband....I have no idea why I got so lucky to have him in my life...he is wonderful....he is handsome, friendly, very funny, smart and has a successful career...I have NO idea why he picked me....LOL...actually we are so well suited for each other...it is truly amazing. 3. Did you ever dread a birthday? If so, which one? for some reason I was worried about turning 30...I will be 38 on my next birthday and no signs of fear yet... 4. If married or dating, how did you meet your spouse/date? I met my husband at work....although we had a mutual friend at work so we saw each other at her house occasionally....btw, there is a 24 year difference in our ages....the first time we went on a "real" date together I was shocked to learn his age and that he had 4 children, one older than me.....I am so glad that I gave the relationship a chance....sometimes I think back about how disappointed I was to learn that he was so much older than me...but it is what it is...just a number....so, we dated for 18 months before we got married....and this year we will celebrate 10 years of marriage....there are 5 grandkids in the equation now, number 6 on the way...I can honestly say that I consider his kids my family and I am postive they consider me their family....it has worked out. 5. What year did you get your first computer? Although I had a computer at work since 1991, I didn't have my own computer at home until I met/lived with my husband in 1995. Happy New Year, RAE

I'm hoping 2006 is gonna be a better one. After 3 car accidents since August to 12/9, I hope it gets better. One of which was a hit and run 4 days after my TT & BR, the other totalled my car. 1. Besides continuing to lose and/or maintain weight, what goals do you have for 2006? To make it to 2007 well and make it to 126lbs (only 14lbs away) That's doable isn't it? 2. What is the greatest miracle in your life? My daughter without any doubts 3. Did you ever dread a birthday? If so, which one? 29 for some odd reason. Guess it was the step before 30. 4. If married or dating, how did you meet your spouse/date? Online actually AOL to be precise (during my first 180lbs weightloss from 320lbs to 140lbs course I gained it all back plus 30+lbs after getting married). We talked for 2 years as just buddies which turned into more once we met. 5. What year did you get your first computer? 1998 I believe and now I am one of the biggest computer Geeks in the world. I think it's part of my arm now. Started on a Mac in 1990 doing desktop publishing. Boy have we come along ways since then. Donna Paige 339/140

Hi Peg, Happy new year...very happy you are here in 2006 too! Thanks for doing this. It would be great if we can keep this board alive. 1. Besides continuing to lose and/or maintain weight, what goals do you have for 2006? Finish the construction on our house. We've been adding on a second story for a year now (and yes, we are living in the house...yikes) 2. What is the greatest miracle in your life? That I have a healthy, happy home. Based on my and my husbands childhood experiences...well let's just say, you can stop the cycle. 3. Did you ever dread a birthday? If so, which one? Not really dread, but 25 was a wow kind of moment for me. 4. If married or dating, how did you meet your spouse/date? (I've got to come up with a better story for this one)...In a bar. 5. What year did you get your first computer? About '85....was in the tech industry for most of my adult life. When that computer died. I used the hard drive as a bookend. Sing with me...and the times they are a changing.