Hello and happy Monday!!! I started a new coffee share on the blog yesterday. If you missed it, check it out here. I think it will be a lot of fun.
The temps here have been so warm and dry. There are burn bans everywhere. We desperately need rain.
It is hard to believe that Thanksgiving is Thursday. Mark and I are going to my nephew’s house, but I will be making a few things to take with me for the dinner. I will tell you it won’t be a pecan pie. I made one last week for Mark. I forgot I had the oven set high and it burned. It was terrible. Poor Mark tried to dig it out to eat it, but I wouldn’t let him. It was just too bad. I threw it out and promised him another one soon. I don’t know why pecan pies are always tricky for me, but they are. Sometimes good sometimes bad.
I did make a blueberry cobbler that turned out pretty well. I gave half of it to my nephew.
We put up our Christmas tree over the weekend. Someone at work just ask what colors I used and if there was a theme? We have had this tree for about thirty years. I put clear lights on it, and it is decorated with the ornaments that we have collected over thirty plus years of marriage. I love it!!! Every year when we start to decorate it, we pull out all of our ornaments and talk about where we got each one. It may sound boring but to us it is a treasure. I do change the topper out occasionally. I haven’t decided for this year yet.
I have been working on these Christmas ornaments for a week. My friend Annie from work sent me a TikTok video on them and I just loved the idea. I bought clear ball ornaments from Walmart. You can get them just about anywhere this time of year. I used double pointed needles size 5 US. It doesn’t take a lot of yarn so this is a great way to use little bits of yarn from previous projects. I cast on 23 to 24 stitches depending on the yarn weight. Leave a long tail when casting on. I knitted a little pouch about 3.5 inches long. You then thread a darning needle and run through the loops on the bottom and pull together. Do the same thing at the top but put your glass ornament in first. Weave in the ends on the top and bottom. They’re so easy and knit up really quick.
This is some cotton yarn, and it is thinner. I had to cast on 25 for this one. I am a relaxed knitter so that means my stitches tend to be looser. The best thing to do is just knit a few inches, before you get too far, and see how the glass ball will fit into it. I had a bit of trial and error.
This yarn and the one below was thicker, and I only had to cast on 22 stitches for this one. However, don’t knit beyond the 3.5 inches in length for a regular sized ball or you will have a pouch that is too big.
This is what it looks like before you put the ball in and pull the top to make it tight.
I plan to make a few more of these and put them in a bowl on my table.
So, Thanksgiving and Christmas are definitely in the air around here. Have a wonderful week!!!
I started a new series on my blog. A Coffee Share. Come on it andThis will just be a quick sharing post.
It is a beautiful Sunday morning. Only about 42 degrees F I am enjoying my second cup of coffee. Come and join me for coffee, hot chocolate, espresso or whatever your choice might be.
This is my favorite coffee mug. My niece got it for me for Christmas several years ago. I love the design and that it looks like a knitting pattern.
I get up really early every morning usually around 5:00 AM even on my days off. I made pancakes and bacon this morning as per hubs request. The only time I cook a big breakfast is on our days off together. That’s not a lot.
Oh!!! Such a beautiful sunrise this morning!!
It has been an emotional week around here. We sold my Father in law’s house. It sold really quick and we have already closed on it. It’s hard to believe the whole process started only about three weeks ago and now it is done. My father in law moved here a few years before we did. He has been gone for six years now. The house was hard to keep up so we decided to sell. I guess it just hit us extra hard this week. I think Mark and I both had our moments when the memories were just a bit overwhelming. But we know it is for the good so enough of that. If we were having coffee I would discuss with you:
What I have been working on: I have been knitting Christmas ornaments. Well I actually knit the cover and put a clear glass ball inside. I am loving them. I have finished eight so far. I think they look vintagey, I don’t think that is a real word but you know what I meant. More on those later.
What I have been listening to: Tyler Childers. I am loving his music. He is from Kentucky and plays neotraditional country, bluegrass, folk, honky-tonk. The thing I love most is how much he gives back to his home state and areas around Kentucky. There is a lot of need there.
What I am reading: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. I have to admit this one is a bit slow. I have been at it for a while.
What I am loving: I know a lot of people disagree but I love this time of the year when it is dark by 5:30 PM. I think it is just so cozy. It’s winter anyway and you can’t do a lot outside. I love cozying up inside and doing inside things.
What I am looking forward to: Thanksgiving and being with family and friends. Mark and I are going to my nephew’s house for dinner. I will make a few things to take to eat as well.
I would love to hear how you are and anything you would like to share.
