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?

Friday Favorites

Hello friends and happy Friday. It has been a fairly easy week at work, and that always makes my overall work week very nice. We have had a lot of school groups visiting but they are usually cleared out and back to school by noon.

Some of my favorites for this week include working out. I have been so dedicated to my workouts this week. I did at least thirty minutes of walking or working out every day this week. I ordered the Beach Body On Demand series and I love it!!! There are so many different types of workouts. There is a country line dance video that I have been doing this week. I plan to start a new series on my blog about my weight loss very soon. Lord knows I have lost and gained thousands of pounds through the years. If I can do it and keep it off then anyone can. I want to get to a comfortable weight and really work on maintaining it. But I do need to get there first. My goal is Moderation and moving my body more. So far I’ve lost 28 pounds and I am feeling so much more energetic. But more about that later.

On Thursday evenings during the month of October our little town of Madisonville holds a market where people can sell baked goods, fresh vegetables and flowers and hand made crafts. Since last night was the last Thursday in October I knew I needed to go. It was great!! Unfortunately I went hungry and wanted everything!! Buying from local vendors really helps support small communities and I am always in favor of that.

Look at these decorated sugar cookies and cake pops. This takes some patience for sure.

The name of this little company is We Knead Dough. That is so cute. They are a young couple and just adorable. I bought a loaf of bread from them. We discussed sour dough which I make and a quicker rising dough like they make. They are amazing.

Cutest name for a company. Check out their website. They also do catering jobs.

This is the bread I bought. I haven’t tried it yet but it smells heavenly.

The peanut butter cookie pie was very tempting. It was almost crunchy like a cookie and it probably had about a million calories.

I loved these fresh flowers. This woman also had several varieties of dried flowers and I decided on the dried flowers.

I actually wanted all of them but I bought the pink ones on the left.

A very talented young lady was there with some of her pottery. She also had several plates that were very interesting. I did think about a couple of pieces but I resisted.

I think this bowl is just the most beautiful color. I am sad I didn’t buy it. It would make a wonderful gift.

I did buy a couple of these mini bundt cakes. I bought one of the lemon and a double chocolate. I need a hostess gift tomorrow night so I thought these along with some of the other treats would be good.

The lady who had these bird houses was a wonderful painter. She had several different ones and they were so cute. Again these would make great gifts. Something very different and locally made.

I love this little camper

This booth had every kind of roll you could imagine. Blackberry, cinnamon, blueberry, pepperoni, and even buffalo chicken. I picked the buffalo chicken and the blueberry. I took the blueberry to work and saved the buffalo chicken here.

I am now sorry I didn’t get the Pepperoni Mozzarella rolls. Maybe next time.

Tomato juice and tomato jam. I am not fond of tomatoes. These tomatoes looked great. The man selling them assured me I would love the tomato jam but I didn’t try any.

Aren’t these tomatoes pretty?

This family also made scrubs and dandelion salve. I bought some of the salve. It is supposed to be good for insect bites and mosquitos love me.

This is the salve I bought. It says salt/Sugar Scrub but it is definitely not a scrub I think they may have gotten the labels mixed up. I would love to learn to make it.

My final stop at the market was a booth selling Caramel corn. I only bought a small bag but it is to die for. It is light and airy and so yummy. I am allowing myself a tiny bit each day. Believe me it is hard to stop.

After the little market I stashed my stuff in the car and went down the street to a shop I had been wanting to go in. Sweet and Sassy is the name of the shop. I had heard of it but never been in. It is beautiful and I loved everything. The owner, Cheryl told me they were clearing out all the fall merch and they were moving the Christmas stuff in. They are having a big Christmas open house next weekend. So many great gift items. And very reasonably priced. She also sells the chalk paint if you need any.

The layout of this shop is so appealing. It just makes you want to stay in there forever. I love all of the bread bowls and like I said everything was so reasonably priced.

A few Christmas items are out already and they have all fall merchandise half off.

I bought this egg basket. I have a couple of ideas for it but haven’t decided for sure yet.

I just love our town. It is pretty and quaint and the courthouse is just beautiful.

Downtown is having a Scarecrow stroll. All of the business owners are encouraged to put a scarecrow outside their shops or businesses. It is a lot of fun walking around town and checking them out. There is a contest and there are prizes for the best one.

I have a big day planned tomorrow and a quiet Sunday but I will catch up with you on all of that on Monday.

Have a wonderful weekend!!!!!

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!

