My 22 Goals for 2019
Goal #1 — Spend More Time Doing What I Love
This morning I looked out my window and spied pops of ORANGE in the garden. You know what that means, right? The hideous orange day-lilies will be out in full force mocking me any second now.
But I have these really cool things called scissors, and I plan on using them today. Snip Snip.
Goal #2 — Garden, Garden, Garden
Well, with temps like that, I don’t think I’ll be getting much gardening done this week. 60 degrees is my happy temp. Anything over 75 and I’m melting. I wonder if living right next to the Canadian boarder or in Nova Scotia would be cooler.
Goal #3 — Plant an Orchard
Still going back and forth on this one.
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.
Today I plan to weed the pumpkin patch and then put a sticky note on the refrigerator door to remind the HH to SAVE the grass clippings for me so I can mulch the area. Also on the agenda: wrap myself in fly ribbon, wear my mosquito hat, put dryer sheets in my pockets and down myself with horse spray so I don’t get bit. Gardening in New England, it’s really, really rad.
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 finished 0 rugs from my pattern bin this past week, but I did finish the giant Tullia and Thomas Turkey rug I was hoping to get done. I basically spent the ENTIRE week inside working on the rug and honestly cannot believe I was able to hook such a large rug in such a short amount of time.
I think I’ll give my fingers a break for a few days and work on putting together kits, drawing out patterns and cleaning up the craft room. 😉
I started the year off with:
- 73 rugs in my pattern bin {now down to 48}
- 183 hooked flowers {finished 120, now down to 63}
- 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} DONE!
So far this year I’ve added 12 new rug hooking patterns and 13 beginner rug hooking kits to my Etsy shop. WOWZA! And we are only halfway through the year but I am happy to have checked this goal off my to-do list.
New rug hooking patterns I’ve created and added to My Etsy Shop this year:
- Tullia and Thomas Turkey
- Double Nantucket Whale Runner
- 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
Rug Hooking Kits
- Busy Little Bee {in 2 different colors}
- Folk Art Heart
- Small Nantucket Whale
- Primitive Crow
- Miss Robin {in 2 different colors}
- Simple Kitty
- Primitive Flowers
- Sunflowers
- A Basket of Spring Posies
- Fat Brown Hen
- Chicky’s Garden
Goal #8 — Split and Stack 2 Cords of Wood for Next Winter
The side yard and wooded areas have fill in {with ticks and snakes and poison ivy and other creepy crawlies} and so any thought of chopping down trees for firewood has been put on the back burner until fall.
Goal #9 — Do Something with the 5,002 Photos on My Phone
Need to get on this!
Goal #10 –Lose the Muffin Top
No comment.
Goal #11 — Run, Walk or Crawl a 5k, 10k, Half Marathon and Marathon
I am on house arrest for the next 60 – 90 days waiting for our baby turtles to hatch so sadly I won’t be able to participate in any sort of fun run this summer. Bummer, I know.
Goal #12 — Read or Listen to 26 New Books {15 down, 11 to go}
I finished listening to The Aviator’s Wife on audiobook and OH MY was it good. So good in fact I put it as my third favorite book of the year. People who are constantly thinking outside of the box can be really hard to understand to the majority of those around them, and relationships with those types of high functioning personalities can be really, really complicated.
And that’s all I have to say about that.
I am waiting my turn on the library wait list for the following audio books:
Books I’ve Read or Listened to So Far This Year:
- Marilla of Green Gables #1 Favorite
- The Great Alone #2
- The Aviator’s Wife #3
- Before We Were Yours #4
- Secrets of a Charmed Life #5
- Where’d You Go, Bernadette #6
- Carnegie’s Maid #7
- The Alice Network #8
- The Shape of Mercy #9
- Will’s Red Coat #10
- Big Little Lies #11
- Bunny Mellon {Doesn’t count because it was my second time}
- Walden
- Finder’s Keepers
- Delicious!
- Following Atticus
Goal #13 — Try 52 New Recipes.
17 down, 35 recipes to go.
I tried a new jam recipe this week!
Goal #14 — Clean Up 52 Old Recipes on the Blog
8 down, 45 to go. {Totally slacking on this goal but will work on it more this fall.}
Goal #15 — Fill 100 Canning Jars 41 down, 59 to go.
