Lower Cholesterol / Reduce Stress
A bunch of snow is in the forecast for today and I couldn’t be more excited. This means lots of hot chocolate, tea and most importantly, hanging out in my pajama pants. Yee-Haw! I couldn’t think of a better way to reduce stress! 🙂
* As for that 10″ of snow we are supposed to get… I’ll believe it when I see it.
Eat More Fruits and Vegetables
I loaded up on fruits and veggies this past week {but more about that later}.
Visit 24 {new} Bakeries / Coffee Shops
We found a new coffee shop! I’ll tell you more about it soon.
Go On An Adventure
I don’t know where or when but I do know I’d like to go somewhere exciting this year. Somewhere I’ve never been before.
Contribute to 12 Free Little Libraries. {1 town down, 11 to go}
I was down in Kennebunkport a few days ago and was able to donate to 2 free little libraries in town.
I had picked up some gently viewed books from a library book sale and put 2 children’s books in one free little library, and 2 craft books {1 knitting, 1 how to build birdhouses} and a crochet blanket puzzle in the other little library.
I’m only counting this as 1 donation though since the little libraries were in the same town.
I didn’t really have a plan going into this goal, but I think I am going to try and get all the craft books from library used book sales.
This way I’m not buying something new, but also helping a library make a little extra money as well as putting a book that’s in perfectly good condition back out in the world for others to enjoy.
Tidy Up / Clean Out / Purge
- Barn
- Garage
- Closets
- Dresser drawers
- Kitchen
- Sideboard
- DVD collection
Read or Listen to 24 Books {1 down, 23 to go}
Last night I finished up a Grateful American: A Journey from Self to Service by Gary Sinise. I highly recommend it! A 10 out of 10.
Spend More Time At The Beach
My online friend Kathy from Louisiana wanted me to find a 6” piece of driftwood for her husband’s terrarium so I headed to the beach and came back with a few options.
Walking the beach in January when it’s 25 degrees out and the wind is blowing… Let me tell you, it’s not for sissies.
Paint
I didn’t paint anything this past week but I did make a bunch of little clay hearts and fired them in the kiln. I plan to glaze them today and then fire them a second time before using them as package toppers.
In Stock and Ready to Ship by March 15th / March 30th
I dyed some wool this week and made a tiny dent into the 10 million yards of wool I need to dye by March 30th. I also stocked up on 2 patterns/kits this past week too.
Hook 6 “Big” Rugs.
I’m still finishing up a few smaller pieces, then I’ll start a big one.
Visit 6 Greenhouses {that I’ve never been to before}.
No visits to any greenhouses this past week, but I already know which one I want to go to first.
Grow Baby Grow
It’s too early to grow anything yet.
Donate to 12 Different Organizations in Maine
Thanks to reader Sarah’s suggestion, I plan on donating to Camp Sunshine this month. I’ve ordered some supplies from their wish list, and once they come in, I’ll drop off the donation.
Have you made your list yet? I’d love to hear what YOUR plans are for this year.
~Mavis
Kathy says
Try to do a good deed every day, key word being TRY. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, sometimes it works several times a day. This has been my goal for about 10 years now. Does not matter if it’s for a perfect stranger, family or friends, the point being it brings a smile to the face of the person being helped.
Laura says
I love this, Kathy! Wouldn’t the world be a better place if all of us tried to do this regularly! Thank you for sharing!
Rosemary says
I completed one of my “things to do” – I created my garden plan. I decided what I want to grow and where in the garden it will be planted. Next month I will till all the compost in and then it will be ready for planting in March.
Holley says
I finished a goal from LAST years list, does that count!!! 🙂 I made my Christmas cards for this year. It was originally on last years goals but as it turns out, I didn’t even send out cards this past Christmas! I was gone so much, that I just never got around to it!
I also mapped out some Christmas sewing projects for gifts that I want to make. Sticky notes in hand, I piled up the fabric and marked them so I don’t forget what it is I want to do with it! I’m famous for forgetting! So I took at note from you, Mavis, and used the sticky notes! Here’s hoping I actually sew them!
I feel like I’ve got my groove back in the crafting department. I have so many things swirling around in my head that I’ve afraid I won’t get to all of them! But it was fun playing with paper again and making those cards!
Kathy in Louisiana, I don’t know where you live in the state, but if you’re anywhere near the Mississippi, you should go look for a piece of driftwood there! I have a piece from the river at the Chalmette Battlefield that I retrieved on a visit! It sits on my mantle all year long and reminds me of my home state!
Have a great week everyone!
Hawaii Planner says
We had a whirlwind two weeks, and had a lot of fun, but I wouldn’t call it productive. Now, we have one day left before we all head back to work/school & I have a mile long to do list.
I’d like to work on the following, towards my goals:
-Work on our budget, so I can ear mark some January money towards DS17’s college fund
-Finish college tour plans
-Find a pickle ball lesson for me + DH
-Come up with 5 freezer/pantry items to use up this month
-Find 20 items to give away on BN & 5 to list on eBay
-Go for a long run (running consistently & doing a few races is on my goal list)
Meg C says
I decided to not create a formal list this year because I’m terrible at checking off all my goals & then I just feel bad about myself for failing.
This year I decided to have 2 focus words, instead. My words are productivity and lose.
I want to he more productive in all areas of my life but especially with house/garden projects, helping my mom, & helping my best friend. I want to lose things like clutter, guilt, weight, meaningless relationships, etc.
I greatly admire your annual goals & related accomplishments. Thank you for your Sunday posts!!
Sharon says
Goal #1 – develop a list of 10 places I’d live to visit in the place I’m currently living (suburban Philly). Ashamed to admit that even after living in this area for 20 years, there are still so many places that I’ve missed!