Last week was a bit of a whirlwind. I worked on Monday and then on Tuesday I left with two of my coworkers and headed to Gatlinburg TN for the annual gift show. It is actually two shows in three cities, Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge and Sevierville. All of those are very close to one another. We go to the shows every year to shop for souvenirs for our gift shops. It is so tiring. It is three days of shopping for things that may or may not be of interest to you personally. Also the vendors can get quite aggressive jumping in front of you to show you their products. It is a lot of sensory overload with hundreds of booths set up with so many different types of displays. As always I feel like we get a good selection and variety of products for the coming year. It is a fun trip but after three days we are always glad to get back home. I will give you an idea of some of the different vendors that were of interest to us.
There are lots of food vendors and lots of samples that is definitely a perk to the show. This particular booth had corn flake chewy candy and it was so yummy. Often it is the different unexpected things that people are looking for when they are traveling.
I thought this booth was very interesting. This was a flower farm. They dried their flowers and made postcards, photos and larger pictures. The flowers were beautiful and I love the concept of using the dried flowers. I am not sure if this is something that would work for us. The price point was pretty high.
One thing that we always look for is rocks and different types of stones. People expect to see that when they visit a cave. I thought this Rose Quartz was beautiful.
O.K. I don’t know if this is popular where you live but here it is. Freeze Dried Candy. I am not a fan of it myself but all of the kids at work absolutely love it. I think we saw more of this at the show than anything else.
More Freeze Dried Candy
Aren’t these hearts adorable I loved them and actually wanted every single one of them. I love hearts!!!!
Lots of plush animals. We sell some of the smaller plush but the larger animals are not great sellers for us. I love all of them look at this adorable lamb.
These small punchkins are something I think will be a good seller for us. They are so cute.
We bought several of these water bottles which are also a hot seller right now. I can’t wait to get them in because I am going to buy the “Great Women of Science” bottle.
We also have a Sweet Shop on the property and we sell Ice Cream, Candy, Fudge and Drinks. I think these mugs will do very well there.
And more rocks. I love to look at all the different types.
Just to give you an idea of all the different vendors. This was taken at the Gatlinburg show. We were upstairs looking down into the ballroom.
One of the perks of the show is that we get to eat at a lot of really fun places. The first night of the show we ate at Little Tokyo Hibachi Grill & Sushi in Pigeon Forge. It is a very unassuming looking restaurant with only a few grills and a few tables. We got there really early and at first I wasn’t too sure about the place. We were seated at one of the grills quickly, as I said it was early, and we were joined by a few of our other cave buddies. About fifteen minutes after being seated I stepped back to the front part of the restaurant to take a phone call and it was packed with a line out the door. The wait time was approximately one hour at that time. After we had our food cooked, and served right in front of us, I could see why the wait to get in was so long. The food was amazing. I got chicken and shrimp and I think it was the best I have ever had. I will definitely return with my husband. He would love it.
The next day we ate at Cookie Dough Monster. This place has some of the best burgers you will ever eat. I was a little confused about the burgers, which I had heard people rave about, and the edible cookie dough. What was the connection. Obviously there is no connection. They just happen to sell the best burgers and the best edible cookie dough. Oh and milkshakes too.
There are about sixteen different types of burgers, Betty White, The Island, Mac Daddy, Bleu Bae and BBQ Bacon and Bacon Bomber are just a few of the burgers that are offered. I got the BBQ Bacon and it was delish. Just a little messy.
We also tried some of the edible cookie dough. I have had some of the cookie dough in other places and I never found it too appetizing. This edible cookie dough was delicious. We got, White Chocolate Macadamia Nut, Brownie Bite, and Heath Caramel.
But I have to say the highlight of the trip was being able to visit Dollywood’s DreamMore Resort. It is located in Pigeon Forge. Every year several of the vendors sponsor a dinner for some of the different groups attending the show. On Wednesday night we were treated to a wonderful dinner with our cave friends from several different caves. The resort is so beautiful. They have it decorated for Christmas, inside and out. If you are interested in a stay here just visit www.dollywood.com and click on the resort. I will warn you it is pricey. We didn’t actually stay here we were just here for dinner.
We arrived just before dark so we had a chance to look around outside.
The dinner was very nice and delicious. We shared different things we had found at the show and got some good ideas from others that were there. And we also got a very nice swag bag.
The lights outside were so beautiful.
Enjoying the lights with my swag bag.
The last day we were in Gatlinburg and we ate at Jason Aldean’s Rooftop Bar and Restaurant. The food was pretty good but the view from the second floor was great!!! We had a seat overlooking the strip and then a beautiful view of the mountainside. Lots of fall colors still going on here. Oh and a real “Big Green Tractor” inside the bar.
Look at this fall color still hanging on. Of course this is the smokies and the temps here are cooler than in the valley where we are.
We got home late Thursday night and it was back to our regular work on Friday. Over the weekend I worked on these knitted yarn ball ornaments. I will show you more about those in a later post. But I will tell you I am loving making them.
