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?
Sunday and we are well into this shiny new year. How was your week?
We had snow twice this week. Well sort of. That is really unusual for us here in East Tennessee. Also unusual because last Saturday it was 78 degrees F and Wednesday the high was only 22 degrees. This weather is crazy!!
Monday night I went to bed and it was raining and by Tuesday morning when I got up we had gotten several inches of snow. It was the best kind too. The heavy wet snow that sticks to all the trees but not the roads. Even my driveway was ok.
That creepy figure in the upstairs window is Santa. We still have him up lol.
See the donkey?
My Driveway. No snow on the driveway.
I think the early morning light gives everything a beautiful blue color.
So into the week wide open. Work has slowed considerably so a good time to catch up on paperwork and things like that without any interruptions.
I had lunch with the sisters on Wednesday. On Thursday we had another “snow event”. Supposedly the snow was going to start in our area around 2:00 PM. and come in really fast. We kept a close eye on it at work. We even closed a couple of hours early as did other businesses in town. All we had was rain and a little sleet. The snow totally missed our area this time and I am ok with that.
Saturday I finally took down all the Christmas decorations, went to visit my MIL in the assisted living village and then took a little trip to Hobby Lobby. I was in the mood to buy a few Valentines decorations and of course some yarn. I then bought groceries, went home and walked and fed the babies.
Christmas decorations waiting to be wrapped and put up.
My Snow Babies.
The snow babies are ornaments I have had for more than twenty years. They are special to me because I bought them at a little shop in town when I was with my mama. We just fell in love with them. I put them on my tree every year it always reminds me of her and our day together.
My yarn haul from Hobby Lobby
On our walk Saturday before all the rain started.
Mama kitty.
Buster
Today was a rainy day, all day. I watched the movie Lost Daughter on Netflix and it was really good but a little strange. Definitely worth watching I think. I knitted a lot and watched our Molly girl. As you know she is very old and having issues. Today was a challenge so I felt like I was lurking over her every few seconds keeping a watchful eye on her.
A funny thing happened to me this morning, I found myself running early, ahead of time. If you know me, I am always ten minutes late or just barely arriving on time. I hate this habit and it is one I have really been working on. So I noticed this morning I had some extra time. I guess it could be because I didn’t lay in bed an extra 20 minutes or it could be that Molly and Scruffy got it in gear and took their morning bathroom breaks together, or I didn’t fall back asleep after drinking my coffee. Whatever, I found myself with extra time. How wonderful . I noticed this made for a much more enjoyable morning with the babies. Feeding them watching them play, giving six of them their flea meds. You get the picture. But the thing was I wasn’t frantically doing all of this because I was running behind. I had some time.
I don’t do New Years resolutions anymore. I just find that way too stressful. But I do like to pick a word every year and focus on it. Last year my word was “present” I wanted to make sure that I was present and “in the moment” with everything going on in my life. I think many times we get so busy and caught up with day to day that we forget to actually experience what is going on or how we feel while it is happening. And you do know that hours, days, months and years can quickly slide by if you are not careful.
I think I have always taken advantage of time and I never fully respected or appreciated it. My expectations of what I can do in a limited amount of time are just crazy. I try to cram an hours worth of work into thirty minutes and then I am blown away by surprise when I can’t get everything done. I then tend to blame myself for not being faster and more organized when in fact it would be impossible to fit all those things into such a small amount of time.
I used to work with a man who was always fifteen to thirty minutes early for work. I was quite impressed. I asked one day just how he did it. He said “ I get ready for work and then have nothing to do so I sit and wait at my house until it is time to come to work” I could picture him sitting there, on his couch or a chair, all ready for work. Well friends I am not that person. And if I did get ready early I would go on to work or I would be deep into another project or something around the house that would probably put me behind again. But just sitting and waiting I am not good with. So I will never be quite like that.