Goal #2 – do a better job of tracking/spending money. Having recently retired, my income is definitely less than before, so I need to find a cure for “it’s only five dollars” syndrome.
Goal #3 – loom into the idea of finding a small part time job come spring. I so miss dealing with customers!
KC says
… I never expected to read the words “I so miss dealing with customers” – are you an extrovert, by any chance? 🙂 I hope you find the perfect job!
Mel says
I’ve been doing pretty well with my goals of eating a bit better and drinking more water.
Watching money has been a little touch and go. I budget for emergencies, but we always seem to have more emergencies than I think possible. We’ve already had an appliance die on us this year. This is an all around expensive month for us for other reasons, so I’m hoping things settle in February.
I made a lot of progress on organizing baby appointments. I scheduled his hearing eval and his vision eval, and I signed him up for music classes, baby gym, and a season pass to an indoor playground. Still waiting on OT scheduling. I added all the appointments to a calendar and got our nanny her own car seat and stroller so that she can help shuttle him around. We also got him some new furniture so that he can do more physical therapy at home.
I also wanted to try to celebrate holidays this year since we haven’t been able to do that in years. I ordered a wooden advent calendar for my husband like the one I got our son, and I started looking at Easter basket fillers. It will take me forever to get this goal together the way life is these days, so I’m trying to start early.
Jennifer says
Have you heard of sinking funds? I have an entire savings acct devoted to sinking funds. Some are things that are planned like car registration. But some are things I know about like car repairs and home repairs. I always have a school section for unexpected stuff that came up there. Not $7 for a field trip, but bigger stuff like an overnight trip, or textbooks for college. This made many things that had felt like emergencies not be emergencies. So replacing that appliance would be a home repair. Stuff breaks and this gave me a way to plan for them. Hoping things get better for you though! I know the feeling of too many things going wrong at once. it’s like but sometimes it’s too much life at once lol
Mel says
Yes, and that was our system. We’ve just had too many emergencies on all fronts for the past couple years, and I was out of work for a year after having a baby. We are fine financially, but we’re currently in a pattern where we deplete money set aside for emergencies as fast as we set it aside to refill the fund. It doesn’t help that our only childcare option was a full-time nanny. It’s just a very expensive time for us.
Carol says
Hi All,
Happy New Year!
1. My main goal this year is to lose weight and get off high blood pressure medicine (hopefully). My goal is 5 lbs per month.
My other goals are:
2. To declutter at least one item every day
3. Keep my grocery budget down to $40 a week by eating down my pantry and especially my freezer.
4. Complete 2 already started craft projects per month
5. Master making choux pastry and baking whole wheat bread. Or at least have some success with both of those if not mastery.
Laura says
What weather app do you use? I’d like to have one that tells me how many inches of snow to expect.
Mavis Butterfield says
It came installed on the phone. It has a 10 day forecast. That’s all I know. I just click on the date, then click on the “precipitation” for that day and it shows the snow total on the bottom. I hope that helps.
J in OH-IO says
Goal: To lose 30 pounds- filling half my dinner plate with kale, trying to hydrate with more water earlier in the day, started doing squats and some arm weights. Need to also incorporate ab exercises.
Goal: Declutter and organize. Per Pauline in Upstate NY’s suggestion I got the audiobook “How to Declutter at the Speed of Life” and am in the process of listening to it. Started clearing some surfaces and realized this is a never ending process… things get cleared and cluttered in no time! Broke down some cardboard boxes to recycle. Slow progress, but some is better than none.
Mavis Butterfield says
The kale… Oh my. I wish you all the best on that adventure.
Judy says
I love kale in the oven. On a cookie sheet, drizzle with olive oil, a little sea salt. It gets crunchy, we eat it instead of potato chips.
tia in boise says
I saw a meme that new year’s resolutions (goals, whatever) for teachers don’t start until their break is over. ha ha haaaa….so I’m going with that. (We go back tomorrow.)
I’m still working on my list–hoping to have it finalized to share by next Sunday.
Jennifer says
#1 pay off car – no extra payment yet but will this week
#2 low spend January – I budgeted $100/wk for food (gasp I know, but we have been spending $2-300 a week!!!). Anyway, I feel like good sales and deals are finally happening again as I have been getting some amazing deals. I went this past week with a short list and got what I needed + a few great clearance items for only $50
#3 track spending – so far so good
#4 complete a savings challenge to pay for a trip to Europe. I am ahead of schedule so far
HollyG says
Oh my Gosh…. I “borrowed” one of your previous goals of purging photos from your phone. I started with 4875 photos in iCloud. I purged, named, organized by years, downloaded copies to my computer, and named them again. I was down to 2125 photos Yay!
Then I discovered that I, aside from the 2143 photos in my documents folder, had a photolibrary with over 4000 photos and another photolibrary with over 4000 photos – Aghhhhh That was over 10,000 photos.
Luckily, there were only a few photos that were not in the purged iCloud account so, with a bit of fiddling, I was back down to only 1 photolibrary with 2143 photos and all of them backed up to a SSD drive.
Thanks for the inspiration!
Laura says
Wow! That is quite an accomplishment! I need to add that one to my list. Thanks for mentioning. Good for you!
Erin says
I saw an article in The Washington Post about a new (?) cholesterol test that appears to be a better indicator of actual heart disease risk than the standard good & bad cholesterol screening. Apparently most docs don’t know about the test but it’s pretty effective at screening. I thought I’d share since cholesterol changes is one of your goals.
Tracy T says
Smart Goals made for the year include:
1) getting my garden back without weeds and an actual plan for planting/harvesting/keeping up with the weeding
2) yearlong daily Bible plan with friends
3) travel – 1st trip already planned for the end of this month to SLC, Utah
4) Hike at least one time every month
5) declutter
6) January / June freezer challenges (use it up before buying more)