I made jam yesterday! : 🙂 🙂 I’ll share the recipe with you on Wednesday.
So far this year I’ve I canned:
- 7 jars of ….
- 15 jars of Carrot Cake Jam
- 15 jars of Spiced Pear Jam
- 4 jars of Almond Pears.
Goal #16 — Finish Furnishing Our House
Hey! I finally bought a handmade corn broom. Ain’t she pretty?
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 roomas well as put up some sort of decoration above the other32 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 {21 down, 31 to go}
Yesterday we went to the Canterbury Shaker Village in Canterbury, New Hampshire for their Traditional Craft Days event. I’m so glad we went! I’ll tell you all about it in a few days but if you are anywhere near the area, and are looking to take a class on broom making, Shaker box making, letterpress printing or even chocolate making, you should check them out. I think I’m going to see if my neighbor wants to take one of their classes with me. The facilities are crazy cool.
Goal #18 — Take One Adult Education Class Done {I’ve taken 2!}
- I’m keeping the first class I took with my neighbor top secret for now
- Spoon Carving Class with Heather.
Goal #19 — Secret {for now} Holiday Project
Although I am keeping mum about my secret holiday project until the big reveal in early September, I am truly enjoying how the project has morphed from one thing into another over the course of the past 6 months. I guess at some point we all have to slow down and find our focus, but at what point do we do that? There are SO MANY cool things I want to try and staying on task is proving very difficult this year.
Goal #20 — Create 12 Wowie Zowie Party Platters
4 down, 8 to go. I just want to open the fridge and have them all ready to eat. It’s the making of the platters that I’m finding hard to do this time of year.
Goal #21 — Visit 12 General Stores
5 down 7 to go.
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
I finally found the flag bunting!! 🙂 🙂 🙂
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
- May: White wave petunia hanging basket
- June: Tin Star and Flag Bunting
**************
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.
Deborah says
You need to store your broom with the handle down. If you store it like the picture, the broom will bend. LOL Ask me how I know this. Yep, I’ve done it, and ruined the broom.
Jennifer says
I hope you’re trying to sell the lilies at your farmstand! I know they’re common, but not everyone has them, and most people probably don’t think to use them as cut flowers.
MEM says
I was thinking Mavis should either pot and sell entire plants at her farmstand or put them on Freecycle or something similar. There are plenty of people with spots on their property that have poor soil and direct sun that would appreciate daylilies – of any color. In my experience they don’t last as cut flowers – hence, the name “day lily”.
Kaia says
Well, I just read that daylilies are edible! I need to research it more for myself.
scrubber says
I was just about to mention this!
You can eat the flower and the root. The tubers are kind of like potatoes.
Amy says
I came onto the comments just to talk about this, ha ha! Mavis, if you can’t beat ’em- eat ’em! Check out the book “Weed ’em and reap” by Roger Welsch. It’s been a hilarious and inspiring read of harvesting and enjoying all these weeds we try so hard to remove from our gardens. Best of luck with those daylilies!
Mel says
I spent a whole day making pickles and relish on a whim this week, and I had to harvest over 100 heads of garlic and set them up to cure, so I didn’t quite get to some of last week’s goals, but I made a good start.
Last week’s mini goals were:
1) Organize the living room. (Mostly done. Two more baskets to look through.)
2) Label work files and basement cubbies (Done!)
3) Declutter the dining room. (Mostly done. I unsubscribed to over 30 catalogs, but I still have some miscellaneous stuff to grab and put away.)
4) Organize my husband’s beekeeping supplies (Didn’t get to it)
5) Organize the last bathroom cabinet (Mostly done—waiting on a few organizers to ship)
6) Increase time on treadmill (Done!)
7) Organize the last few kitchen cabinets (Didn’t get to it)
So, this week’s goals are to
1) Finish up the goals I didn’t quite get to finish last week. (Living room, Dining room, and Bathroom Cabinet)
2) Get to the goals I didn’t start. (Organize beekeeping supplies and kitchen cabinets)
3) Increase time on treadmill.
4) Clean oven.
5) Celebrate the 4th of July!
Rebecca in MD says
Wow, Mel, you are making great progress on your organizing and cleaning! I, too, harvested garlic last week and have it hanging to dry (about 40 bulbs). I recently learned that you should hang your garlic with the leaves hanging down, not the bulbs and it will dry quicker. We have a covered portion of our deck where the garlic can be in the shade while it dries.
