— RIP Larry Hagman: Thank you for giving me and all the children of the 80’s a wild ride through the Texas oilfields.  Dallas 2.0 won’t be the same without you.

— From the “where-have-you-been-all-my-life” department, my two new addictions are Rowntree’s Fruit Pastilles (I think I’ll send my dental bill to the Queen) and True Lemon (crystalized lemon packets for those of us sophisticated enough to eat British gumdrops but gauche enough to use lemon in our tea).

–Today my supervisor told me she thinks I look like I’m 31: Thank you to my beautiful Gran for the excellent genetic structure she passed on to me. If it had to be Grandaddy’s height or her youth, I’m glad I got her youth. I cherish it more the older I get.

–It snowed today. Snow sucks. I hate winter. Ok, so the snow didn’t stick, but that can’t be a good sign of things to come.

— From the “it’s not as weird as it sounds” department: Thanksgiving made me realize that I’m thankful for the challenges of infertility. Because of it, I have found out that I’m stronger than I ever thought possible, and that when things get rough for my husband and me, we grow closer instead of growing apart. I’m also grateful for the fact that my experience may someday help my niece. She has cystic fibrosis, which affects fertility, and if what I went through can help her cope with her situation, it will be worth it.

–From the “slow day in Sunderland” department: The town administrator called the other day (well she robo-calls, but same difference) to let us know that if we smelled smoke on Monday it was due to sewer line testing and to not call the fire department. Did I mention I live in a small town?

–On the other hand, there was a gas explosion in Springfield just down the street from where I work that leveled a strip club on Friday. We’ve had gas leaks, tornadoes, earthquakes and now an explosion in the past couple of years. Is someone trying to tell us something?