“The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams.” ~ Oprah Winfrey
My goals for 2018
Goal #1 – Write Like No One is Reading.
“Close the door. Write with no one looking over your shoulder. Don’t try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say. It’s the one and only thing you have to offer.” ~ Barbara Kingsolver
Goal #2 – Slow Down
Not so much this week.
Goal #3 – Shop Small
For date day this past week the HH and I toured an old country estate AND stopped for lunch {and pie} at a small country store along the way. If there is one thing that I’ll pull over for these days…. It’s the small country stores that seem to dot the landscape around here. I just love them and I bet they’re even more magical in the wintertime.
Goal # 4 – Have a Designated Meal Prep Day It’s Not For Us
I threw in the towel early on this one. Meal prep, and cooking in mass quantities is just not for my family at this stage in our lives. Although with the addition of a new freezer, I may have to whip up some new freezer meals. We’ll see.
Goal #5 – Install a Vegetable Garden
The garden is coming along nicely and although sometimes I get discouraged that we aren’t more on top of things around here, I need to remind myself that gardening is a process. I’d love to have all the projects done and the garden looking perfect, but we’ve only been here 3 1/2 months and I know we will have a better handle on things next year. I mean, the HH JUST figured out the sprinkler system yesterday for Pete’s sake! 😉
Goal #6 – Clear Land for a Chicken Coop and Future Raised Garden Bed Area
A big THANK YOU to everyone who left a comment on the chicken coop post last week. Although having the chickens in the potting shed seemed like the easier route, the HH decided {and I let him decide because he’s the one that has to do it} we are going to build the ladies a free standing chicken coop.
The HH decided he wanted the wood shed…. for a wood shed. And the potting shed…. to store tools. And since when the weather turns and he would have to snowplow a racetrack around the yard for Lucy anyway, he will now include Lucy’s racetrack route out and around the chicken coop so she can visit her babies multiple times a day. Plus, I think the HH likes the idea of being able to move the coop around the yard with the pallet forks on the tractor. 😉
First he’ll build the coop. Then the run. Construction starts today…. I’m excited!
Goal #7 – Grow 500 Pounds of Vegetables
I need to put together a proper garden post this week with our current harvest totals! So far this year we have harvested Swiss chard, beets, turnips, lettuce, spinach, chives, shallots, basil, mint, oregano, sugar snap peas and a handful of blueberries.
Tomatoes, beans, cucumbers and blueberries should be ready to harvest in the coming weeks. Everything is just happening so quickly around here, it’s hard to keep up! I have a whole pile of seeds I need to get in to the ground so the harvest can continue well into the fall. Or, at least until the first frost hits. 😉
Goal #8 – Hook 100 Rugs
Only 36 more rugs to go before I can check this goal off my list! My Etsy shop was running a little low on sunflowers so I hooked up a few more bouquets. This past week I got a surprising amount of hooking time in thanks to a long road trip the HH and I took {he did all the driving of course}.
I am currently working on another Flowers for Lucy rug, the giant chicken rug giant chicken rug {which I should have done by tonight} and then it’s on to a stack of animal themed pieces for my next Etsy shop update on July 28th. I do love summer {and the growing season}, but man oh man, I am super excited for a long winter indoors hooking around the wood stove. 😉
Goal #9 – Make a Set of Dolls
I plan to make a set {or two} of primitive dolls later this year after the garden has been put to bed.
Goal #10 – Make a Sampler, Frame it and Hang it on the Wall Done!
Although I’ve already finished my sampler for this year, I have collected another 3 frames over the past few months and plan to make more samplers this winter.
Goal #11 – Visit 22 Bakeries
I have sooooo many new places I need to tell you about!
Goal #12 – Start a Collection
Wahoooo! I added 2 more pieces to my collection of primitive wooden items. This past week The Girl and I stopped by The Salvation Army where I found an old butter mold for $2.99 and a wooden shaker basket for $1.99. There is a long wooden shelf in one of the bathrooms that I think would be the perfect spot for a shaker basket collection, so now I’ll be on the hunt for more of those.
The HH thinks it might be a fox, but I think the carving could be a bunny. What do you think?
Goal #13 – Read {or listen to} 26 Books
Currently waiting for Educated. The last time I checked I was #34 on the list.
Goal #14 – Try 12 New Canning Recipes
This past week we canned pickled beets!
Goal #15 – Secret {for now} Holiday Project
It was a good week in the trial and error phase of my secret holiday project. And that’s all I’m going to say about that! 😉
How about YOU? Did you set any goals for 2018? How are they coming along?
~Mavis
Read About My 2018 Goals HERE.