Mel says
Thanks! Our house is a different world these days. Much more functional and less stressful.
That’s interesting about the garlic. I always set ours on newspaper in the unfinished part of our basement. I’ve never had an issue with it, but I also don’t have any other space we could really put it. It’s been so dry this year that I think it actually started drying in the ground, so we’ll see how it goes!
Susan says
help a turtle
Carolina Waterfowl Rescue at P.O. Box 1484, Indian Trail, NC 28079
https://www.yahoo.com/news/old-bras-used-rescue-injured-203204317.html
Heather m says
I’m not sure your bug post was mosquito related, but we have them really bad in south Mississippi. Someone local created a product called, “spartan mosquito eradicator”. I’m one of those people with blood that attracts mosquitos, so I was super excited to try them. They work wonders! You just fill them with water and hang in a tree. I usually have to run in my door at home to keep them from swarming inside, but I have barely seen any at all this year. Hope this helps.
Also, an orchard sounds lovely. I hope you go for it.
DF says
That was kind of mean to cut off those flowers. You should think of the pollinators that come to your yard.
Daylilies and Pollinators
Daylilies are attractive to many pollinators, including butterflies, bees, flies and even hummingbirds. Part of that popularity is due to their cup-like shape that makes it very easy for these tiny creatures to gather up the nectar they need to thrive.Apr 11, 2017
Katherine says
My thoughts too!
UpstateNYer says
“Wrap myself in fly paper”.,, LOL! Thanks for the giggle today! I needed that!
LaToya says
What about a wowie zowie platter for the 4th of July?
Only the white Good N Plenties …. blueberries … red bell pepper ….. white cheeses … blue corn tortilla chips …. ?
Weeded our pumpkin patch yesterday … it’s looking mighty fine. We moved it away from the back garden and in to the front yard kinda and it appears to be doing much better than ever.
Due to my knee break and subsequent surgery, the weight loss goal has been sidelined. But I’m back in business now though well behind on my goal. With 6 months left in the year I think I’m just going to half the goal and try to hit that. It’s still pretty aggressive, but can be done.
Also! Went to Vancouver last week and hit up BUTTER. SO good. I had the s’mores bar too. And the Earl Grey marshmallows. I also bought a rose lemonade that was ghastly. Tasted like I was drinking a bottle of perfume.
Have a great week!
Mel says
I love the idea for the 4th of July party platter!
Sue R. says
Book suggestions for your reading pleasure:
I just listened to or read 3 books by Harry Bernstein. He starting writing them in his 90s!!
Interesting memoirs–The Invisible Wall, The Dream, The Golden Willow.
Ray says
Why don’t you dig up the daylilies now that you can ID the orange plants?
Nancy D says
Congratulations on the beautiful new rug! Well done!
Tamara says
I noticed you have brown stones encircling the turtle nest. Maybe you could place a tomato cage over the nest so drivers would see it. We just spent a week at the beach with our four crazy busy grandsons (ages 3, 3, 1 1/2 and 1) and there was a nest near our beach house. It was marked with stakes tied with hot pink ribbon and a sign.
Well done on the rug; it is beautiful!
Lana says
Our neighbor boys built bat houses and put them up and the mosquito population is way down.
Bobbie says
We have bat houses and they do wonders to keep the bugs down.
Mel says
Bobbie and Lana—We see bats often and have a house, but the bats don’t seem to use it. What’s the trick to attracting them?
Tracy says
Girl, I am totally with you about hating really hot weather. 60 degrees is perfect. (I even like 20 degrees, but that’s another blog.). But you’ve got to get over it! I grind hard to get my entire garden weeded, edged, mulched, staking or supports in place, all hoses and paraphernalia set out in place and as much planting as I can possibly do before it hits 80, or generally by the 2nd or 3rd week in June for southern New England. Then, all summer long, I get out there before 7 a.m. to stay on top of everything. July is usually the best and slowest month around here, and then…BAM! August’s second brutal wave of weeds hits. But I can manage if I dedicate about 2 hours early every morning. Then hit the shower and enjoy the rest of the day. By October, when I have to start prepping the 3,800 sq ft of beds for the winter, cutting back, clearing, bagging, mulching, etc., still usually a bit cooler and I scramble like hell to get it all done so I can hunker down and enjoy the winter. And please tell me you plan on burning at least one good fire in that virgin fireplace!
