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?
Happy Friday!! How was your week? I have a few favorites from the week to share with you.
First meet the beautiful Simone. She is a new addition to our orchid family. I bought Simone yesterday at Trader Joe’s. They have some of the most beautiful orchids. I have bought several there and have had really good luck with them. I told the other orchids, who are all currently without flowers , not to be jealous of Simone because they will all have blooms very soon.
The next thing I am loving right now is this brow color by LA Colors. You may look at LA. Colors and think it is cheapo but it is not. I have found several things from this brand that I love. Remember the eyeshadow I showed you? This is a small pot of eyebrow paste? Whatever you want to call it. It’s tiny but a little goes a long way. It comes with an applicator that has a brush on one end. I got the dark brown and it is perfect. It lasts all day. The amazing thing is that you can get it at the Dollar General Store for like $3.99 or at Walmart for $8.99. Walmart had more colors. But what the heck!!!!! Is that not awesome. Trust me on this one and use sparingly to start with.
For Valentine’s Day I told my husband that he should not get me flowers. I know that flowers are wonderful and a treat but goodness they are expensive!!! I suggested that I pick out a new purse, I did need a new larger one, and he could get me that. He did and it worked out perfectly for a fraction of the cost. I love it!!! I made him some chocolate covered strawberries and he has eaten all of them. Okay I may have eaten a couple of them.
Look what my sweet coworker made for each of us for Valentine’s Day. She made a bunch of these bags full of goodies and delivered them all over town. She is truly special, one of a kind, and everything was delicious!!!
Yesterday I took an extra day off from work and met my niece in Knoxville. She had to take her car into the dealership for a recall. I picked her up and we went shopping while her car was being taken care of. We went to Red Lobster for lunch and it was Lobster Fest so we had the Lobster Dip. It was so yummy. We had such a good time. I will show you some of my other purchases next week.
We also went to T.J. Maxx and just look at all this Easter goodness.
I also knitted this headband ear warmer thingy. It is a fast knit. I love it!!! I am on my second one now.
I think that with age comes wisdom, confidence, positivity, achievements. But I also think that with age comes feelings of insecurity, doubt, negativity and indecision.
Since I am getting ready to turn the big 6,0 this year I have noticed a lot of changes within myself. Yes the usual things that come with age like watching body changes hair changes, wrinkles etc etc but also some things that have been quite unexpected. For instance I don’t always feel confident in myself and it’s hard to be positive a lot because a lot of crap has happened in a short period of time. Life is freaking scary. And I hate to use the D word but often I feel just plain dumb. Sometimes I feel like I can’t do anything. I feel like Homer Simpson.
Photo credit Matt Groening
If you’ve ever watched TV you probably know who Homer Simpson is. He is a cartoon character, always screwing up and doing dumb things. Nothing ever seems to go right for Homer. Lately I have started to identify with Homer a bit more than I would like. For instance:
A couple of weeks ago. I had to make a cake. I have made hundreds of cakes through the years. I used to make wedding cakes. But through the years I stopped making as many as I used to. I don’t seem to have the time for it or the patience or quite frankly the skill.
The wedding cakes were the first cakes I stopped doing. I would be a nervous wreck putting the cakes together. This seemed to get worse as I got older. So for my sanity, and my poor husband’s, as he was the only one at home with me when I was in panic mode over a cake, I stopped doing the wedding cakes. I did continue to do cakes for special occasions and for all of my family’s Birthdays, anniversaries and things like that.
A couple of weeks ago, my nephew’s wife had a birthday and we were planning to get together and celebrate. At the last minute the plan to meet was changed to the following night, moving the celebration up a couple of days. So I had to make a cake that very night after work. I decided to do a layer cake. I would make two layers and then split them and it makes the cake have several layers. I have made these many times.
As soon as I got home from work I made the cake, it was in two round cake pans. Of course I had to let it cool and that does take a little while. I could have stuck it in the fridge or freezer for a bit but I felt like I had plenty of time to let it cool on the counter. It was only about 5:30 when I took it out of the oven. At 7:30 I checked on the cake. It was almost completely cool or so it seemed so I started making the icing. My cake icing recipe is simple but so good and fairly easy to make.