Lissa says
So jealous of your finds at the Salvation Army. Our Goodwill types of stores are such a ripoff. I went this week to look for tee shirts for our local homeless shower shelter. Super worn ones were $3.59. Love the butter mold. Maybe you should have cows and churn the butter 🙂
Question about pole beans: I’ve always done bush beans. The beans are super tall on the trellis, but no signs of flowers yet. Should I be hoping they arrive soon?
Mavis Butterfield says
Beans usually take around 60-65 days to harvest from when you planted them…. Sometimes a little longer depending on the weather.
Elise in the SF Bay Area says
Definitely a bunny 🙂 I saw it that way before I even saw the question.
Happy Sunday! I’m off tomorrow to 10 days of Girl Scout Camp in the Sierras (south of Tahoe) with my 2 girls on Monday at 9am. I’m staff, they are campers 🙂 Better get to my packing!!!
Mim says
Peru, VT. Am I right this time?
wendy says
One vote for fox! It’s cute, btw!
Susan Webster says
Another vote for fox!
Julia says
Rabbit.
Ranee says
Going with the fox. Tail seems a wee bit too long for a bunny.
Marie says
So happy you have an ambitious HH. Summer heat+building projects+nasty insects+not being able to use his new tractor to complete this task=his favorite dessert!
When we built our coop from scratch, we laid hardware cloth under the run as well as around your birds so predators can not
enter. How come I know this? Horrible massacure one AM when I was out to gather eggs. Once an animal gets their scent they will return again & again-even years later. Protect the babies!
Kelly says
I waited forever to read “Uneducated” from our library here in Oregon, too, but it was totally worth the wait. Fascinating!! A friend told me that there is a comment from one of her siblings on Goodreads.com (originally it was left as an Amazon review of the book, I believe), so I might suggest reading that after/during reading the book. Adds an interesting point of view.
Kelly says
Whoops, I referred to the title incorrectly. It’s actually Educated:A Memoir. That’s the one I read and loved. I’m pretty sure that’s the book you’re referring to?
Marybeth says
I thought rabbit. Love the basket.
Alice says
Is the book title Uneducated, or Educated:A Memoir ?
The link lists the second title.
I can’t find a book titled Uneducated
Kelly says
Wait, I think you’re right haha! It is Educated 🙂 Or at least the book I commented on is called that! LOL
Cheryl says
I’d like to see a hooking pattern of Lucy looking on the chicks!
MeanJean says
Do bunnies or foxes have hooved feet?
….maybe it is a lamb!
wendy says
I thought it looked like a lamb too 🙂
Cherri says
That was my thought as well, based on the hooves. Regardless it is cute.
Leslie says
I think it’s a sheep.
Joanna says
I think it’s lamb too.
Tracy says
Neither fox nor bunny. That’s a dog!
Glad you’re not using the white cutesy coop and building something solid and weather proof. One suggestion: if you plan to raise the floor off the ground enough to get pallets under it, please be sure to use some kind of insulation under the coop’s floor, all the way to the ground. Even flakes of straw would work. Keep that floor insulated!
Jennifer says
It’s Educated: A Memoir. It’s a very powerful book – sad and uplifting at the same time. I continually get amazed by people who go through situations like this and come out better.
Kelly says
Definitely a sheep or lamb. A lot of those here in Ireland. The lambs jump like that when they are young, but the adults can move pretty quick when there’s a car coming down the road, as well.
Lauren King says
If you are looking for something else to read while you wait, I read “Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine” and absolutely loved it. It’s actually the first book I’ve been able to get past the first chapter off in a year and went on to read it cover to cover in a day.
Mavis butterfield says
Thanks! I added it to my list and now I’m #115!!! 🙂
Carrie says
Thanks for the suggestion! I am flying this week and needed a book to read and there was no waiting list for the audio version.
MEM says
I loved that book – but now I want a sequel!
Lauren says
Mem – I know!! I must admit though I have drawn my own conclusions. haha.
Carrie – I hope you enjoy it. Safe travels. xx.
Torry says
My goal was to sew every week. So far, I have only missed one week; however, there were many weeks that I sewed 3-4-6 times a week. I’ve finished the rows of the recycled denim quilt that I’m making for our granddaughter. Now to sew the rows together. (And it is hot here in the PNW, in the 90s, so that makes sewing a weight reduction activity, because holding the fabric on your lap makes you sweat off the pounds!)
Debra Beeuwsaert says
Another great book to read is the psychological suspense novel is “The Marsh King’s Daughter” by Karen Dionne. Karen Dionne was even an author that spoke of this particular book at a library event here. She is working on another novel that is due out sometime next summer. She has a few other books, but “The Marsh King;s Daughter” brought her into an international best seller. The scenary of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan is to a tee in the book as well.