ARB Turns Three!

Our very own American River Branch turned three in January! Can you believe? Those of us who have been there since it's inception can't really believe it either. That's another year we've spent in a YSA ward/branch...but that's another issue.

Anywho, here are a few pics from the party. As you will most likely notice, it was a superhero themed party. We had some great 'heroes' in our presence:

Here we have Jenn D (Super camera girl (?)), Lindsay (Jem, truly truly truly outrageous!), Errin (Batgirl), and Ariane (American River Branch). Their powers combined were quite overwhelming!

Here's Clark Kent (c'est moi!) and Super camera girl:

BTW - Don't you just totally dig my new glasses? I do!

...and another Clark Kent. Copycat...

Here we have Becky (Pink Power Ranger), Shana (Rogue, X-Men), et moi (Clark Kent):

Here's American River Branch and Clark Kent, off to save the world! Don't worry, her hair lights up so we're safe to travel at night!

Shady O

Is anyone else concerned that several of Obama's appointments have withdrawn because of their shady pasts?

Tom Daschle - Appointed to head of Health and Human Services. Failed to pay taxes for a limousine service provided to him by an investor. Innocent mistake? Perhaps. He has since paid the taxes. Also, Reporters have documented his work for health care interest groups.

Bill Richardson - Appointed as Secretary of Commerce. Alleged pay-for-play schemes in New Mexico.

Timothy Geithner - Confirmed as Treasury Secretary. Failed to pay taxes while working at the International Monetary Fund. He has also paid the back taxes but really? We're going to have somebody like this in charge of the national tax system?

Nancy Killefer - Appointed as Deputy Director at the Office of Management and Budget. Tax issues with household help.

This is who we could have working for us and running the country for the next four years? It's corruption from the top to the bottom. So far The Chosen One hasn't done a very good job at picking staff or making vOery good choices. That $900 billion stimulus package is full of crap! There's nothing stimulating about it! This could be it people! America could never be the same again! Hunker down and get your food storage ready because you'll be needing it!

Good Night Irena

I received a tender little story via e-mail a few days ago. It was a story of Irena Sendler, told by Glenn Beck. Take a few minutes and watch...

Alowizzle Designs

This is to give my meja a shout out!

Check out her space over at Cafe Press.

There you will find shirts, magnets, buttons, etc. with all kinds of funnies having to do with babies, women and...flatulence.

Click on the image below to take you to her shop.

CHECK IT OUT!!!

Conan and his Sword

For those of you living under a rock, the Governor signed an executive order last month requiring State workers to take two unpaid days off a month beginning in February, equaling a ten percent cut in pay. Granted, a cut in pay is better that a cut in my job completely. HOWEVER, I feel that no matter what State workers sacrifice, it won't be enough to satisfy anyone.

According to the SacBee, which I still loathe BTW, Conan would save the State $1.3 billion through furloughs and the laying off of those with less seniority. Is that a lot of money? Sure! Does it even make a dent in the $40 billion budget deficit? NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No matter what we give, it's never going to be enough. The budget deficit will always be the fault of the State workers.

Raise the sales tax, you moron!
Cut Medi-Cal for crap's sake!!
And that prison system...SERIOUSLY?
I think many in the Medi-Cal and prison systems have it pretty cush! If they had any more rights and privileges, people would be lining up to get into either one of these institutions, more than they already are!!

Ya'll, the end is near! Times are hard but I have a feeling they're about to get harder! No telling how close to Hell we're actually going to get with B. HUSSEIN OBAMA in charge. With Conan slicing and dicing everything State worker, the economy and Satan running the show, things aren't looking very pretty!

I'm getting my food storage ready...

American Idol is back...

...and the controversy has already begun!
Is Joanna Pacitti the nest Carly Smithson?
Here's the scoop...

Red Hawk Casino

Our friend, AmyAnn, is an attorney for the new Red Hawk Casino up in Placerville and had VIP access to the Grand Opening festivities held earlier this evening. (Yes, I said casino. Get over it. They have the best buffets!) One of the many special guests scheduled to appear was Erik Estrada, best known as "Ponch" Poncherello on the television show "CHiPs". AmyAnn was able to grab him just before his departure to get this picture with him. I know. Pretty exciting, right? Well, we take what we can get up in Placerville!

Here we have Loren, Erik Estrada, Ariane and myself. CHEESE!



Within the VIP "lounge" we had sushi, lamb chops, and chocolate covered strawberries at our finger tips. DELICIOUS! The three lamb chops I consumed were FANTASTIC! I got AB to try one and she was hooked. TL seemed hesitant at first but was on board once he tasted one.

AmyAnn gave us the VIP tour of the facilities. You would have thought she owned the place the way she maneuvered herself throughout. If you ever see her coming your way with a badge, I would watch out! We saw behind the scenes where the employees kick it as well as the children's playground, which was actually very cool! Your kids can go and play on the very fun play structure as well as every video game machine available, karaoke, movies, etc. Quite amazing...and sad at the same time. To think that parents would often drop their kids off while they go blow their college tuition...idunno. It seemed kinda wrong. Still nifty, nonetheless.

