Author Sidney Sheldon has passed away. Don't think I read any of his books, but I think my Mom may have.

The "Arctic Chill" has settled in and looks like it may be here for a while. The two Friday's Mom and I had our dental surgery the weather was nice. But it looks like Mother Nature has decided we need to remember what winter weather can be like. Some time this weekend I want to buy some more firewood. I don't know what it is, but there is just something nice about having a fire.

My right arm is slightly swollen. The only cause I can think of is my recent dental surgery. I think I need to evaluate the positions I sleep at night and see if I cant change things.

Been having weird dreams lately and I can say that the medications I am on due to the dental surgery are somewhat to blame. I usually have long involved dreams and many of them are strange, but the dreams I have have had in the past few days are just weird. In one dream, I was trying to escape some oppressive country. One of the things that a person trying to flee was to do was to solve this odd puzzle. The puzzle was the size of an orange and had a metal top that you had to get in just the right position in order to solve it. Some how I did well enough with it that I was allowed to proceed. At some point I ended up at the top of some stairs where there were other people trying to flee. A woman picked me and another lady out of the crowd and we were allowed to escape, but before I started to run from the steps, I had managed to get to the bottom of the steps without taking more then a couple steps and I ended up with a sandwich. Not sure what any of it means and not sure if I want to know.

Sunday is the Super Bowl. Will be watching and hoping the Chicago Bears win. This is going to be a historic Super Bowl regardless of whoever wins. Good luck to both teams. GO BEARS!!!!!!

The swelling on my face gives me a sort of demented chipmunk look. I have taken advantage of the swelling to do two impressions. The first being Richard Nixon and the other being a Godfather attempt. Think I did better at the Nixon one.

Got out yesterday and did some errands. Did some laundry, bought groceries and a few supplies. Most of the groceries were soft foods. Mom can eat a bit more than I can, so until at least the end of the week I am eating things like pudding, soup and macaroni and cheese.

Have a dentist appointment to get three cavities taken care of on Saturday. If my jaw is still sore, I may just cancel it and reschedule it for March. I don't want to cause more trouble with my jaw or have more swelling because I pushed things.

Will take things easy this week. The medications I am on make me a little weak and I do get light-headed and a little dizzy at times. So the last thing I want to do is push myself and then take a header into a cat box.

Had my dentist appointment yesterday and had three wisdom teeth pulled. One didn't need to be pulled because it moved over into a spot left open when another tooth had been pulled years ago. So seeing as it was a functioning tooth, it wasn't pulled. My lower saw is a bit swollen, giving me a demented chipmunk look. The swelling should go down a bit in the next day or two.

I have managed pretty well with everything so far. Cant eat anything I would like to because I cant open my mouth very wide due to swelling and some stiffness in my jaw. It will be at least a week before much of the soreness and stiffness will go away. Until then I am on a liquid and soft foods diet. Trying to figure out how I can have some chocolate. Where there's a will, there's a way.

Have dentists appointment tomorrow. I am thinking of going ahead and having the teeth pulled. Might save myself some trouble down the line.

The snow we got is still around, there not as much because it has warmed up enough to melt some of it as well as the ice.

We have snow! And plenty of the white stuff. It started snowing some time yesterday afternoon and really hasn't stopped. I will take some measurements this evening and at some point today I will need to get out and shovel. I am happy to see that the plows have at least once gone done the street. I wonder if they will do anymore plowing and if they will put done any sand or winter mix. Guess we will find out at some point today.

The top two photos are from today's storm. The bottom two photos are from the storm we had a week ago, the one that had more ice then snow.

Went to Jiffy lube this morning and then the grocery store. Needed to get one of the headlights fixed, it had burned out. Also needed to get new wiper blades and figured I'd get an oil change while I was at it. The errand took me about an hour, which surprised me. Figured Jiffy lube alone would for like take an hour.

Have a appointment to get three of my teeth yanked on the twenty-sixth. Not looking forward to it. Then on February third I will get three fillings. Think after that gets taken care off, I wont be seeing a dentist for a long time.

Mom's dentist appointment was this morning, she had five teeth pulled. She was a bit woozy after the ordeal. We went to our grocery store after she was released to get her prescriptions filled. Lucky her has dental insurance so it was only eighteen dollars out of our pocket. Once we got her meds, we paid for the food we needed to through the weekend and left. I got some lunch at a fast food place and we headed home. Mom's sleeping now, she has a little pain but nothing really bad.

www.stopsylivabrown.com

Spread the word. Lets help stop this menace to society.

More Paris pics as promised.

Went to the dentist yesterday. Both Mom and I will need to see an oral surgeon. I might get three wisdom teeth pulled, but I may put that off. Mom had a worse time then me because she had more damage and what not then me, she will need to have a couple teeth pulled as well. She might take a Friday off so she could have the weekend to rest.

The winter storm that past through didn't end up doing as much as was expected. I think the weather "forecasters", if one could call them that, like to cover their collective butts a bit. They need to make us aware of a storm, but they could downplay what we might get. People panic if they think they might not get out for a few days. Wasn't surprised when we went to the grocery store on Thursday that the store was out of a lot of things. Of course if people where smart to begin with, they would have a few days worth of food and supplies so if they were trapped it wouldn't be a big deal.

