Dear Peter,

I hope you are doing well. How is the weather in Neverland? It is finally cooling off in East Texas. We are praying for a REAL fall and winter. :-)

I just had to tell you about a new singer that I have "discovered". Ok, so I heard about him from "FlyLady", but this guy is AWESOME, and I really wanted to share him with you. His name is Eric Dodge http://www.ericdodge.com/

Ok, first of all THE MAN CAN SING!! He really has a great "country" sound, but he also sings broadway. It's amazing. :-) Personally, I think he's better than Tim McGraw. Actually, I'll go as far as ranking him with George Strait. (You know me, Peter, if I rank him with George he has to really be something) :-) I encourage you to go to his website and listen to the songs there. I really like "What a Concept", "The Other Kid", and "This is the Moment". I LOVE the song "When I Was Your Age." To get to this song click on the "Good Things Utah" link. You get to watch the video of when he sang it on TV. Oh, did I mention how very good looking he is? :-) He also seems to be very genuine...humble. Can't go wrong there. :-)

When I first listened to the song, "When I was Your Age", I had to laugh. How many times did we hear those same sentiments from our parents and grandparents. How much "easier" we had things then they did. Now, I find myself saying those very same things to my nephews. I played the song for my 10 year old nephew. He didn't "get it". Oh, but he will one day. Just like the song says... :-)

Listening to this song brought back so many memories of my childhood. The "modern" things we had to make our life "easier". I mean, after all we had color TV! We got 6 channels!! If I remember correctly we got the three major networks, PBS, and two stations on UHF. In Houston they were channels 26 and 39. I remember 39, because that was the station Underdog came on. :-) We had electric typewriters. How much easier could life get? And those huge console stereos. Portable record players! :-) Almost every home had at least one telephone. Most people didn't even have party lines anymore. :-) We had small cassette tapes as opposed to those bulky old 8 tracks. How much better could life get?!

When comparing the kids of today with my generation sometimes I wonder how we survived without all of the "neccesities" of today. Cell phones,computers, internet, hundreds of channels on the TV, etc...It's like an entirely different world. Then again, maybe we had it better. But, that's a "blog entry" for another day. :-)

I encourage you to listen to Eric's song, and think about your childhood. Check out some of his other songs, and then purchase the CD. I don't think you will be disappointed. I really see this young man making it BIG very soon. :-)

Tell Tink and the Lost Boys that I said, "Hello".

Love,
Wendy Darling

Dear Peter,

Tonight I had the best date I have had in years. Ok, so it is the only date I have had in years. Still, it was wonderful.

My date was very handsome, and polite. He has blonde hair, blue eyes, is almost as tall as I am, and 10 years old. Yes, my dear nephew and I went out on a "date". We went to a very nice restaraunt here in town. OK, normally I wouldn't take children to this place, but it was a special night and I thought I would take a chance that he has matured. He has been well behaved for the last few days, and is really trying to do better. He did not disappoint me. We had a very nice time, and he used his table manners. I only had to remind him twice to put his napkin in his lap. :-)

Even after my letter about exercising I decided tonight we would share a dessert. I RARELY order a dessert, but we decided to have one. We shared a slice of Chocolate Earthquake Cake. And you know what? I loved it and didn't feel a bit guilty about eating it. I am broke, but I don't care. It was the best $23 I ever spent. We dressed up, went out and made a nice memory. I even got a picture of us before we left so I can put it in the scrapbook. Hey, I'm a scrapbooker. :-) Just thought I would share my evening.

Love,
Wendy Darling

Dear Peter,

Well, after all these years I have decided that I do like exercising. Provided of course that it is in my own home and I pick the music. :-)

About three weeks ago I began to use this "pedal machine" given to us by our dear sister and her dear husband. I didn't think I would accomplish much, but it was moving and that was progress. I made a "cleaning CD" that has now become my exercise music. 63 minutes of music to be tortured by.... I mean to get healthy to.

I am now up 2.2 miles a day, with my legs. Then I do floor exercises for about 10 minutes and then a 0.5 a mile with my arms. After 3 weeks I have discovered that I do have more energy, I wake up faster, and I am able to walk more during the day. Ok, so when do the smaller size clothes come, because I need a pair of jeans and I don't want to spend $64 for a pair my size.

You may be wondering "what took me so long to come around". Well, I have always had valid reasons for not exercising. One, I do not want to do it anywhere but at home. I did not have the right kind of equipment. I am physically unable to do it right, and if I can't do it right I don't want to do it at all. My main reason, "I have no time". Believe me, with my schedule this is a VERY valid reason. I usually don't have time to eat much less exercise. How did I suddenly "find the time" you may ask? I get up at 5:45 am. Yep, you read it right 5:45 AM. I literally hop out of bed, make my bed (for FlyLady), and go straight to the torture device, uh... exercise machine. It is ready and waiting for me, because I set everything up before I went to bed the night before. I put on my headphones and start pedaling. I don't even think about it, so I can't talk myself out of it.

I exercise until around 7:30 am. I take a shower, dress to my shoes, eat breakfast, and then dear nephew and I begin his school work between 8:30 am and 9:00 am. Which would be about now, so I am off to teach.

Tell Tink and the Lost Boys I would appreciate your prayers and encouragement. A little Pixey Dust wouldn't hurt either. :-)

Love,
Wendy Darling

Dear Peter,
I have been reliving a childhood. I say "a childhood", because the one I am reliving is not mine. It is my nephew's. I am reliving it through the little girl that I babysit. It occured to me the other day while we were watching TV. She was eating her cereal while I was attempting to pull away the wayward hair from her face. Then,I heard the familiar song... "Hey it's Franklin, coming over to play..." I instantly smiled, and that warm, fuzzy feeling came over me. It has been a long time since a child has watched the NOGGIN shows here.

Watching Little Bear and Franklin gave me that same feeling I used to get when I watched Sesame Street and Mr. Roger's. Maybe I am just being overly sensitive, because I swear I almost cried. To be young again, with no cares in the world except "what will I play today", "Do I watch Franklin or Blue's Clue's", and "Just how much can I get away with before Aunt Wendy has had enough and makes me stand in the corner for 3 minutes?"

It also made me long for the days of when my nephew was that age. I could do nothing wrong in his eyes at the time. Now, everything I say is an argument. He used to cuddle up with me to watch those shows. Now he is "too old for that". Everyday was an adventure with something new and exciting to learn. Now he is 10 going on 40, and already "knows everything". I didn't know the adults were the ones who got the "pains" when kids got "growing pains".

Does this make any sense? I don't know. I wish they could stay little just awhile longer.