I use a cake slicer that has something like a nylon string that actually glides through the cake and makes two layers out of one. Because the cake was still so fresh, from having been taken out of the oven only a couple of hours before, it was a bit crumbly. When I started to put the icing on the cake a rather large chunk fell out of the cake. I have had this happen before. Not a big problem. I just stuck it back in place and slapped some extra icing in that area. The last time I used by piping bags I decided to store them in a larger plastic bag down in one of my cabinets. When I took the piping bags out of the plastic bag, I saw there was mold on the bags. I must have put the bags up when they were still a little damp!!!! I had to dump those in the trash. Now what could I use to decorate the cake? I tried cutting off the end of a sandwich bag and using that, no luck. I tried using a freezer bag, no luck. I was in a panic. I told my husband I might have to run to Walmart and get more piping bags. It was 8:30 PM and Walmart is over fifteen minutes away, it was not looking good. Suddenly I remembered I had bought new bags and stuck them in the hall closet. Of course getting to those involved digging half of everything in the closet out and putting it in the floor. I turned over some cleaner and had to stop and get that up immediately before Gus could get to it.
By the time I got all of this done the icing for the cake had gotten really soft. I also realized that I wasn’t going to have enough icing to do the rosettes all over the cake the way I had planned. And let me mention I had already started putting the rosettes on the cake. I would either have to stop, now it was almost 9:30, and make more icing or come up with plan B.
Suddenly I was overcome with hysterical laughter. My husband cautiously yelled from the other room and asked if everything was okay. I was laughing so hard I sputtered the words out. “On my goodness!!! I am Homer Simpson!!!! I can’t do anything right!!! The more I thought about it the funnier it was. I put the cake in the fridge along with the icing, this would help it thicken, and took a breather. I decided to take the icing off of the cake and not do the rosettes. It was late and I was tired so plan B it was. I redistributed the icing and made it smooth all the way around. I would buy a Happy Birthday sign from the Walmart next day to put on top of the cake. And you know what? The cake was fine and it was delicious.
But the thing is when I started making the cake I had self doubt and I just didn’t feel like I would do a good job. It was okay but it wasn’t the exact cake I had intended to make. I don’t like having negative feelings and I think it is just something I will have to put out of my mind. Easier said than done of course. I guess Homer isn’t so bad maybe I should think about what Homer would do and then do the opposite.
I also think that our bodies and minds are a work in progress until the day we leave this world. Things change and feelings come and go including feelings of insecurities and doubt and intellect. It’s okay.
So if you happened to see me at Walmart last weekend, and I was bent over my cart and couldn’t stand up because my clip to my small purse hanging around my neck had gotten clipped onto the cart and I couldn’t for the life of me get it undone, then you know I was having a Homer Simpson moment. DOH!!!!!
Happy Monday!! How was your weekend? I had a fun weekend. Lots of TV watching which is really unusual for me. And I did a bit of cooking. And I worked on the temperature blanket. I have to get that thing finished!!!!
So on Saturday morning I decided that I was going to go into the grocery store and get my groceries. I usually do an online grocery pickup for most things and then just pick up any extras I need throughout the week. Our Walmart has the tiniest isles and it is so hard to get through it without losing my religion, sanity and no police record. I went into the store at around 10:00 AM . I had just been to an estate sale and spent a little time browsing there so I wasn’t as early getting to the grocery store as I would have liked. It wasn’t too bad except that I usually spend twice as much money when I go into the store. And I did this time too.
But back to the estate sale it was fantastic. I didn’t buy anything but I had a great time looking around let me show you some of the things that were there. This estate sale is run by the same group that I used to go to last year. They buy estates or conduct estate sales for people. They have moved to a larger building that holds all of the stuff. The first day on Thursday everything is full price and then on Friday it is 25% off and then on Saturday some or most of the items are 50% off and on Sunday 50-75% off. I went on Saturday. So everything was 50% off except the furniture it was still at 25% off.
