As the Year Ends...

1.    Isn’t it possible that eventually we will run out of 5-letter words for Wordle? 
2.    I was so busy the other day that I didn’t turn on the TV until 5 PM. I half expected Comcast to come over to do a welfare check.
3.    Is it just me or have you noticed that bagels today are fatter and thicker than ever? My local bagel shop sells such oversized bagels that the hole in the middle is barely there. And if you order a toasted bagel with JUST A LITTLE cream cheese, you get a slab so thick that it looks like you are using it for brick laying.
4.    I tried watching the movie Julia & Julie recently, but the dialog and the closed captions were all in Spanish. Since I have never changed the settings, I wonder if Meryl Streep was just trying to make me recall my high school Spanish class with the dreaded Miss Chamberlin.
5.    When I was in school, we studied math of course, then “the new math,” which no one to this day can explain. But now we have what I call “Kohl’s Math.” You go to the store, your $49.00 item is on sale, you have a coupon, and you combine it with Kohl’s cash. According to your receipt, you just saved much more than the item was worth in the first place. And then they give you more Kohl’s cash, and you can’t have that burning a hole in your pocket, so you are back again to buy something on sale, AND you have a coupon – it is a vicious cycle, and the math of it all is way over my head!
6.    Why do we pronounce Costco as CAH-stco and the word COST as CAW-st? English is a strange language.
7.    You know it is Hanukah when I post my annual video explaining how Jewish people decorate for the holiday. My 10-year-old video is very tongue-in-cheek, and some people on Facebook refer to it as the official start of the holiday season. I don’t know about that, but it comes back each year by popular demand. I thought about recording a new one, but I was 10 years younger then and had a perfect hair day, which is unlikely to happen again. If you need directions on lighting an electric menorah instead of burning candles, just look me up on Facebook. 
8.    Raise your hand if you have ever sat in the car listening to a favorite song and refused to leave until it ends. I see your hands up!
9.    There’s nothing like walking into the house to sniff the wonderful aroma of something baking in the oven. Since most of the food that can be baked is outside my food program, and since I don’t bake, I have concluded that my safest bet is to light a candle that smells like apple pie to indulge my senses. I’d still kill for a homemade cookie or brownie, however!
10.    I’m concerned that I am using too many exclamation points. Not consecutively, mind you, but at the end of too many sentences. I wouldn’t want anyone to think I’m all that enthusiastic! Right!?! 
11.    Now that the US has stopped producing pennies, should we change the expression, “a penny for your thoughts”? Maybe a nickel would do, or should we just put it on PayPal? I know that pennies will be around for a long time to come because zillions remain in circulation, but it is strange to think that they will no longer be made. Will prices change so they no longer ask for 99 cents? What happens if you are due 3 cents in change? Will you get a nickel?
12.    If you keep bottles of perfume for a long time, eventually they all smell the same.
13.    I don’t know the actual definition of “rutting,” but around here it means that the neighborhood deer are on the prowl. You never know when you are going to turn the corner and see a herd of them just hanging out, waiting to jump in front of your car. They must be pretty used to the people here in my community because they don’t show any fear as we drive by; in fact, they look at us drive by with disgust, as if we have ruined the area – which is true in the sense that they used to be able to roam freely when no houses were here. We want to avoid them for all of our sakes, yet people put fake deer in front of their houses. I wonder what the deer themselves think of that. Do they point to each other and laugh, saying that the fakes are a bad imitation of actual deer?
14.    The forecast this weekend was for snow, and, for once, the forecast was right. People took it seriously, so there was panic in the streets and in the aisles of ShopRite. People stockpiled supplies like they are headed to war. Let’s get 48 rolls of toilet paper and a dozen cases of water, in case we won’t get out again until spring! One of the benefits of living in my senior community is that our maintenance fee covers the cost of snow removal. Of course, everyone wants to be cleared out first, and no one is ever satisfied about the schedule. Yes, we have people who have medical conditions or might need medical care at home, but for those of us who can stay home during a snowstorm and relax, we should just chill out. We were notified that our streets have been “brined,” which I thought has to do with prep for a Thanksgiving turkey, but it is actually a process to coat the streets to prevent freezing. God, I hate winter!
15.    If you think that songs like “Mamma Mia” and “Let’s Get Loud” are, well, loud and bouncy, you should hear the aerobics versions of those tunes. Add a relentless drumbeat and speed them up for exercise and you get a very vigorous workout. I wonder if the songwriters could have imagined their work sped up and could picture people sweating to the oldies in a pool!
16.    And no matter how many times I shower, I still can’t get rid of the chlorine smell from the pool where I go for aqua aerobics. I’m in the pool about four times a week, so I am doomed to smell like chemicals forever!
17.    I am so accustomed to seeing the ladies in my aqua exercise class with their hair up, I would probably not recognize them in street clothes with their hair down.
18.    Tell me you are a Yankee fan without telling me you are a Yankee fan: When I have to remember numbers, I’ll often recall the Yankee whose uniform matches the number. For example, 1116 means Hector Lopez/Whitey Ford. And Mickey Mantle’s number 7 will always be my favorite number. My address now is Mickey Mantle/Babe Ruth.
19.    2025 was a big year for me. I turned 75 years old! I gained a new knee and lost 50 pounds (nothing to do with the knee). I may have my other knee replaced next year, but I don’t plan to lose (or gain!) another 50 pounds. I replaced my old Mercedes with a new one that I couldn’t drive for a month because I picked it up the day before my knee replacement surgery. None of my favorite teams – the Yankees, Rutgers Football, Women’s Basketball and Men’s Basketball, the New York Giants – had any measure of success. We celebrated 25 years since we sweated out Y2K, which was much ado about nothing. We saw the demise of the penny and of kindness and courtesy in this country. But there are always people to see, new books to read, new movies to watch and my favorite teams can always turn things around – I hope. Soon we will say goodbye to 2025! Wishing you good health and good times in 2026.