Yvonne DeCarlo has died. Loved her as Lily Munster, she was also great in The Ten Commandments. Miss DeCarlo was beautiful and talented. She will be missed.

Winter weather wants to take another swing at us. We got a small amount of ice today and it was topped off with a little bit of snow. The area is set to get some more stuff this weekend. It should be fun trying to get our errands done and going to the dentists office with this stuff.

I've been a bit lax in posting and there are a few legit reasons. First off, I had a cold for a week or so and really didnt feel like posting when I didnt feel so well. Secondly, there hasnt been a whole lot to report other then the cold, warmer winter weather then normal and maybe a strange dream or two. And then I just really havent felt like posting. But I will repent and try to at least make an effort to post something.

Watched some of the bowl games and for some reason enjoyed them more then I normally do. Dont know if its because I didnt get a chance to watch much in the way of sports when I was out of the country on vacation or if it was just that the teams in the games were more interesting. It could be the latter.

Have a dentist appointment Saturday. Mom has one too, but since she now has a cold she may not keep hers. Have some other things to do this weekend, so it will be a busy weekend. Laundry, shopping, cleaning and resting. Dont know how much of anyting we will get done if Mom isnt feeling better.

Happy New Year!!! 2007 is now here and I started the year with a cold. Must have picked it up while traveling. Pictures above are a selection from my trip to Paris.

We had some rain yesterday and a brief snow shower. Woke up this morning to a sunny sky and it was quite nice.

Did some cleaning this morning and watched some college bowls games in the afternoon. Quiet start to the new year and I'm fine with that.

My only resolutions this year, ones I actually plan on working on, are to lose some weight and do better with my home-based business. I figure if I keep it simple, I may succeed with the resolutions.

Sergei is having problems with his ears again. We took him to the vet on Saturday and the vet said it could be a seasonal allergy thing. We have to clean his ears once a day, give him an allergy pill and put in some medicated stuff in twice a day. Will have to take him later in the week to check his progress.

Mom will have a mini vacation this week, the fourth until the eighth off. We have some things planned, but with the heat I don't know how much stuff we will get down.

We got a little over an inch in rain at home while we were in Paris. Looks like we could get some more rain before the year ends.

James Brown, the Godfather of Soul died Monday. I liked some of his music. He was a great man and he will be missed.

Gerald Ford, the 38th President died this week. He inherited problems from the Nixon term and did a good job with the time in office he had.

I survived Paris! Maybe I need a shirt that says that. Will upload a pic or two later. But have much to tell.

We left on December 16th and headed to Chicago, the flight to was delayed for an hour and a half due to high winds in the Chicago area. Once we took off, the flight went smoothly and we landed at O'Hare a little over an hour later. We ended up having to hustle to the next gate to check in. After check in we boarded a plane heading to Manchester England. The flight was about 8 hours in length. I managed to get a little sleep, just a few minutes here and there. The two movies on the flight were "You've Got Mail" (which sucks) and "The Da Vinci Code" (which I had already seen in theaters). On the flight we got two meals, dinner and breakfast. I wasn't feeling well so I didn't eat much of the either meal. We landed in Manchester and ended up getting in the wrong line. We had to go through security, not customs. Once we got the right area and through security, we got something to drink. Mom got cheated out some money because the guy at the drink counter didn't tell her until she went back with the receipt that they didn't take euros. Anyway, we finished our drinks and headed for the gate. A few minutes later we on the plane to Paris.

Paris! The airport is freaking huge. Once we got off the plane, we headed out to get on a bus that took us to the terminal to get out luggage. We walked quite a ways to the baggage claim. All we had to do to get into the claim area was show our passports. After we got our bags we walked and walked then bought Mom a lighter so she could go out and smoke a cigarette. After that we walked around looking for the fictional tourist information office and some bus that would supposedly save us on a taxi and get us close to our hotel. Never found either thing. But we did find a place to have a quick meal. After we ate, we headed for a taxi stand outside. A couple minutes later we were in a taxi and headed towards our hotel. The hotel we were booked at was the St. James & Albany Hotel and spa. The place looked great online.

About a half hour and fifty something euros later, we were at the hotel. It was on a busy street and get this.....near the Louvre! Walking distance from the freaking Louvre. We went in and asked if it was possible to go ahead and check into our room. Thankfully we could check in. After Mom finished check in we headed upstairs. The room was very nice: high ceiling, desk, sofa, mini bar, TV, and so on. We set out luggage down, went to the bathroom and then headed out to get out first look at Paris. Then we went back to our room and rested.

After getting a lot of sleep, we got up, showered and got dressed. We head out and went to the Louvre. We found that there are several shops and restaurants in the building, and we ended up eating at this nice cafe. Cafe' Creme and pastries for breakfast made us feel a little better. Once we paid, we were off to the museum. After an attempt to pay at a automated machine, we found a place where we could talk to a human and pay with them. Then it was off to visit the Louvre. As expected there were a lot of visitors. We didn't stay as long as we would have liked, but we were still tired from travel. Before leaving we did see the Mona Lisa. I had to real desire to see it but I figured, since I am there, why not give it a glance.

