THIS WEEK'S DEAR JOHN LETTER!
Dear John,
My brother is a moron. There are four siblings in my family. We all met up with my mom and my grandmother. Our grandma is moving into an assisted living place. She had our names on different things she wanted us to have. We loaded the things she was taking with her into a trailer, then we loaded the things she wanted us to have into our own vehicles. My brother left his stuff sitting there all day. When grandma asked him, he finally loaded his stuff into his truck. I talked to him about five hours later because we needed to decide some things for our next get together. In the conversation he mentioned that he dumped off all the “junk” at a thrift store! I said “you sold your stuff?” He said, “No, I donated it!”, so I got the name of the place and I spent a half hour convincing them to let me buy these items for a hundred dollars. This was stuff that means something to my grandma. She wanted it to stay in the family. I don't have room for everything, but I wanted to get it picked up and see if the other two siblings wanted anything before it was too late. Do you think it's odd that he just dropped this stuff off at a thrift store? That seems very rude to me. They were gifted to him. Would you stop by a thrift store after our Christmas party to dump off your gifts? I'm so upset with my brother about this. I wanted to see if he would pay me back for the hundred bucks I spent, but it's not worth the fight. What do you do? I still love my brother, but what a silly thing to do!
Signed – Sentimental Sister
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TODAY'S REASON TO PARTY! (special thanks to ListOfNationalDays.com)
Banana Lovers Day
https://www.justapinch.com/recipes/drink/cocktail/bananas-foster-cocktail.html
SURVEYS, STUDIES & SUCH
Your place in the family may influence more than who gets to ride shotgun. New research involving health data from more than 5 million 2-child families found a link between birth order and certain health conditions. First-born children had higher risks of autism (26%), food allergies (20%), hay fever (9%) and ADHD (7%). Second-borns had higher risks of substance abuse disorders (19%) and gastrointestinal conditions (14%). Researchers aren’t sure why, but possible explanations include differences between first and subsequent pregnancies, shared gut microbes, parental behavior and parents’ ages. Experts stress that birth order is just one factor.
BIG SCREEN-LITTLE SCREEN
Tom Holland stands to make over $100 million for starring in “Spider-Man: Brand New Day.” That puts him in the category of Hollywood’s top-earning actors and comes on top of a big payday from his other 2026 global hit, “The Odyssey.” The Wrap reports insiders with knowledge of Holland’s deal as saying the actor scored a base salary of at least $20 million up front – an increase of $10 million from his last Spider-Man gig – with the potential to earn upwards of $100 million when backend bonuses are factored in as “Brand New Day” continues to add to its box office haul of over $2 billion.
Season 3 of “Shifting Gears” will feature another sitcom reunion. The ABC comedy has cast Beth Behrs in a guest role. She’ll play a doctor in an episode that will reunite her with her former “2 Broke Girls” costar, Kat Dennings. There will also be an off-camera reunion: Shifting Gears showrunner Michelle Nader was a writer and executive producer on 2 Broke Girls. The reteaming of Denning and Behrs will be the second sitcom reunion Shifting Gears has staged. Tim Allen’s “Home Improvement” co-stars Patricia Richardson, Richard Karn and Debbe Dunning guested on the season 2 premiere in October 2025.
DID YA KNOW!?
Did You Know... Bats are the only mammals capable of true powered flight. Their wings are actually modified hands, with thin skin stretched between elongated finger bones.
JOKE OF THE DAY
(FROM
HEIDI)
SCOOP
OF THE DAY
HOW TO GET THE KIDS BACK ON A SCHOOL-YEAR SLEEP SCHED:
OK, we go over it every year, but it’s important…especially if you want your sweet little students to have a successful start to the new school year. Here’s what you should be doing to get your kids ready — starting right about now…
• Start earlier bedtimes 1-2 weeks before school (15-30 min earlier at a time).
• Skip heavy meals/screens before bed; choose calming activities, like reading.
• Get morning sunlight to wake up the brain.
• Talk them through first-day worries; try practice runs through the morning routine, including a trip to school.
• If creating a new routine ahead of time isn’t possible, don’t stress out. Kids will adjust.
And by the way, preschoolers should get up to 13 hours of sleep. Tweens need 9-12. Teens? They do best with 8-10 hours of shut-eye.
Researchers say you may be able to guess someone’s age simply by looking at the emojis they use. An analysis of 665 million emojis found that younger people are driving rapid changes in emoji habits, while older users tend to stick with familiar choices. For example, teenagers have increasingly embraced Loudly Crying Face [😭] to mean something is hilarious, emotional or embarrassing, making it the most-used emoji worldwide. Meanwhile, while Face with Tears of Joy [😂] and Rolling on the Floor Laughing [🤣] are more strongly associated with older generations. Other clues include younger users favoring Fire [🔥] instead of Hundred Points [💯] and Folded Hands [🙏] instead of Thumbs Up [👍]. Linguists say emoji trends evolve quickly, often starting in online subcultures before spreading more widely. In other words, your favorite emoji could be aging you.
THE MOVIE QUOTE OF THE DAY
If you have a favorite quote.... you can send it to us at the bottom of the page at JohnAndHeidiShow.com
“I love the smell of napalm in the morning.” — Apocalypse Now — Lt. Kilgore (Robert Duvall) — 1979
NEWS TO ME
(FROM HEIDI)
FUN
FACT FOR YOU:
Share
this with your friends... they'll think you're really smart!
✓ Ed Sheeran has a ketchup bottle tattooed on his arm.
✓ The
first “Avon Lady” was actually a man (Company founder David
McConnell in 1886).
✓ “Hello” didn’t become a greeting
until the telephone arrived.
✓ Facebook’s color scheme is blue because Mark Zuckerberg suffers from red-green color-blindness.
✓ The higher a plane flies, the less fuel it uses.
WEIRD NEWS
A mini-theme park in the UK is facing a wave of criticism for a children’s ride modeled after the Titanic. Graveley Fruit Farm in Hitchin also features berry picking, a playground and other family-friendly pursuits. Kids can board a replica of the doomed ocean liner for about $3, receiving a “boarding pass” instead of a ticket, before the attraction lifts one end into the air, as if capsizing, causing riders to slide down one of 4 chutes onto a crash mat. The attraction, called “The Titanic” and even described as a “wreck,” has sparked complaints from parents who call it disrespectful, given that about 1,500 people died when the real Titanic sank in 1912. Farm officials initially said they would rename the ride, but later reversed course, saying 500 people use it daily, and only a handful have complained.
QUESTION OF THE DAY
The average homeowner spends about 3 hours a year doing THIS. What is it?
Answer: Waiting for a repairman
SOMETHING SPECIAL WITH HEIDI SMALL
(FROM HEIDI)
THE LIST
BABIES AND FUR BABIES:
Forget “fur baby” — a lot of pets are now sharing names with actual babies. A new survey found ‘Bella’ is America’s most popular dog name, while ‘Isabella’ ranks among the top girls’ names for children. ‘Leo’ is also popular with both species, ranking third for cats and 24th for boys. ‘Chloe’ makes the crossover list, too. The trend reflects how deeply pets have become part of our families, with 97% of dog and cat owners calling them family members. Here are the Top 10 dog names of 2026 (in the US)…
1. Bella
2. Luna
3. Max
4. Coco
5. Daisy
6. Milo
7. Buddy
8. Lucy
9. Charlie
10. Lola
GOOD NEWS
Woman Checks on Loud Noises, Finds Elderly Woman With No Family and Becomes the Granddaughter She Needed. https://www.sunnyskyz.com/good-news