So this morning as I slowed down and actually got to spend some time chatting with my husband and noticing just how unbelievably soft Milo’s fluffy fur was and how smooth my coffee tasted and how bad Scruffy needed a bath, can’t promise it’s all good, I realized I didn’t feel that frantic, getting out the door to work, feeling that I often get. And it felt great!!! It felt more relaxed and I am sure it probably helped my blood pressure. My husband has often compared me to a tornado ripping through the house getting ready for work. And that is because I am usually running behind. Out of time.
Time flies, It’s about time, Time is money, Time waits for no one, and on and on.
You have probably guessed that my word this year is “Time” and by that I mean I will give myself more of it to get things done. I think by giving yourself time to experience the things in your life that truly make you happy is time well spent.
This is an old Kitchen Clock that belonged to my husband’s grandmother. It keeps perfect time.
Happy New Year!!! Do you make New Year’s resolutions? how is your new year going?
Happy New Year Friends!!! I decided to do a quick look back at 2021. If you read my blog at all you know what a big year it was for us when we added a mama cat and her four kittens. Don’t forget we still have our inside cat Kitty Kitty and Molly and Scruffy. Yes that’s eight fur babies that we get to love on every day. We also get to clean up after them, feed them, spend a fortune at the vet on them and worry about them constantly. Is it worth it? you bet it is. We wouldn’t want it any other way. I hope you enjoy this look back at 2021. Hello 2022 let’s get you going.
January: January started out cold in 2021. We had snow at Christmas and the cold just seemed to linger. We had lots of frost but not a lot of snow otherwise. I tried my hand at making tapestry earrings and loved them. I just wish I had more time to work on them. As always we took a million walks with the babies. They love walking in the cold weather.
February: February was another cold and foggy month. A lot of staying at home snuggled up with the babies. The frost was so thick a lot of days it looked like snow.
I wonder what they’re thinking.
March:
My nephew Tyler and I went on a short hike in the Cherokee National Forest. It was a beautiful day and the scenery was absolutely beautiful. I also spent some time taking pictures with my other nephew Caleb. He is so photogenic.
Tyler
CalebThese two, they love each other so much.
April April came along warm and soft and turned everything a million different colors of green. April is also my Birthday and Anniversary month so a lot of reasons to celebrate. We also moved Molly into the house full time we just couldn’t take a chance on her being out all day while we were at work. And of course my favorite Dogwoods bloom in April. I did a lot of knitting all year and hope to finish several projects as we go into 2022.
Queen Molly
May May arrived and more beautiful flowers started popping out everywhere. We also got to experience the awesome Strawberry Moon.
Strawberry Moon
June In June I took a short work trip to Luray Virginia where I had a meeting with several other tourism attractions’ partners. Luray Caverns was the host. If you have not been to this beautiful and amazing cavern please go. You will not believe it!!! And of course the Mimosa blooms in June and gives off that wonderful sweet fragrance.
July In July we celebrated my sister Sandy and her husband Don’s Fiftieth Wedding Anniversary. What fun we had. I made a wedding cake for them and we had all of the family at my house. July was also a special month because that is when our beloved Allie Cat showed up. She was half starved and very scared. It took weeks for her to get close to us.
August One day in early August, Allie Cat, also known as Mama, came back from one of her long walks trailing four kittens. They were adorable little fluff balls. We made plans to have them spayed and neutered and then give a couple of them away. HA!!!! somehow that never happened.
September September was a busy month. We were taking care of kitties, and my work was preparing to host our Southern Highlands Attractions organization for our annual meeting. All went well for the meeting and then the following week Mark and I went on a much needed vacation to Wrightsville Beach.
My buddy Sarah and mehaving a good time at the Attraction’s Meeting.
Me and hubs
October: October is one of my favorite months of the year. This past year was no exception. The Sisters went on our annual Sister Trip to Gatlinburg. We had so much fun. We also did a little shopping at Tanger Outlet Mall in Sevierville. I painted Pumpkin rocks for Halloween. And the Kitties continued to thrive and adjust to us and even Mama cat, Allie, will now allow petting and loving.
They love to snuggle and sleep this way.
