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12 Goals for the New Year

My Big List of Things I’m Going to Do in 2021 – Week 13 of 52

By Mavis Butterfield on - 28 Comments

 

Stay Healthy! 

T’was a good week for staying out of trouble. I walked Lucy, played in the yard and ate pretty well. The endocrinologist upped my levothyroxine dose from 100 mcg to 125 mcg because of my bloodwork and so far {I started taking the higher dose on Wednesday} I don’t feel any different. Fingers crossed I continue to feel great.  

Weigh What I Weighed When We Got Married  {128 pounds}

Weigh-ins are the first Sunday of each month.

  • My March 7th weigh in was 135.6
  • My February 7th weigh in was 137.3
  • My January 3rd weigh in was 140.7

Keep My Husband Busy 

It was another incredibly productive week for the HH. He pruned trees, ordered new tires for the car, ran errands and fertilized the entire property with one of those push spreaders {not exactly a quick task!}.

Today I’ll have him remove the blinds in the dining room and the door hardware in the hallway {so I can paint}. 

LUCKY ME!

The HH’s Honey Do List {so far} for 2021  🙂

  • Build a new set of stairs down to the water. The old set… it’s not exactly useable.
  • Build a firepit near the edge of the property. {He’s handy, he’ll figure it out}
  • Build a picnic table near the birch trees for summer lunches {NEXT on the list!}
  • Build 4 or 6 garden boxes for his little lady
  • Build a boatload of birdhouses for the {soon to be} bird sanctuary 
  • Remodel the bathroom in the hallway {DONE!}
  • Install some sort of driveway border
  • Install a workspace for me in the basement for dying wool. 
  • Install a fence in the front for Lucy {Next on the list!}

Things We’d Like to Buy

  • A dinghy {ordered}
  • Archery Set {every camp should have archery!} 
  • Kitchen table and chairs 
  • Sideboard 
  • Bench for the entryway 
  • A full size washer and dryer set {the house came with a small stackable w/d set} 
  • Deck chairs and a patio table set {I think we might go the picnic table route instead}
  • A set of 4 Adirondack chairs for the fire pit area 
  • BBQ {Sayonara smoker?}

Unplug As Much As Possible {but still keep the blog, FB and Instagram}

My phone is still on silent mode. 🙂 Not having to be interrupted by the noise of a ringing phone or text messages is really pretty awesome. 

Has anyone seen the entire Vera series? Well lucky you! The HH picked it up from the library for me but unfortunately it was the European version and it wouldn’t play on our dvd player. 🙁

  • Goodbye Amazon Prime {Done!} $119 a year
  • Goodbye Hulu {Done!} $54.99 a month *
  • Goodbye Netflix {Done!} $7.99 a month
  • Goodbye PicMonkey {Done!} $50 a year
  • Goodbye keeping my cell phone in my back pocket and checking it constantly {so far so good}
  • Limit time online to 3 hours a day {for writing, working, and Etsy} {so far so good}

* Hulu is actually now $64.99 a month for the live tv version {live sports, live news}. You can get it for $5.99 a month but all that does is play tv shows and old movies {with ads}.

Try 24 New Recipes {and remember to link them here} {10 down, 14 to go!}

This past week I shared a recipe for lemon meringue pie. 

New recipes I’ve made this year:

Read {or Listen to} 12 New Books about Maine {or written by Maine Authors}

I didn’t get any reading time in this week and so I’m still about 80% through the The 3,000 Mile Garden and next up is A Countryman’s Journal: Views of Life and Nature from a Maine Coastal Farm by Roy Barrette. 

I am also still waiting my turn in queue for The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah. 

Books about Maine {or written by Maine authors} I’ve read this year:

  1. Christina Olson Her World Beyond the Canvas. 
  2. At First Light: Two Centuries of Maine Artists, Their Homes and Studios
  3. Bernard Langlais at the Colby College Museum of Art
  4. The 3,000 Mile Garden

Audiobooks I’ve listened to {or attempted to listen to} this year: 

Get 24 Stories Off My Phone and onto the Blog

Stories I’ve Taken Off My Phone and onto The Blog:

Get the Photos on My Phone Down to Less Than 1,000 {started the year with 2863 photos}

Currently at 2042! Our fencing arrived for the garden this week and the picket gate is so sweet and small I just had to take a picture. We went with a 3 foot high fence this time around and it’s going to be so stinkin’ cute when it’s all installed and painted I can hardly stand it!

Clean Out My Closet

I turned all the hangers around in my closet on January 1st and so far 70% of them are still backwards. 

