My 14 Goals For 2024 – Week 40 of 52

Eat More Fruits and Vegetables

We made a trip to Costco the other day and loaded up on my favorite Mediterranean crunch salad and other veggies. I could eat that salad every day!

One of the main ingredients is broccoli. Never in a million years would I think or even take the time to cut broccoli spears into thin strips. But since it’s in the salad mix and tastes good with everything else, I’m happy to eat it. 

We bought 4 bags of the salad mix… And now they’re all gone! Between that, the cauliflower soup and the pumpkin pie, I think we got our vegetables last wee

Visit 24 {new} Bakeries / Coffee Shops

Tried out a new diner with the In-laws a few days ago and the place was spot on! I’m already looking forward to going back and trying something from their lunch menu. I’ll tell you all about it soon. 🙂 

New Bakeries / Coffee Shops I’ve Been To This Year {That I liked}

• The Cookie Jar Pastry Shop
• Fortnum and Mason
• Ritual Bakehouse and Patisserie
• Caramel Patisserie
• Standard Baking Co. 
• Saltwater Farm Cafe
• Coffee Roasters of the Kennebunks
• Farine Bakery and Cafe
• Night Moves Bread
• Cape Porpoise Kitchen

Contribute to 12 Free Little Libraries. {7 town down, 5 to go}

I need to get going on my goal of donating to 12 different free little libraries! I’ve only donated to 7 so far this year. 

Towns I’ve donated books to:

• Snowshill, England
• Gardiner, Maine
• Nobleboro, Maine
• Kennebunk and Kennebunkport, Maine
• Cape Elizabeth, Maine
• Raymond, Maine
• Bellevue, Washington

Spend More Time At The Beach

The puggle princess and I not only went to the beach this past week but we also got some nice walks in. That dog, she sure loves to walk! 

Read or Listen to 24 Books {8 down, 16 to go}

I’m listening to My Girls by Todd Fisher right now and WOW… What a childhood. What an interesting upbringing. I love autobiographies, and especially love when they are read by the person who wrote them.

Has anyone read Ina Garten’s new book Be Ready When Luck Happens? I was thinking about ordering the audiobook.

Books I’ve Read or Listened To This Year: 

• Grateful American: A Journey from Self to Service by Gary Sinise. 10/10
• The Paris Dressmaker by Kristy Cambron 9/10
• Elizabeth The Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch by Sally Bedell Smith 9/10
• Wait Till Next Year by Dorris Kearns Goodwin 8/10
• George VI and Elizabet:by Sally Bedell Smith 9/10
• Steve Jobs by Walter Issacson 9/10
• These Precious Days by Ann Pachett 9.5/10
• Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson

 

Paint 

All that’s left to do in the painting department this year is to paint the {non existent} rails on the back deck. The HH was going to work on that this past week but I needed his help planting the 2,000 bulbs. 

Hopefully he can get to finishing the deck in a few days. We are SO CLOSE to being done with projects for the year!

Paintings I’ve finished this year:

• Portrait of Joseph Roulin 
• Red Boats at Argenteuil
• Regattas at Argenteuil
• Vase with Cornflowers and Poppies 
• Sunflowers
• Garden Path with Chickens
• Goldfish

Hook 6 “Big” Rugs.

I finally finished hooking the turkey runner!!! All that is left to do now is trim, then surge the edges and stitch them into place. 

I wouldn’t call this a “large” rug, more of a medium sized one. So that means I still have 2 big rugs to hook this year. In about another few days {once all the bulbs are planted} I’ll be back to hooking up a storm. 

Something I’ve missed dearly the past 6 months.

Large Rugs I’ve Hooked This Year

• Three Roosters
• Hidden In The Garden 
• Yankee Doodle
• Double Nantucket Whale Runner with the American flag

Visit 6 Greenhouses {4 down 2 to go}

I still need to visit 2 greenhouses this year so I can check this goal off my list. I already know what one of them will be but I’m on the hunt for another. 

Grow Baby Grow

Bulbs. They’re the only thing on my mind these days. We’ve managed to get about 900 bulbs planted so far. I figure we’ll be done in a few more days {it’s taking so much longer than I thought it would}.

I think I over estimated how much of the garden we would have dug up by now when I placed my bulb order {we haven’t had a chance to dig up the side of the house yet}.  

I think we’ve done quite a bit of gardening since we moved in, but still, I think I may have to end up planting a few more bulbs in containers than I had anticipated. 

We’ll see. We’ve still got some time before the ground freezes and the weather turns crazy cold.

Donate to 12 Different Organizations in Maine

So Far This Year I’ve Donated To:

• Grammy Rose Dog Rescue
• Cleaning Up My Local Beach
• New Hope MidCoast {50 pairs of new socks}
• Humane Society {180 trays of cat food}
• Travis Mills Foundation
• Camp Sunshine
• Honor Flight Maine

So how are YOUR goals for 2024 coming along? I’d love to hear about them. 

~Mavis

Goals I’ve Already Completed This Year

Go On An Adventure DONE

I’d say that spending over a week in England totally counts as an adventure. I didn’t start the year thinking I’d go… But hey, you just never know what’s just around the corner now do you.

In Stock and Ready to Ship by March 15th/ March 30th Now April 15th DONE!

I finally finished up all the major wool dyeing and pattern/kit making I had hoped too. All the “extra” wool is tucked away in bins so if I run out of wool in my Etsy shop I can whip up some more bundles in a jiffy. A summer off from dyeing wool… It’s going to be pretty rad.

Tidy Up / Clean Out / Purge DONE

We cleaned the whole house, inside and out. And then we sold it. Yee-Haw!

• Barn
• Garage
• Closets 
• Dresser drawers
• Kitchen 
• Sideboard
• DVD collection