November: November is my husband’s Birthday month, also his mom’s, we celebrated her 88th birthday at Thanksgiving. She had so much fun and couldn’t believe all the attention. The fall colors here in November were stunning. Beautiful colors and then very frosty mornings. I love it all!!!!
December And all too quickly the year was zooming to an end. Christmas came so suddenly I felt I didn’t have time to prepare. I guess I feel this way almost every year. I got stockings for all the babies. We decorated our tree and added some decorations to the house. Our work Christmas party was in beautiful downtown Knoxville. A busy month. We also lost a beloved co-worker in December and I think that just left me shocked and a little unfocused.
So what a year it was. I had to laugh when I remember the plan to give some of the kittens away. You know that thought didn’t last long. One of my favorite times of the day is going out in the garage every morning to feed all the kitties out there, we still have Kitty Kitty inside the house, they run to me and rub up agains my legs. All of them want attention at the same time. They are precious. Who could have known how much our lives would change when a scrawny little mama cat showed up and then came back with all her babies. I am glad they found us. All of our babies are rescues. Molly, Scruffy, Kitty Kitty, Allie, Milo, Buster, Izzy and Sadie. Yes, for us, I definitely think you could call this “The Year of The Cat.”
Happy Tuesday. It was back to work for me yesterday. I had been off for three days and to be honest, with Christmas over I was ready to get back in the swing of things. I don’t know how you are but after Christmas Day I am done with the holidays. My husband is not like that. He believes in continuing to celebrate the week between Christmas and New Year. Not me. I do leave all the decorations up just for him although I am the one who takes all of them down anyway.
But today, Tuesday I had an extra wonderful day off. It only took one day back at work, and we were slammed, to look forward to this extra little decadent day. I actually had a vacation day to use before the end of the year so I picked today. But it was wonderful!!! I woke up thinking I had work and then remembering I was off today I settled back in the bed for a few more minutes of sleep. It was so nice. I got up and had coffee and read some blogs and just enjoyed being at home and not having anywhere to go.
Mark was off today too. He has been on the verge of being sick for about three weeks. He has coughed and felt bad and just when he thinks he is getting better he feels worse again. I talked him, finally, into going to the doctor tomorrow. Hopefully we will find out what is going on.
I did get up early and take care of the babies. I loaded garbage and went to the landfill. It was a good thing I did. They were almost full for the day at only 9:30 AM. I guess everyone getting rid of their Christmas wrappings. I wouldn’t let hubs do anything today. I feel like he needs to get well and get lots of rest. Because of the immunosuppressants he takes it takes him twice as long to get over anything than it does most people. I knitted, cooked dinner, took the babies for a long walk, and we watched a movie, Don’t look up, It was pretty good. A good day. I just can’t wait until Mark gets to the doctor and he can find out what is going on. Maybe get some meds. It is always scary with him he is very finely balanced with his kidney and all the meds he already takes.
Some boat action on the lake today before the rain moved in. I have no idea who this is. It looks like he is zooming through the clouds. I just had to sit out on the deck and enjoy the warm weather. It was almost 70 degrees F today!!!! What????
The kitties have discovered the deck. Mama cat has been hanging out on the deck for awhile but only in the last day or two the babies have joined us. But not Izzy for some reason she prefers staying around the garage. They are so funny with their own little personalities.
Buster, Sadie and Milo.
Precious Milo, He loves being outside on the deck with me. Isn’t he beautiful?
Mama cat, Allie, and her son Buster they are the best of friends. Where you see one you will see the other. They always go on our daily walks with us. If for some reason Allie cat doesn’t go then neither does Buster.
Look how warm it is here today. I need some cold weather to make it feel like winter.
A small snack today while working on the blog.
Look how dark it is. This was this afternoon when we went on our walk. It rained before and after this. Then the sun came out. I kept looking for a rainbow but I didn’t see one.
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So how is your week going? Do you take down your Christmas decorations right after Christmas or do you leave them until the New Year?
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 