Author: Lisa -Southern Patches

Hello everyone, my name is Lisa I am a southern girl born and raised in East Tennessee. I love discovering new places and things to do. I have a lot of favorites, shopping, traveling, knitting and photography are all at the top of my list. I am married with my fur babies my only children. This blog is actually named after my beloved basset hound Patches. She passed away a few years ago but will always have a huge part of my heart. Come with me and we will explore some wonderful places and discover some really fun things. Are you ready?

Weekly Catch Up

Last week was a very full week it was also numbing and heartbreaking with the news of another school shooting in Nashville on Monday. So close to home. Mark and I had to go to Nashville on Tuesday for a four month check up for him. We always leave out around 5:00 AM and it takes close to four hours to get there. We gain an hour when we hit Central time so that is always nice. However the traffic was unbelievably bad probably worse than we had ever seen it. It took almost four and a half hours to get there. We barely made it in time for the appointment. It was surreal driving into Nashville knowing what had taken place there the day before. I am not sure exactly where the shooting was or how close we were to it. It’s just horrible. We decided not to do that drive on the same day as the appointment again. It’s just too exhausting. Next time we will go over the day before and spend the night it is not so stressful that way.

Mark’s bloodwork was great but we got bad news that his doctor is retiring in July. We knew it was coming but what a blow. We have been with this doctor since the kidney transplant and we love him. He gave us his cell phone number when we started seeing him and we have called him a couple of times with concerns. He always answers or gets right back to us.

Work continues to be so busy. We have been closed since January because of construction and we are trying to get back open this week. I have been so focused on this and my mind in a thousand different directions that I actually wore my house shoes to work on Friday. I noticed it when I got into town and stopped at Walmart. I noticed when I stepped out of the car it felt weird and I looked down and had my house shoes on. They are pretty beat up and look bad. Luckily I have a pair of tennis shoes that I keep under my desk at work. I put those on.

Our work days are usually so busy it is hard to have lunch with any of our coworkers. We take turns eating lunch. On Friday one of our team members made us a shrimp boil. We were all able to eat together and it was really nice and so delicious.

I had to work on Saturday so I had only one day off over the weekend to get a lot of things done. I am making some carrots for Easter. Our local Walmart has had a sale on fabric because they are remodeling their fabric department and doing away with the large bolts of fabric. Look at these colors I think they will make some adorable cloth carrots. I got the idea from a fellow blogger. You can check out her blog, Little Red House Blog and how she did them here

I cut several triangles to make the carrots. I may have gone a little overboard on the number of cuts I did. I don’t know how many carrots I will make but I certainly have enough fabric for a bunch of them. I am going to use the green yarn for tops. I will show the finished piece when I get there. I hope it is before Easter. If not I will have a huge supply for next year.

A few more Walmart finds at their big craft supply sale. These burlap bolts were only $1.50 each. The Pioneer Woman fabric was $5.00. I am going to make cushions out of that fabric. And the little buttons were $2.50 for the entire bag. All of that will go in my craft closet until I get ready to use it.

On Sunday I took a nice long walk around the yard and woods. Lots of things are blooming and it is just so pretty. The Azaleas are blooming!!!! I first thought that I was seeing a humming bird on the azaleas but I googled the picture in bug finder on my phone and it is a type of moth.

Busy times and I come home exhausted. But that is just the way it is for me this time of year. What have you been doing? Are you enjoying spring and being outside?

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!

Hello Monday

Happy Monday friends. I will tell you this has been the most Mondiest Mondays of them all. I was definitely having a Homer Simpson Day today. If you missed that post you can check it out here to see what the Homer Simpson reference is about. But I will give you a hint, absolutely nothing went right. It seemed like I could do nothing right, after I got to work that is. The computers had a glitch, the WiFi was acting crazy, none of the printers worked and when I finally got one to print it was out of ink. So it was definitely a goofy kind of Homer Simpson day.

The weekend was actually quite nice. Let’s go back to Friday. I took my sister to Knoxville to get her fourth chemo treatment and to see the doctor. She had had scans done earlier in the week to see just how the treatments were doing. We were cautiously optimistic. She has been doing great and had wonderful reports on her bloodwork. We felt that things were going good but we knew the scans would tell the tale.

