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?
Hello friends, How are you? I have had such a wonderful few days. I took off a few extra days from work before the July craziness starts. I hate to use the word staycation but I guess that is what I have been on. NO!!! I am on VACATION!!! It started last Friday. My niece and I spent the day going to the Mennonite Market and going to yard sales, moving sales, estate sales, they are called many different things here in the south. I love them all!!!!
One of the sales we went to was a huge Victorian Style Bed and Breakfast that was being sold. The owners were ready to get rid of everything and anxious to move on. They were selling everything dirt cheap. The B&B theme was “Gone With The Wind.” There were pictures of Scarlett O Hara and Rhett Butler everywhere. It was beautiful!!! I just wanted to live in the house. I bought three sets of napkin rings. They were selling them in sets of six for $5.00 a set!!! I bought three sets that I thought could be used together. HA!! when will I ever realistically use cloth napkins? Well you never know, right???
Look at all of these napkin rings. I loved all of them!!!
These are the napkin rings I purchased. I feel that they could be used together if needed.
Gone With The Wind was the theme of this Bed and Breakfast. How cool is that????
This is one of the bathrooms in the Bed and Breakfast. It was ahhhhhmazing!!!I want to live there!!!
I love this little spring house.
On Saturday my sister and I went shopping in Knoxville. We hadn’t been in ages. We had so much fun!! We laughed and laughed and shopped and ate a wonderful lunch and came dragging home tired and spent out. I bought several pairs of shoes. Shoes are the only thing you don’t have to worry about if you gain weight.
On Sunday I did a mountain of laundry. I washed everything that could possibly be washed in this house. Scruffy too.
Monday came and I decided to work in my shrubs. I will not be posting before and after pics because my shrubs look soooooo bad. I don’t know what is going on with them. Some of them are dying and I think they just need to be cut back. I have a plan but I haven’t gotten it all put together yet. You will see soon. So I spent the rest of the day finishing a pair of socks I had been working on and cleaning house and reading and just enjoying the time off.
Sure I could be that girl on the beach with my toes in the sand but no I am here knitting socks and waiting for winter. I am o.k. with that. lol.
Tuesday came and I worked on a Fourth of July project. I will share more with you on that later.
Hello friends and happy Sunday. A big Happy Father’s Day to all the father’s and acting fathers out there. My daddy has been gone for many years but he still lives on in my heart every day. I still miss him every single day and imagine that I always will. I am very much like him in many ways. When I was younger I hated being told that but now I love it!!!
Well here we are with almost three weeks of June behind us. Summer slipped in quietly although we have been having summer temps for weeks. We’ve actually had a little bit of a break with the heat and the humidity this past week. The temperature has only been mid eighties F at the highest and very low humidity. I could live with this weather all summer long. But I know that hot hot hot and high, sticky hair curling, sweat running down your back humidity will return by next week. Oh well that is summer in the south.
My work has gotten so busy. It is always like this around this time of year and will be until around mid August. But it always seems to take me by surprise. I am never prepared for the way it quite literally kicks my butt. I usually come dragging home, tired and sleepy and grab something to eat, walk and cuddle the fur babies, catch up with my hubs, and scurry to the sanctuary of my little den upstairs and watch a little TV and knit or read until bed time. I just feel like I need this bit of quiet to restore my sanity, what little there was left of it. If you ever have worked with the general public then you know what I mean.
Ahhh but the glorious weekend came along just when I needed it most. I had a good day yesterday with some time spent with my little Ma-in-law. You may remember the last time we took a ride, out of the Assisted Living Village, and to get something to eat. It was a nightmare. It was hot and we had a lot of issues getting her in and out of the car. Well I decided we were going to do it a little different yesterday and It was much better. First of all I got the food and brought it with me so there would be no eating in the hot car. That worked out great. We ate in her room and it was nice and cool. Next, when it came time for the ride I pulled the car to the front of the building. She was able to walk through the building with much more ease than trying to maneuver her walker across the concrete sidewalk at her back door. We still had a little bit of a struggle getting her in the car but it all worked out so much better. We took a nice long ride and she seemed to enjoy it so much more than last time. I knew we just had to keep working at it and we would eventually get it right. After the ride we visited with a couple of the other residents and one of the ladies told me she was 92. She asked my Ma-in-law how old she was and when she said 87 she called her a little spring chicken. They are just adorable.
I stopped at the most awesome little vintage shop on my way home. I didn’t have a lot of time to spend but I will return. I also picked up groceries, picked up a week’s worth of mail at the Post Office and headed home. I made spaghetti for dinner and we had a quiet evening.
On Sunday morning I made pecan pancakes and bacon for breakfast.
Pecan pancakes for breakfast. I bought this real maple syrup to make some Bacon Jam. I will have a post on that soon. But I decided while we have it we should take advantage of some pecan pancakes in honor of Father’s Day. The fur babies didn’t even recognize Father’s Day much the same way they didn’t recognize Mother’s Day. LOL. Of course every day is their day.
I love using this cast iron skillet to fry bacon. I always rub it with a little oil after I clean it. It’s ready for next time.
We have a huge Mimosa tree that hangs over the lake bank. I went down this morning to take some pictures and I could smell that sweet Mimosa scent even before I reached the lake bank.
One sock finished and the next one started. I am loving this yarn it is so soft and squishy and I don’t have to worry about matching the stripes.
I have made quite a lot of progress on my afghan. I always fall in love with my afghans I am making and then I hate to give them away. This one is going to a friend for her Birthday.
Molly walks in the cool grass when the temps get really hot. She is getting old but she still likes to go on the walks with us.
Scruffy follows Molly through the woods. The ticks this year are terrible. We have to do a tick check on Scruffy and Molly several times a day.
Yummy fresh watermelon
Sour Dough Bread rising. I hope to have three loaves by morning. One for hubs, one for work and one for my nephew. It’s rising really slow today.
The rest of the day was just hanging at the house, reading, knitting and crocheting and cooking dinner. Meatloaf and green beans and baked sweet potatoes for dinner. Laundry and getting ready for the upcoming work week. How was your weekend? I am planning to take off a few days at the end of next week. My to do list is already a mile long. I think I will just throw it out and wing it and enjoy the time off. Yes!!! That is what I will do.
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 