An Adventure with the Talking Tombstones

I just love this event held in Astoria Oregon every year right before Halloween night!
This year I was able to video tape some it and yes you see that some of it is side ways that because I got better angle but I can't seem to figure out how to turn the video with this new computer.
This first gentleman was a lawyer for the district and was shot by his rival. Remember that these are true life stories of actual people who once lived here and not made up so it really it neat how the historical society finds out about each person and then portrays them.
One really interesting bit of history was that the Chinese were buried in this cemetery and then later dug up and taken back home to china.


I wanted to video a one of the head stones just to give everyone idea how old this cemetery is and I got a bit of the hubby in it. What is so interesting is that you learn what life was like way back when and how hard things were, such as dying of consumption. The next story really was very sad a young lady of the times caught up in becoming a woman of the evening and given false promises and then ending her life; when the deceitful man went off and married someone else, she used Morphia and was buried without a headstone I thought this tale was sad.


This last gentle was very interesting, seems the papers way back when stated that he drowned in the item he is popping out of and that he was intoxicated at the time but the gentle states that he was not. His mother did sewing and mending socks, but that's not what she did really, seems she had a house where the men folk liked to visit all the ladies who mended socks. His mother left him in Astoria at a young age and later he worked in the Canneries, he would pull Salmon up with this great pole with a hook on it and often this item was used to fight with loggers, the day was so interesting and just perfect for a visit to the talking tombstones.

Its Time to get Spooky

Well I have been having lots of fun I decorated the yard in an old grave like manner and yesterday I when and enter a witch contest locally here in Astoria Oregon and was it lots ghoulish fun. There were some wonderful witch costumes and I will share some of the pictures that my husband took of me all dressed up and a picture of the pumpkin my son craved.
The contest was held at the Country Crafters store; what a wonderful store, filled with all kinds of goodies, I personally bought some neat scented candles and some orange hot chocolate, and is it good with warmed milk.
The pumpkin is from some wonderful friends and is about 100 pounds I would guess. Mitchell scooped out all the inside and I toasted the pumpkin seeds in celery salt and they sure did taste good.
I dressed up as the evil green witch from the coast and my top is stuffed with fiber fill in case anyone might wonder. I was so excited to fit in the green dress I have been really working hard to lose some weight and I have lost about nine pounds I still have a long road ahead.

Hello Again... It's been a long time.

Hey everyone, it has been a very long time since I have posted... let me say I am very sorry.
But I facing a very serious trial, one that is going to take some time I can not say much because I do not want to hurt the investigation that is going on.
But I can say this trial has shaken me very much...but I still have faith in that it will turn out.
It will not turn the way my daughter wants or I want but maybe just maybe... in the end it will turn out, maybe just writing this will help others.
I have seen the ugly side of technology used for what is know as sex texting, I have say those who do this should be ashamed.
I hope and pray someday there will be laws that will protect against this. Laws that protect kids that are not able to understand fully what an awful thing this is; sex texting. The thing of it is this was not teens who did this to my daughter but grown men, men that should know better, you would think. This is only part of what is going on and I have said too much now. I am sorry for writing this because it does seem possible it could happen to a parent with an daughter of Autism and yet looks grown up.
I will try hard to get some crafting ideas to everyone, but I have to be honest my heart just has not been in lately.
Please pray for my daughter...

A Crazy Time and a Cute Craft Project Idea

Hey everyone its been a couple of weeks; well it's been extremely crazy for me.
I have been like a chicken with my head cut off, things are just so different not having my hubby around all the time. He is gone for five days of the week and get to see him for such a short time on weekends.
To make things worse I fell off a ladder and hurt my ankle and foot so I have been laid up.
My son is going to a different school and I have been very busy trying to get ready for that along with moving my daughter out into her apartment, in other words things have been quite frantic around my house.
Today is the first day I have been able really to be on my computer and I thought I would share this cute Idea.
What you will need:
prefabricated wooden toy that can be found at craft stores. Any item will do I am just using this one for an example.
First stain the item with a very dark stain, I used just black acrylic pain and painted onto the wooden item and then wiped off with a paper towel.
Next let it dry for a day or two; then paint using some type of crackle to age the wood and let it sit for a day or more again.
Next paint certain items that you might like painted but once wipe off and more paint then wipe again as I did with the little bow in the hair and the hair, so that it looks faded.
Now paint your facial features anyway you would like, I just did some simple eyes in black and the mouth in black acrylic paint.
To add the paper products:
Take your favorite colors of paper, a heavy duty paper I would suggest.
Now for the dress I just paper and laid it on top of the wooden toy and pressed where I wanted to cute the dress out; then cut it out and glue it on and do this with the legs or where ever you want on your wooden toy.
Let dry for another day and add more of your dark stain and wipe off with a paper towel, dry again and now use a good brush on sealer, in this case I used a semi-gloss sealer and let dry for a few days.
The idea is to have fun with just a simple and easy idea and past a few hours of the day away doing it.

My High Flying Boy

What an exciting Saturday for my son, who is almost 16 years of age and trying to get his pilots license.
There was a small open house at the Coast Guard Air Station and the Astoria airport.
Most of the morning was getting to ride along in some cool looking air craft and this is one of the photos of him outside the 1948 plane.




This was the second play a Russian Yak military training plane for the Military and is no longer made, making them was stopped in 2003. He really loved flying along in this one, it was fast and quite fun for him. He also got to fly along in two other planes that I forgot to take pictures of, he got to experience barrel rolls and dives. If it would have been me all one would hear is a blood screaming woman from the aircraft. I almost think he will be flying sooner than driving. It is his dream to fly in the military one day, and knowing him, he will alright, and yes I am very proud mom of my fly boy.

Fall Time Applique Place mats

I created these four place mats just using some left over fabrics I had; such as the rayon cotton plaid fabric it was perfect for the back round, some wonderful scraps of fall time farming fabric and a nice thick cotton fabric for backing.
Each place mat has a bit of a different scene on it, and I whack out the scenes and sewed them on using my sewing machine.
These were pretty simple and fun to make and I just love whacking fabric out and finding out what one can come up with, I did not use any batting just because the backing was nice and heavy and it seemed like these just did not need the centering. I plan to add them to my art fire store at http://49stocker.artfire.com
So I hope you will come visit and find other wonderful items in my store.

A Tastey Shrimp Dinner That's Quick to Make

This is one of my favorites to make for my family; it's really quick to make.
What you will need:
1 large bag of frozen uncooked shrimp
celery salt
2-3 cups of real butter
zucchini cut up
yellow onion cut up
vegetables can be added to this what I like is carrots, pea pods, fresh frozen peas, green beans, celery or without like the picture.
White Instant rice.
First add the butter to a large frying pan, onion, celery salt, pepper, when the butter is all melted add your veggies such as the zucchini as in the picture cook till veggies are almost tender now add the shrimp and begin cooking the instant rice or minute rice, cook the shrimp until a nice pink color.
Now dish the shrimp and veggies over the rice using a large soup ladle as to also get the seasoned butter sauce to drizzle over the rice also.
You can also use garlic salt or a season salt what ever way tastes good this recipe has lots of variety and is very quick and easy so make it your own, I do suggest sticking with the butter it makes it say much better.