We did some shopping at the Louvre gift shop and then went back to the hotel for a rest. In the afternoon we headed out for Point Alexander (think that's how its spelled), which was featured in the Sopranos episode Cold Stones. It was a long walk from the hotel and because I am overweight (something to work on next year) it was a hard walk. But it was worth it. The area was wonderful and I saw the Arc De Triumph plus we saw the twinkling lights on the Eiffel Tower. I got the Eiffel Tower light show on the video feature on the digital camera. Once we got back to the hotel, we went up to our room and ordered room service.

The next few days we visited the Louvre two more times and we saw the Venus De Milo. We also went to the Orsay museum, did a boat tour on the Seine, did three bus tours, did a lot of walking, took a taxi to the Sacre Couer, visited Notre Dame, bought some souvenirs, took lots of pics, ate great meals and did a lot of resting. The only down side to the whole trip is that there weren't a lot more restaurants in our area and not many places took American credit cards.

Our stay was great. In the ten days we had there, we did a lot of things. I could go on in detail but it would probably take up several pages and who wants to read all that. We never had a bad experience with a French person, they were all nice to us and we did enjoy our stay.

Yesterday morning we got a wake up call at 6 am Paris time. We got up and slowly got dressed. Before we checked out, we had breakfast in one of the hotels restaurants. After our meal, we headed back up to our room to retrieve our luggage. Once check out was complete, the bellman called us a cab. When the cab arrived, our luggage was loaded up and then we got in. As we were leaving, it was still dark despite being a little after 8 am. We got to the airport we went through the maze of lines through security, check in and then off to find the gate. Once there we did some shopping and then waited to board the plane. Thankfully on the way home we didn't have to share seats, it was just the two us together on the left side of the plane near the wing. The flight home was a ten hour flight to Dallas, where we would get a connecting flight back to Kansas City Missouri. Where we would get our care and drive back home to Kansas City Kansas.

The flight from Paris took off on time and we began our journey home. We had two meals, while good they were also forgettable. Once of the movies they were going to play, only wanted to play in French. So they scrapped that movie and played "Elf" as planned and "The Da Vinci Code" in place of the other movie. They also showed some TV shows- I Love Lucy, King Of Queens (which sucks ass) and Frasier. I did pretty well on the flight home, but the last couple hours, I was a little stir crazy. Once we got to Dallas, we retrieved our bags, went through customs, check in security and then off to the gate. Close to when we should have been boarding, we were finally told ( along with several other passengers), that the gate were at was wrong. So we hurried done to the other gate and found we could have taken our time because they were boarding yet. Once we did board, we happily took our seats. I spent much of the flight looking out the window.

When we landed and had gotten off the plane, we went to baggage claim. Once we had our bags we headed and caught a bus to the economy parking lot and got into our car. After struggling with our luggage, we got in an found our car started right up. We went to the grocery store before we went home. Everything was the way we left it. I turned the water back on, started the computer and did some unpacking. At eleven something I went to bed. Slept hard for three hours and got up to go to the bathroom and then went back to sleep where I slept another three hours. At five-thirty am, afraid I wouldn't wake up on time, I just stayed up.

Today I have unpacked, gotten the pets from the kennel, caught up on a few things but for the most part have been at loose ends. I imagine I'll be like that for a couple more days. Hopefully I can get a full nights rest tonight, cause I am going to need it.

Peter Boyle has died. Loved some of the work he did. The first movie I ever remember seeing was "Young Frankenstein", I turned six the year it came out. I didn't care too much for "Everyone Loves Raymond", but when I watched I thought he was funny.

Lamar Hunt, the owner of the Kansas City Chiefs, has died. The Chiefs were once the Dallas Texans and moved to KC in 1963. He helped merge the AFL and NFL leagues. He had a hand in other sports as well and was a great owner. I wish other sports owners would take a lesson from him.

Both men will be missed.

Saw some deer out in the field behind the house yesterday morning as we were feeding the dogs. There were about six of them in total and one of them looked young.

The weather has turned warm again. So its no wonder I had a headache yesterday. I took a couple aspirins last night before going to bed so I could ward off another headache.

Have a few things to do today. Its all in preparation for the trip. One thing I am doing is strictly unrelated, is cleaning in the storage room. Just needing to use up some my nervous energy and this is a good way to do it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kW5wJ49WQrY

Had a headache this morning, but managed to beat it back.

Mom has jury duty today. She was picked and will have to go back to hopefully finish up.

Countdown to the trip. Have a few things I need to take care of before we leave Saturday afternoon. I will pack Friday and tie up all loose ends. Friday we will get the pets to the kennel and then Mom will go into work. Am going to tell a couple of our neighbors we will be gone. I cant imagine anything could (and hope nothing) happen, but I just want someone other then Mom's co-workers and boss to know we're gone.