My 22 Goals for 2019 – Week 21 of 52

My 22 Goals for 2019

Goal #1 — Spend More Time Doing What I Love

Waking up the the sounds of birds chipping outside our windows and turkey mating calls at 6am is such a nice change of pace from the hustle and bustle sounds of living in suburbia. Have I told you how much I love it here lately?

The garden, it’s come alive again and everyday is such a treat.

Goal #2 — Garden, Garden, Garden

My sweet potato slips finally arrived {2 1/2 weeks late}. I planted them on Friday morning and so far so good. The temps are predicted to be in the mid 80’s today, but luckily it rained last night so hopefully they’ll be fine. Transplanting vegetables out to the garden this time of year can be a little tricky.

Goal #3 — Plant an Orchard

Miss Lemon. She’s doing beautifully in her pot outside. I have fertilized her once so far since getting her in early May with a bit of organic citrus fertilizer. If it doesn’t rain, I water her once every other day or so. The back patio gets a lot of sun and I don’t want her to dry out. With a little luck, we might get some lemons this year! How cool would that be?

Goal #4 — Gussy Up the Potting Shed Done!

Goal #5 — Grow Enough Extra Vegetables, Eggs and Flowers to Earn $1500 at my little roadside vegetable stand.

Yesterday after we finished tilling up this years pumpkin patch, I headed over to the greenhouse to grab all the tomato plants I had started from seed. The plan was to transplant all the tomatoes to the garden since we’ve passed the last frost date mark here in my neck of the woods {Zone 5}.

Well, I must have missed a day {or two?} of watering because when I opened the greenhouse door I nearly passed out. My poor babies!!! My first thought was to toss them out, and then I was like…. maybe they can be saved? Maybe? 

Well, a good drink of water and 18 hours later, they seem to be springing back to life. But it does make me wonder how much damage I’ve done to this years tomato crop. Will my yield be smaller? Did I totally stunt their growth?

Only time will tell I guess. I’ll keep an eye on the plants today and them get up early and plant them in the ground tomorrow when the temps will be a little lower and they’ve had another day to recover.

Goal #6 — Finish Every Single Unfinished Rug Hooking Project in My Pattern Bin + 10 Things from back Issues of Magazines/Books I’ve Been Meaning to Make. 

I still have 6 more pieces I want to finish up before my next Etsy Shop update on Friday, May 31st at 6pm EST. I was hoping to get more done this month, but with gardening projects in full swing, and a list of special orders to work through, it’s been tough.

I didn’t finish any rugs from my pattern bin but I was able to make 18 flowers.

I started the year off with:

• 73 rugs in my pattern bin {now down to 50}
• 183 hooked flowers {finished 108, now down to 75}
• 10 “things” from back issues of magazines {finished 0}

Goal #7 — Create 12 New Rug Hooking Patterns {with at least half of them being large ones}

10 down, 2 to go! This past month I added 4 new patterns to my Etsy shop.

If all goes well, I should have 2 new patterns to offer in my Etrsy shop on Friday. I am looking forward to hooking a giant rug next month so although it will be a bit of a challenge to get it hooked in 30 days {it really is huge} working on just one rug, will be a nice change of pace.

New rug hooking patterns I’ve created and added to My Etsy Shop this year:

• Miss Henny and Penny
• Miss Penny
• Simple Kitty
• Primitive Flowers
• 2 Fat Cats
• Annabell’s Big Day
• Old Fashioned Double Tulip
• Fat Brown Hen
• Busy Little Bee
• Queen Bee

Goal #8 — Split and Stack 2 Cords of Wood for Next Winter 

Nothing to report.

Goal #9 — Do Something with the 5,002 Photos on My Phone

I am now back up to 4302 photos on my phone. The goal was to GET RID of all but about 500 or so photos on my phone. I don’t want to “store” them somewhere or print them out, I just want to keep the ones I truly want and delete the rest. The problem is, there are so many stories I have yet to tell in so many of those photos…. I need to clone myself, if only for a week to get go through them all.

Goal #10 –Lose the Muffin Top

Working theory: Muffy will just fall off during gardening season. Then again, it might just be time to cave in and buy new jeans. You know, ones that fit properly.

Goal #11 — Run, Walk or Crawl a 5k, 10k, Half Marathon and Marathon

Nothing new to report. It’s starting to get warm again, this goal might have to wait until fall.