Fall Beauty And A Family Reunion

Hello friends and happy Monday. I can’t believe we are in the last full week of October. It seems as though this year has flown by. The leaves are falling fast but the trees still hold a beauty that somehow is more noticeable in the fall. Well to me anyway. Leaves are everywhere. I took a short walk through the woods yesterday and just enjoyed the sunshine and the colors, they are magical.

How was your weekend? I had a busy day on Saturday . We had a family reunion. We’re big on those in the south although our extended family with aunts, uncles, and cousins haven’t been together in years. It was so good to see everyone and catch up. It was a fun time. As we were putting the food out on the tables I couldn’t help but think back to years ago when it was my mama, my grandmother, and my aunts getting all the food prepared. I remember we had a big reunion once a year and it was usually around my grandmother’s birthday so it was in August. It was always hot as blue blazes and humid. My mama would cook for days getting ready for it just as I assume all the other aunts did too. We prayed for good weather and as best as I can remember it always was. Although we usually had a terrible thunder storm late in the day.

We would usually arrive around noon or a little before and unload all the food from the car. My daddy would immediately head over to his brothers and brothers in law and talk and talk. Mama would be with all of my aunts getting the food ready. Me and my brothers and sisters usually chatted with our cousins. A few babies were added every year and we would spend time getting to know them. We had cousins that we sometimes only saw once a year. So we were always a little shy at first noticing the changes in them, oh my goodness look how much he/she has grown. It was such a good time. The best part, when you’re a kid anyway, of course was the food. If you have ever been to one of these get togethers in the south then you know what good eating is all about. The food was amazing but the desserts were to die for. I think every cook tried her hand at something new, or her tried and true recipe, to make sure that her bowl, cake pan or pie plate, had the most missing at the end of the meal.

Saturday as my cousins and I helped put all the food together I couldn’t help but smile and could almost hear my mama and my aunts saying, ” no don’t put that there put it here, that looks so good I have to get the recipe, well I didn’t know she was bringing that or I wouldn’t have made mine, I always bake mine a little longer than that”. Such wonderful memories were stirred up. But at the same time new memories were made.

After lunch my nephew and his wife and I took a long walk around the park. There is a cemetery next to the park with some very old tombstones. Some of them date back to the seventeen hundreds. It was a good and much needed walk after all the food.

Sunday was a much quieter day. I worked on the temperature blanket, read, made some muffins and took another walk in the woods. It was a nice weekend.

Kitty Kitty slept beside me while I worked on the temperature blanket.

Have a wonderful week.

Always remember,

Love your day your way!!!!!

Friday Favorites.

Happy Friday!!! How was your week? Most of my favorites this week are things that involved my family and fun times and that is always a good thing.

On Monday we celebrated my nephew Caleb. It was his nineteenth birthday so we went to our local Mexican Restaurant where we love to celebrate. We had such a good time and the food was great!!! I bought Caleb a leather hat and belt when I was In Dahlonega Ga last week at the Gold Rush Festival. I think he liked it. It’s hard to tell with that age group.

Doesn’t he look handsome in this hat?
The whole gang!!!!
Look at this? This was my brother in law’s meal. I am not sure what all it was but it looks so yummy!!!
Awesome looking tacos.

Last week a sweet co-worker went to Pigeon Forge and brought me back this homemade lye soap. I knew there were a lot of uses for lye soap but he also brought a bit of literature about it and I found it very interesting. I think I’ll do a post on it next week. I love this little tin it is in. I have it on the sink in my downstairs bathroom.

And then another co-worker brought me home made apple butter. I can’t wait to spread this on some warm biscuits. It was just a week for sweet and thoughtful little gifts. I just love that it makes my whole day.

You probably know about this coffee at McDonalds. This is a small iced coffee, and I should have taken a picture before I drank half of it but it was just so yummy I couldn’t help it. The small is only 140 calories and $1.39 or something like that. I got a large in Knoxville last week, and I got the pumpkin spice this time, and it was only $1.99. I did find the pumpkin spice to almost be too sweet.

I just got this book in the mail. If you haven’t read Colleen Hoover you should give her a try. I read, It Ends With Us back in the summer. I loved it I could hardly put it down. This book just came out and it is the sequel to It Ends With Us. I know it seems a little funny because the title sounds like it should be the second book but if you read it you will understand. You definitely need to read It Ends With Us first. I just started this one and I can’t wait to get into it.

What have you enjoyed this week?

I have a big family reunion tomorrow and I have six loaves of bread rising in the kitchen. I am also doing my baked beans that my family loves. I can’t wait to see everyone. Have a wonderful weekend.

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!!