My House Projects For This Year

Yesterday I finished painting all window the trim in the family room and today I’ll finish up in the dining room. I’m also planning on painting the doors in the entryway hallway today too. White walls, they’re my favorite! 

  • Figure out new window treatments for the back of the house
  • Come up with a game plan for the kitchen remodel {for 2022} 
  • Paint the family room walls and trim
  • Paint the entryway trim and doors {halfway there}
  • Paint the dining room walls and trim
  • Paint the master bedroom walls and trim
  • Paint the barn and add a new fixture {okay, so the HH will be adding the fixture}
  • Paint the hallway bathroom {Done!}

My List of Garden Projects For This Year I want to Accomplish :

This past week we removed all the bricks, large stones and pieces of slate that were in the garden area {and there was a lot!}. The next thing we’ll do is remove the pea gravel path and then pull out all the existing plants so we can level out the area. 

My goal is to have the area level, and a fence installed my mid April. We can’t really plant anything outside until May, so I figure working in the garden area, installing new garden beds and finishing the pruning around the property will keep us busy until it’s time to plant.  

Still left on the list:

  • Install a simple flower bed border in front of the house 
  • Install a boatload of birdhouses/feeders in the side yard
  • Transplant evergreen saplings to the side of property for a privacy border
  • Clean up and prune the area that faces the road
  • Install a vegetable garden
  • Install a sunflower patch
  • Plant 2,500 flower bulbs {Why 2,500? It seemed like a good number to start with}

Reach 10,000 Sales on Etsy {as of this morning I’ve made 6669 sales on Etsy}.

Only 3,331 to go! 

This past week I added a bunch of new bundles of wool  to my Etsy shop. 

Create 12 New Rug Hooking Patterns or Kits

Here is a picture of the back of my 4th pattern/kit of the year. It’s a large rug {30″ x 40″} so it’s taking me a little longer than usual to get it hooked. That, and the fact that I am only able to work on it for about 2 hours each night because I’m so busy doing other stuff during the day. 

New Rug Hooking Kits I’ve Created This Year:

Create 12 New Ornaments for 2021

I started working on a sweet little ornament this past week and with a little luck, I’ll have a finished one to show you next weekend. 😉

2021 Ornaments I’ve Made So Far

2021 Garlands I’ve Made So Far

Discover 12 Made in Maine Products and Share Them on the Blog

Made in Maine Products I’ve Discovered in 2021:

Visit 6 Lighthouses in Maine

2 down, 4 to go!

Lighthouses We’ve Visited So Far This Year:

Lighthouses I’ve Been to in Maine Before 2021:

Other places in Maine We’ve Been to This Year Are:

So that’s it. That’s my progress report for this past week. How about YOU? Did you make any goals for 2021? Have you checked any of them off your list yet? 

Have a great one, 

~Mavis

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Comments

  1. Cathy says

    We do britbox and acorn if you pay by the year you get 2 free months on each I think one is 4.99 the other is 5.99 and Vera is on Britbox one of my favorites. Tubi is free ,yes there are commercials but free is free and not as many commercials as regular cable . o We use Rouku to stream. I like your boat and whale pattern.

    Reply

    • Karen S Picoult says

      We also have the Roku stick and subscribe to Britbox and Acorn. We learned that to watch all of Vera, which we loved, we had to pick up the middle of the series on Acorn, and then switch back to Britbox. There are so many good choices of television on Britbox and Acorn. Right now we’re enjoying Foyle’s War on Acorn and Dr. Blake’s Mysteries on Britbox. We try to finish our evenings with a comedy before bedtime.

      Reply

  2. Carole says

    I love the Vera series. I only have two more to see and then have to wait for the new one to come out. She is such a character, can get gritty so if you squeamish be warned. I even bought the hat, its great for being outside

    Reply

  3. Nancy says

    Hi Mavis,
    I saw on your list that you plan to buy a new washer and dryer. I need to do that ASAP and was wondering if you had picked anything out or done any research. Trying to decide on a good brand that will last.
    Thank you!
    Nancy

    Reply

      • Sandy says

        Unsolicited advice: My experience with the front loader Speed Queen washer has been horrible. I’m not sure they even make them any more. My friends that have the top loaders absolutely love them and I wish I’d went with one of those. It appears to be the front loaders that have all the problems and Speed Queen is of no assistance whatsoever with their product. Truly unfortunate because I had such high hopes for them.