On the way back to the VIP lounge, we ran into Mark S. Allen, our very own local celeb (KSFM 102.5 back in the day, Good Day Sacramento).

It took us awhile to get out of the parking garage. We left around 8:00 and there were cars lined up for miles jsut waiting to get in! Good grief! While they have their own exit, the freeway was still backed up for miles, as you can see below.



It was a very fun evening all around!
Thanks AmyAnn!

New Year's Eve

My New Year's Eve posse decided to go downtown and watch the ball drop...or just watch as
they unplugged the lights.

Here we are (Me, Loren, J-Mo's man, Jessica (J-Mo), and Leanna), L2J2 +1!

If you look closely, you can see the ball through the trees.

There were GOBS of people down there. I have never experienced so many smokers in my life. N-A-S-T-Y!!!

The end. Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas Pictures

I'm finally getting around to posting some pics from the holiday season.
Per usual, click on the images below to make them bigger.

How stinkin' cute is this?!

Kebs in his Lightning McQueen slippers.

Doesn't get much cuter than this!

For those of you who weren't privileged to experience all that is Christmas at Paiute Place, here are some images for you!

Inspired by the Pier 1 catalog, I pulled a Martha and framed my colored balls for the wall...

...along with the MERRY from Pottery Barn.

I think that was the extent of my craftiness for 2008!

Girl is back...

...and let's hope she's learned from her mistakes!

Miss Kelly may be back and as Blender put it:

"It's back to basics, which means songs from the Swedish hit factory that turned out her mega-awesome 2005 hit, "Since U Been Gone." Sweden: land of ABBA, purveyor of pop you can't get out of your head, uniter of you and your mom, who will both likely be caught singing this Kelly Clarkson song in the supermarket by early June. "

No, YOUR mom! hehe. Let's hope KC has dropped the attitude and the black eye makeup and returned to the stuff that made us love her to begin with!

Pearls

Click on the image to make it bigger:

No Autographs, Please!

As you may or may not have heard, Rancho Cordova recently experienced a dramatic and fatal disaster. Specifically, a house exploded and it was about ten houses down from me. It was Christmas Eve and I was sitting on my living room floor doing some last minute wrapping. I then heard and felt two "BOOMS". Living practically ON the freeway, we hear little rattles here and there every so often as the diesel truck roar by but never anything as bad as what I had just experienced. This time it felt as if one of those trucks landed on my roof! I remember seeing the ceiling fans shake, the blades bouncing up and down a good six inches. I thought the fans were coming down from my ceiling. I immediately jumped up with my heart racing and ran through the house to see if something had exploded. Nothing. I continued out to the garage to see if my food storage had exploded. Nope. At this point, my thoughts turned to Paiute #10 and wondering "What in the hell are they doing over there?" maybe they had slammed the garage door or something and then I started to be concerned for Kristina, Ryan and the boys. I thought for sure something had happened on the premises as it felt like it had! By the time I made it outside, they were already standing on the street watching the people of Paiute flock to the scene of the disaster. The house was up in flames and smoke billowing from the site. I was only able to get two pictures as I didn't feel comfortable joining in the flock to the site. There were already enough people down there. Apparently it was a three alarm situation, meaning that at one time there were about 9-12 fire trucks (I forget how many per alarm - 3 or 4), cop cars, and ambulances. Emory, my other neighbor, came running back with news of a gas explosion and workers trying to shut the line off. At this point I was grateful our little duplexes were 100% electric! All those people with gas whatevers...they can have it all!

Due to the unknown, they were letting people out of the area but not in. Olson was blocked at Zinfandel. I was on my way out to the big yellow house for Christmas Eve festivities and was a little hesitant about leaving without the proper provisions...and my nicely wrapped gifts! However, I hoped that things would be fine by the time I returned home and they were. Workers were there late that night removing debris. Christmas Day morning, a fire truck and cop car were down there.

As of now, the NTSB has retrieved everything they need to further their investigation as to how and why this happened. No one is able to say for sure what caused this to happen as everything is still under investigation. We should expect to see the final report in 6 - 12 months. I suspect PG&E won't be the innocent party in this event but I believe that in the end they will make sure everyone is taken care of...eh hem, Erin Brokovich anyone?

I'm happy to report that there is no damage to Paiute Place, at least from what I can see. My quiet little street isn't so quiet anymore due to the constant stream of looky loos. I'm hoping that will die down soon.

Here is a picture of the madness:

Also, for those of you who missed it, I was in the Sac Bee (I hate the Bee, but I'll take the fame where I can get it) and on the KCRA website:

SacBee: http://www.sacbee.com/ourregion/story/1499188.html

KCRA: http://www.kcra.com/news/18355105/detail.html

2008 has come and gone...

...but not without it's own experiences. I've managed to throw together a very brief recap in picture of many of my activities from the year. Here's to many more!