Happy Friday!! This week absolutely flew by. I can’t believe it is the weekend already. I’m glad to have a couple of days off. Here are some favorites I have to share with you. I didn’t get to post my favorites last week because my internet was out most of last Friday evening. Here we go:
First of all I have to say I am loving our cooler days this is definitely a favorite. The nights have been almost cold and the mornings are frosty. The afternoons warm up and when the sun is shining it feels way warmer. But according to the weather forecast we are going to have some warmer temps next week with the highs near 80 degrees. I suppose that will be nice too for this time of year.
I saw these earrings on another blog post and I’m sorry I can’t remember the blog. I like a simple earring from time to time. I usually go for the big oversized dangly earrings but I have my days when I like a smaller earring. These are great!!! I got them from Amazon, two pairs for $14.94 they are very lightweight but not cheap looking if you know what I mean. I am loving them.
We finally got my father in law’s house listed and on the market. I took this picture a couple of days ago. It really is a beautiful area. I hope it sells soon but if it doesn’t then we will just hang on to it a bit longer. Today was the first full day on the market and it was shown several times and there are several showings tomorrow.
You won’t believe it but four of my orchids are now blooming. They don’t always bloom this time of year but you never know about orchids. They are so finicky. They are all a different color of pink. That is o.k. They are just different enough to have a different look. Zsa, Zsa has been blooming all year. She is really unbelievable. This is the one I got at my sister’s funeral back in April of 2022. I named her Zsa Zsa because when my sister was sick in the hospital I did her hair for her one day and told her she was so beautiful I would call her Zsa Zsa, as in Gabor. She then started calling me Eva and it was a thing we shared until she passed away. I think this is actually two orchids so I may repot them and name the other one Eva.
Zsa Zsa
I bought Simone at Trader Joe’s last year. I have had such good luck with the orchids that I buy there. They are always healthy and beautiful. This is the second time that Simone has bloomed. Isn’t she a beautiful color.
Simone
Clementine was a gift earlier this year from my friend Lorie. This is the second time this year she has bloomed. Look at those beautiful colors.
Clementine
And Delphine still has several pods ready to bloom. I rescued Delphine from a clearance table at Lowe’s a couple of years ago. I think she was $3.00 but still beautiful. I was just starting to get into my orchid craze and I went back a couple of days later to see if any were left, there were several when I got her, but they were all gone. Live and learn.
Delphine
And I have started an orchid journal. I am recording their blooming cycles and putting pictures in the journal. I love it!!!!
You have probably seen this Retinol cream, Roc, all over FaceBook and TikTok and other social media outlets. I finally decided to try it. I got this at Walmart I think it was about $25.00. It makes your skin so smooth. It doesn’t have a sunscreen in it so use it with your regular daily moisturizer. It supposedly smooths those fine lines that creep in around certain areas. I tried using it twice a day but it started to make my skin a little oily. I now only use it at night. I love the way it feels going on and the way my face feels the next morning.
O.K. I guess this is Roc’s baby sister because I also started seeing some great results from other people using this Retinol cream. I went down the rabbit hole and ordered this one from Amazon. It was about $30.00. I will tell you that I have some unsightly lines around my mouth. I have never ever smoked in my life but I have the sort of lines that people who are chronic smokers have!!!! What!!! I do notice that I purse my lips A LOT!!! I think that may be the problem. I am trying to break that habit. This Serum can be used for specific areas, around the eyes, mouth or forehead. I noticed that it does plump those areas up temporarily but over the course of a month you are supposed to be able to see long term lasting results. I will have to get back to you on that I have only been using it for about ten days. I will keep you posted.
AHHHHH!!!! My sweet Kitty Kitty snuggling on my lap is just about the most calming thing I can think of. I love it. She doesn’t do it a lot, unlike Gus, so when she does it is extra special.
I use the Krusteaz Blueberry muffin mix. I have mentioned it before. I had never tried the pancake mix. I always make my own pancakes with flour, baking soda, milk, eggs etc. It is a little time consuming. Last week some friends told me about the Krusteaz Pancake mix. OH MY GOODNESS!!!! You only add water and you can make a batch of pancakes in no time. I made some on Wednesday. I added pecans to mine. They were so yummy. I will still make my pancakes and I will have to let my husband be the ultimate taste tester. But for a quick easy few pancakes this stuff is great!!!!
The pancakes turned out so fluffy. And they were yummy!!!
I just finished this book. It was good. I would give it a four out of five. I read it through my Libby App but it is available on Amazon as well. A little slow in the middle but overall pretty good.
First Frost. Isn’t it beautiful?
I hope you enjoyed the Friday Favorites. Any favorites you have to share? Have a wonderful weekend. I am going shopping with my Sister. I can’t wait!!!!
Southern Patches 