Goal #12 — Read or Listen to 26 New Books {11 down, 15 to go}

Big Little Lies just popped up and is ready for me to listen to, and I am hoping that after I get this post written, today will be a PAJAMA day and I can listen to the audiobook. 🙂 Apparently there are two races on TV {the Monaco Grand Prix and the Indy 500} and so the HH has declared today a day of rest.

And I’m good with that. {Although my versions of resting will be rug hooking and listening to audiobooks, and not watching a bunch of cars drive around in circles}.

I also picked up The Art of Pie and The L.L. Bean Book of New England Cookery from the library for a little recipe inspiration.

I am waiting my turn on the library wait list for the following audio books:

• The Long Winter
• Grateful American

Books I’ve Read or Listened to So Far This Year:

• Marilla of Green Gables #1 Favorite
• Before We Were Yours #2
• Secrets of a Charmed Life #3
• Where’d You Go, Bernadette #4 
• Carnegie’s Maid #5
• The Alice Network #6
• The Shape of Mercy #7
• Will’s Red Coat #8
• Bunny Mellon  {Doesn’t count because it was my second time}
• Walden
• Finder’s Keepers
• Delicious!
• Following Atticus

Goal #13 — Try 52 New Recipes.

Currently have a cake recipe printed out and ready to bake on my kitchen counter. 🙂 🙂 🙂 I love cake!

Goal #14 — Clean Up 52 Old Recipes on the Blog

Seven recipes down, 45 to go. Looks like it’s going to be a busy fall. 😉

Goal #15 — Fill 100 Canning Jars 34 down, 66 to go.

So far this year I’ve I canned:

• 15 jars of Carrot Cake Jam
• 15 jars of Spiced Pear Jam 
• 4 jars of Almond Pears.

Goal #16 — Finish Furnishing Our House

Treasures from the recycle center:

• 2 terra cotta pots
• 2 plastic pots that will be perfect to use as hanging baskets {just as soon as I find some wire}
• 1 copper gingerbread man

Furniture pieces I’m still on the hunt for:

• Coffee table for the family room
• Console, cupboard or sideboard for the one and only tv in our house which is in the family room. I could totally live without a television, but my husband says the tv stays.
• Long rectangular table for the craft room.
• Table for the formal dining room.
• 2 wing back chairs for the family room.
• I’d also like to decorate the mantel in the keeping room as well as put up some sort of decoration above the other 3 2 fireplaces in the house. I’m not one for a lot of things on the walls, but it would be nice to throw up a little pilgrim bling on the plaster.

Goal #17 – 52 Dates with the HH {17 down, 35 to go}

Date day this past week was an 11 hour one and included a smokehouse.  And now the HH wants to build one in the backyard. {I’ll do a proper show and tell post next week.

Goal #18 — Take One Adult Education Class Done {I’ve taken 2!}

1. I’m keeping the first class I took with my neighbor top secret for now {because it is directly related to my one of my secret holiday projects}
2. Spoon Carving Class with heather.

Goal #19 — Secret {for now} Holiday Project 

🙂 🙂 🙂 Mums the word until early September.

Goal #20 — Create 12 Wowie Zowie Party Platters

4 down, 8 to go.

Goal #21 — Visit 12 General Stores

5 down 7 to go. We were supposed to stop at a general store in Vermont but it didn’t pan out {probably because having to stop THREE TIMES for bathroom breaks because someone drank too much coffee before we left the house {{NOT ME}} made veering off the highway and taking a side trip to a little old general store in the middle of nowhere not as exciting as it was when I was mapping out our trip.

And that’s all I have to say about that.

So far this year we’ve visited:

• Harrisville General Store
• Dodge’s Store in New Boston, New Hampshire
• Zeb’s General Store in North Conway, New Hampshire
• Dan and Whit’s in Norwich, Vermont
• Hussey’s General Store in Windsor, Maine

Goal #22 — Compete with Carole….. Get on My Front Door Game On

Nothing new to report. But I do need to bring Carole some more eggs and take a peek at all her goodies.

Front Door Bling I’ve Made So Far This Year to Compete with Carole:

• Late January : Valentine Heart
• Late February : Shamrock
• Late March : Giant Carrot

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How about YOU? What are your goals for 2019? If you told us about them HERE, check in! We want to know how you are doing. Because seriously, it’s so much easier to get those goals checked off your list when you have people rooting for you! 🙂

♥ Mavis

You can read more about my 22 goals for 2019 HERE.

Have a Great Sunday!