We waited a little while to see the doctor. He came in and asked how my sister was feeling and she said that she was feeling really good. He said that is really good because the scans show that the splenic lesion is no longer seen. And that was very good. WHAT??? I asked just what that meant and he said the cancer is gone!!! We were blown away and so happy we were giddy. He suggested she finish the round of chemo to ensure a total remission. We walked out of his office in a daze we practically stumbled down the hall. We are so thankful and feel so blessed by everyone’s prayers and concerns. So many people have been there for her during this time. It is very humbling.

Here we are waiting to get called back for the treatment to start. I you have never been to a cancer center and watched all the brave, precious people then you really don’t know how lucky you are to worry about mundane things. Nothing is that problematic. It definitely gives you a new perspective.

So after that kind of news the weekend and every day could only be great!!! Of course a crazy Homer Simpson day is had by everyone every now and then so as I tell myself, DEAL WITH IT!!!!

I took several hats and headbands to donate to the Cancer Center when we were there on Friday. They have a basket at the infusion center where people receiving chemo or other treatments can pick a hat or scarf or anything that has been donated. I think this is a wonderful thing. I am so happy to be able to donate to them. I told the lady at the desk that some of the hats might be too warm for this time of year but she said lots of people loved them because the air conditioning was so cold. I plan to make some lighter weight ones for summer.

Over the weekend I thinned my Irises. They were getting too thick and didn’t bloom much last year at all. I took out quite a few of them and now I have to find places for them. These came from the house where I grew up. My mama loved irises and had one side of the yard full of them. They’re very special because she actually started them many years ago. I have given them to several of my nieces so that we can keep them going. I may decide to take some to work to have them there as well.

Several of my orchids are blooming. This is Ophelia. I have had her for a little more than a year. This is the second time she has bloomed. I am starting an orchid journal to keep up with all of them. I now have seven and see more in my future.

A few weeks ago a friend at work made Reese’s Pie and put them in these containers. I decided to try them for myself. I was very happy with the way they turned out. I bought these small containers to put them in. There are so many uses for these containers. They are great for individual servings. If you were going on a picnic or wanted to give these out as little individual gifts they are great!!! I got all of these from Amazon. You can do cakes also. These make great individual servings for people to take home with them.

Look how cute they are with the lids and the little fork/spoons.

I rescued these two chairs from the dumpster at work. Can you believe they were being thrown away.!!!! I am going to clean them, redo the vinyl and paint them. They are very sturdy and solid. I will give you an after picture as soon as I have them finished.

Sometimes Gus is a big bully to Kitty Kitty. I worry about her but I saw her in action today when she swatted him back and made him run away. I think she can handle herself. HA!!!

How was your weekend?

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!!

Is it Spring? Is it Winter?

Mother Nature came out and waved her magic weather wand and zapped our poor flowering trees. Now the beautiful pink cherry trees are sort of a dull tan color. The Bradford Pear tree blooms are long gone. The Dogwood had just started to bloom so only time will tell on those. The Redbuds are still quite beautiful but they had been blooming for over a week so I guess they were safe.

I pass this house on my way to work. These two beautiful cherry trees. were a beautiful pink color just a few days ago.

We had a really cold weekend. It was beautiful and sunny but oh so cold. My sister and I went for a long ride on Saturday. She hasn’t been out of the house much, except for doctor appointments, since she started Chemo treatments in January. We drove a lot of the old backroads where we grew up and went to elementary school. We traced our old bus route. It was so much fun looking at our old house and seeing familiar and not so familiar things. Lots of changes in some areas.

Most of the weekend I knitted and crocheted on the temperature blanket. I listened to an audiobook while I crocheted. It was very peaceful. My work has been a little crazy. We are in the middle of construction on a new building on the property and it is something every single day. So some downtime over the weekend was really nice. I am glad to be doing something productive I have been very unmotivated lately.

I saw these two in my backyard yesterday.

So spring or winter it has been a beautiful time. And before you know it the hot humid summer weather will be here. I guess we should just enjoy it day by day. How have you been?

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!