P.S. I’m totally with you on my hatred of all day lilies, and I especially do not like orange, or even dark gold, in the garden. Rip those babies right out!
jessica says
send me the daylilies.:-)
Judy says
I think the daylilies look beautiful. I’ll bet the bees and butterflies think so too.
Vicki in Birmingham says
Me too. I wonder if people wouldn’t buy some in your little “shop” at the end of the drive…you may want to give it a try. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure!
Linda Tibbetts says
We have had record breaking amounts of rain this spring, and perhaps that is why, but we have armies of Japanese beetles invading our yard. In the last b36 hours they have stripped my rhubarb leaves and are working on the cherry trees. We hung traps today, and the bags are already full. Generally these are a problem only every 10 or 12 years, but they were bad last year, too. They’ve been telling us that the mosquitoes will be bad because of all the standing water there has been from the torrents of rain. In other words, we are going buggy!
Love the rug, and the lily plants look very healthy. I have a steep bank on which I’d be thrilled to have as many as you have. Since you’re cutting off all the buds, I assume you aren’t going to change your mind 🙂
Rita says
What does he do with the grass clippings now? You guys should have a compost pile going. What do you do with your kitchen scraps? Have you ever seen them made out of pallets? Pretty nifty and the price is right 🙂 Lots of ideas if you google it. Makes good dirt and worms!
Mavis Butterfield says
Yes. https://onehundreddollarsamonth.com/diy-how-to-build-a-compost-bin-out-of-wood-pallets/
Lynda Kling says
I know you’re not an East Coast native. Those day lilies you abhor are native flowers here. They are deer resistant and need very little upkeep….
We love them!!!!
MEM says
I was thinking the same. I have them along my entire fence line and in the poor soil next to my drive way. I divide every Fall so I can have even more. Although I don’t have any bright orange ones I do have one the color of a ripe cantaloupe.
Rita says
Agree! But to each her own. Every once in a while a gardener around here will set out bags of divisions for FREE. They are gone quickly!
Gigi says
I was thinking of how much work/time it takes to cut the flowers off each day lily plant. Doesn’t seem worth the effort IMO when you could just take a shovel with a few deep cuts, put it in a bag and sell them at the farm stand.
Julia Tracey says
Echoing what the others have said about the daylilies — bees and other pollinators are so important, and I’ll bet you could sell or even give these away at the dump/recycle center. I have some gorgeous purple iris that someone left at roadside in a paper bag, and I also have a ton of pink amaryllis that I got in the same way. Let not your loathing be a harm in the world… <3 Orange is my least favorite flower color but boy, do the bees and butterflies really love them.
Rebecca in MD says
Just catching up on some of the blog posts.
Beautiful rug and amazing that you finished it so quickly!
I’ve seen posts on Freecycle offering plants where the recipient is invited to dig the plants – – – perhaps an idea for your daylillies?
This week I harvested 40 bulbs of garlic and 34 pounds of cabbage. I am putting up 8 quarts of sauerkraut to enjoy and using some for fried cabbage for dinner this week and a pot of homemade crab soup.
Mavis Butterfield says
Homemade sauerkraut is the best!
Torry says
I’ve been putting in some serious time on my goals this past week.
1. Sew: I’ve made bibs, 30 bibs so far, small bibs, big bibs. I also gave away 6 bibs.
2. I’m using up my stash on the bibs.
3. Find and finish projects. Yes, bibs!
4. I have been walking whenever my knee will allow.
5. I made one new recipe this week, cookies and not those again.
6. I’m still staying ahead on the cleaning.
7. Husband date night or day: yes.
8. I’m still doing a lot of reading. And it doesn’t show one single bit! Yet. I’ll keep working on it.
9. Retire? Yes. Sent in my paperwork and am dropping this from my goals.
Sdsb says
I keep trying to let the daylily thing slide – to each his own but I spent the weekend in the PNW and I see the pics of your current place and made me think that so much grows and flourishes where you have lived. If you lived out here in the drought ridden Texas panhandle you might not be so picky. I’m so thrilled when I can keep anything alive and If it thrives and spreads all the better. Perspective I suppose