Look at this bed frame. I overheard the main guy who runs the estate sale tell another man that many people would have these figures on their bed frames to help ward off evil spirits and bad dreams. I think if this thing were on my bed I would have nightmares.
This is an interesting shelf it would definitely take up a lot of room.
This couch is very interesting but I can’t imagine that it would be comfortable to sit on.
This couch was beautiful. Look how white it is!! There was a sign asking people to please not sit on it but how did it stay so pristine to start with???
O.K. this piece almost went home with me. A darling little bowl with a beautiful design and only $15.00 after the 50% off discount. But I did not buy it. I kept thinking about all the things in my house that I have no room for. However if I go back one day and it is still there it will probably come home with me. Just saying.
This oil painting was so beautiful. Such talent.
I could just imagine serving lemonade or mint juleps from these little glasses. Again I wanted them but I know I have nowhere to put them.
Be still my heart, look at this tea set. Again I can imagine serving tea or coffee from this instead of my random chipped mugs. But alas I am comfortable with my mugs that’s just how I roll.
Another couch that people were going crazy over. I know someone will find a home for this. I can just imagine what it would look like after the kitties have had a run at it.
Again, isn’t this little serving set gorgeous. I think it is a dessert bowl and smaller serving bowls. I seriously almost bought this but I was afraid that if I served anything from it the gold etching could come off off the side. But it was still beautiful. What else could I have used it for???
Look at this table!!!! I am sure it would fit in someone’s home.
This little dresser set was very nice but a bit pricey.
I am not sure what this thing is. It looks like a clock without the inside. Definitely an interesting piece.
A few books that were really old.
A beautiful vintage wedding dress.
Some other vintage dresses. I love vintage clothing but have never been able to fit in the tiny sizes. Well maybe when I was in the fifth or sixth grade.
The next two pictures are from the same artist. They are two out of a set of three. I didn’t get a picture of the third one it was turned at a really strange angle.
After I got home from grocery shopping and the estate sale I worked on the temperature blanket. Ya’ll I am really over this blanket. I have to finish because I am so close. I know it will be beautiful. I got behind at the end of last year and still have all of December to do. It is a different row of crochet corresponding with the temperature that particular day. Yes I recorded the temperature every day last year. After I finish the blanket I then have to add a border around it. It is huge!!!! Gus loves it and as soon as I put it on the bed to measure it he jumped right on it.
As I mentioned I watched four movies this weekend. That is a lot for me. Especially since my attention span has been nothing lately. The weather was bad Saturday night and Sunday and it was a good day to cozy in and watch movies.
This first movie had one of my favorite actors, Lou, starring Allison Janney. Oh my goodness this is a thriller. If you are like me you will be screaming and yelling throughout the movie. Several times Mark yelled up the stairs to see if I was ok.
A precious romcom starring Ashton Kutcher and Reese Witherspoon. Your Place or Mine, It is sweet and was good to watch after the screaming and shouting that went with watching Lou.
Meryl Streep is one of my all time favorite actors. She did an amazing job in this movie, August: Osage County. The movie also starts Julia Roberts and Juliette Lewis and a host of other actors. If you have ever thought your family might be dysfunctional watch this movie and you will see they probably are not. Still a great movie with incredible acting.
Another sweet and great movie again about a somewhat estranged crazy family. But as most movies do it all worked out in the end. The People We Hate At The Wedding starred Allison Janney, she is so amazing. Also starring Kristen Bell and a wonderful group of actors. You have to watch it. It is hysterical.
So my weekend was fun and full of things I love to do. I also did some cooking. I made lasagna for Saturday night and baby back ribs on Sunday. I don’t get to cook a lot for my husband so when I have a chance I like to cook for us.
So how was your weekend?? Did you do something fun?
This is perhaps the least specific blog you will find. A variety of DIY projects, book reviews, health tips, yoga poses, fashion ideas, recipes or something altogether different depending on my current mood. I've never been pigeon-holed into one category so neither is my blog. Strap in and enjoy the ride!
Southern Patches 