        Reply

  5. Jeanine says

    Hi Mavis,
    Your view from the deck shows low tide. How high does the water come up and go down? And how fast does it change?
    Some years ago when we went to Maine and up to St Andrews, New Brunswick, we enjoyed watching the tide come up and go back. Bay of Fundy.
    We took the ferry from St John to Nova Scotia and almost missed the ferry. We forgot about the time being 1 hour earlier and we were the last ones on the ferry. The man that let us on, told us we were lucky…made it just before they pulled off!

    Reply

  6. Debi says

    Due to having a heart attack in Oct 2020 – 88 year old mother has dementia and has lived with me 6 years – I was not giving myself any “me” time. Cardiologist, primary care Dr and nurses all told me that 69% of parental caregivers end up with health issues.

    1) Take time to read 18 books this year. So far I am on target. I like thrillers and have been reading David Baldacci and John Patterson series.

    2) Cook and bake as much from scratch – on target.

    3) Expand garden beds. Can’t do anything here until after Memorial Day. In fact, just had 3″ snow overnight.

    4) Work on house projects slowly. Hired a friend to do bathroom remodel – he’s almost done. Coming back to sand for me and put up chair railing. Once that is done, I will do the painting.

    5) Sell more items on eBay or local FB sites. The monies will be used to purchase a new recliner.

    6) Take care of my health. I have with “me” time, be less stressed over my mother. I have gotten both covid vaccines as I am asthmatic and the cardiac issues.

    Reply

  7. Annette says

    Anxious to hear your opinion of The Four Winds. Others have said it was depressing. I enjoyed her other book The Nightingale.

    Reply

    • Donna says

      I loved Four Winds, but then I love most anything by K. Hannah (Nightingale is one of my favorite books ever). I suppose in some ways it could be considered depressing but I think it gave a real life look at what happened here in the United States. Of course, I’d heard about the Dust Bowl, but don’t think I really appreciated how horrific it was until I read her account.

      Reply

  8. Amber says

    Can you link me to your post on your Adirondack chair purchase please? Do you think they would work well back here in the PNW?

    Reply

  9. Tanya J. says

    I am currently making my way through the Vera series, it comes on PBS Thursday nights! Love it! Lewis is another series that I watched on PBS and highly recommend!

    Reply

    • Allison says

      A $60 contribution to PBS earns you “Passport” status, which means you can access anything that has already been shown at any time. I can’t always watch things when they are offered, so its been well worth it!!!!

      Reply

  10. Johanne says

    I know this is off topic, but will you remind me where you got your rug that’s pictured with Lucy? Thanks, maybe. 😉

    Reply

  11. Amy says

    Hey Mavis! Every time I see that you’re going to hang a ton of bird feeders I get the the feeling that it will be bears, in addition to birds, that will visit. I’m a CT native and now live in the mountains of western NC. I’d love to hang a feeder, but know it attracts bears who love to grab what’s under even a feeder placed out of reach. My mom in CT has often come in from gardening to only minutes later find a bear where she’d been gardening. It’d been watching her!! Is your part of Maine as rife with bears at CT and western NC?

    Reply

  12. Jess says

    Watched Maudie last evening with friends and really enjoyed it. Then we watched Fundamentals of Caring which is on Netflix and it was really good also. So…we had a very fun Saturday night at the movies.

    Reply

  13. Sue says

    I have a Maine book story to tell.

    Remember last year when you would report in on what interesting things you found left behind on your beach walks? One day you showed a book called “The Other Mrs.”

    I don’t think you mentioned whether you left the book on the beach or not, or whether you read it. It looked interesting to me so I did a search for the author and found that she writes what I call “psychological thrillers.” Which I happen to really enjoy.

    So I started with the first book that the author (Mary Kubica) had published. Her books aren’t a series but I like to read them in order of publication anyway. I’m just funny that way.

    I liked these books. They are mostly set in Chicago. I read my way through her books over the past year until last week I was finally reading (listening to) “The Other Mrs.” — and found that THIS one is set in Maine!

    If you like the psychological thriller style of book then I heartily recommend it (as well as all her other books).

    Reply

    • Dana Robinson says

      they have some good free books on audio on youtube. karin slaughter has a good cast of characters. all you have to do is type in free audio book in the search bar

      Reply

  14. Rhonda says

    The jute rug is it rough on back I need a new dinning area rug love this one but have wood floors don’t want it scratching it……thank you

    Reply

  15. Dana Robinson says

    hi how are you ? i as wonder if you could do like a nautical theme garland. like a light house, an anchor, and a pilots wheel? i would love to buy one or two. Just an idea thank you Dana

    Reply

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