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12 Goals for the New Year

My Big List of Things I’m Going to Do in 2021 – Week 18 of 52

By Mavis Butterfield on - 27 Comments

Stay Healthy! 

This morning I weighed in at 131 pounds. I started the year at 140.7 and have been averaging a lose of 2 pounds a month so I’d say I’m doing pretty good with this goal. Only 3 more to go, and just in time for summer. Yee-Haw!

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

Weigh-ins are the first Sunday of each month.

  • My May 2nd weigh in was 131.0
  • My April 18th weigh in was 129.9 {after 18 days of being on the low iodine diet}
  • My April 4th weigh in was 133.4 {a few days into the low iodine diet}
  • 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 

This past week the HH build a fire pit, picked out 2 more kayaks for Camp Butterfield and is currently working on digging out the back {soon to be} flower border for me. Digging up sod is a TOTAL pain, so I’m thankful he’s doing it for 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. {DONE!}
  • 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 {DONE!}
  • Build a set of 3 bookshelves in the dining room for me {DONE!}
  • Install a trailer hitch on the car {DONE!}

The Girl and I tested out the new kayaks and they’re great. I was initially worried about feeling trapped because the new kayaks have sides {our other ones are sit on top kayaks} but they work great and are actually a lot more comfortable than our other ones. And now, as an added bonus, when we have peeps over 4 of us can go out on the water at a time, which will be nice. 

Next year we’ll get a canoe, and then we’ll be all set. 

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  {I LOVE these chairs!}
  • BBQ {Sayonara smoker?}
  • 2 More Kayaks

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. 

It was a great week for unplugging. Lot’s of outside projects, gardening and a few walks with Lucy. 

  • 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} 

* 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} {12 down, 12 to go!}

New recipes I’ve made this year:

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

My little Maine shelf is filling up! 

This past week I listed to The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah and it was excellent! The audio version was 15 hours and I was pretty much on the edge of my seat the whole time. Having watched Ken Burns documentary on the Dust Bowl, I was pretty familiar with the subject matter. So while the book was a little on the depressing side, it was very well done in my opinion. 

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
  5. Becoming Teddy Roosevelt 

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}

Did you see the super pink moon last week? What a beauty!

Currently at 1998 photos on my phone. 

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. C’mon summer!

My House Projects For This Year

All my current house projects seem to revolve around painting and gardening. Yesterday Manny and I tilled up the entire garden and smoothed everything out. Next up is a trip to the home improvement store to pick up the materials for garden boxes. {I still don’t know what I’m going to use!}.

First things first though… today I plan to get the rest of the pickets painted white!

  • 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 {DONE!}
  • Paint the entryway trim and doors {DONE!}
  • Paint the dining room walls and trim {DONE!}
  • 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 :

The garden seedlings are coming along and I should be able to set out my tomato and pepper plants here in about another 2 weeks. The flats of chives and coneflowers have been hanging out on the deck now for about a week, and I think I’ll start hardening off the Shasta daisy seedlings this week. 

Still left on the list:

  • Install a simple flower bed border in front of the house {Done}
  • Install a boatload of birdhouses/feeders in the side yard {re-thinking this one}
  • 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 {Working on it!}
  • Install a sunflower patch
  • Plant 2,500 flower bulbs in the fall {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 7225 sales on Etsy}. It was another BUSY WEEK! Only 2,775 to go! 

I dyed a bunch of wool, but still need to get it all trimmed and wrapped up into bundles before I can list it. Hopefully I’ll get the fence painted early enough to day so I can get it listed on Etsy tonight. 

Create 12 New Rug Hooking Patterns or Kits

Only one more corner to go and this rug will be done! Originally I had “Maine” in the corner of the rug but I think lobsters and Maine are a better combination than whales so I swapped out Maine for Cape Cod instead. 

I haven’t decided if I’m going to do a border yet or not. 

New Rug Hooking Kits I’ve Created This Year:

Create 12 New Ornaments for 2021

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

I found a cool new “Made in Maine” product and I’ll be sharing it on the blog this week. 

Made in Maine Products I’ve Discovered in 2021:

Visit 6 Lighthouses in Maine

2 down, 4 to go! No new lighthouses this past week but The Girl painted me a sweet little water color with one in it. 🙂 

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

  2. Lynda says

    I just read an article in our town newsletter that said to be sure to take down one’s bird feeders as summer feeding spreads disease. The article does encourage winter feeding as times are tough for birdies in the winter. I’m sharing because I didn’t know this. I thought one was supposed to feed them year round.

    Reply

    • Mel says

      I’m not sure if there are particular disease concerns where you live, but it’s generally fine to feed birds in summer. I believe the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s FeederWatch Cam is active year round. Here are some things to keep in mind though:

      -Some foods go bad faster (such as suet), so either skip them or keep them in the shade, only put out small amounts at a time, and put out fresh food frequently. I think Audobon recommends switching to peanut butter mixed with cornmeal in summer.

      -Buy higher quality feeds and store them properly. Only put out small amounts at a time and change it out regularly so that it stays fresh.

      -Clean your feeders and birdbaths often. For hummingbirds, we actually have several feeders so that clean ones can go outside while others are being sanitized.

      All that said, there’s more natural food available in summer, so birds don’t always need feeders, and you could grow summer plants for them instead. The exception there might be hummingbirds since they have such high energy needs to begin with, but they also appreciate plant sources of food.

      Reply

      • Lynda says

        Thanks for the info. I’ll dig a little deeper as I like feeding the birds. I live in Prince Edward Island, Canada so maybe we have some sort of bird disease thing going on.

        Reply

      • Emily says

        I love planting zinnias for the hummingbirds and butterflies in my yard. I’ve even spotted the occasional goldfinch checking them out. For me it’s just so much easier to plant food sources than to remember to fill a feeder but you’re right it’s a great option for those with any concern about disease spread from their feeders too!

        Reply

  3. Mel says

    We’ve had a very rough year so far, and things are not likely to improve, so I’ve mostly set my goals aside since they’re pretty low priorities with everything else going on. I actually am still keeping up with some of them just because that’s how it worked out, but I’m not really tracking it since my attention is needed elsewhere.

    One goal I’m still working on is restoring our herb garden because I’d already ordered enough of the supplies (seedlings, plant markers, pots) and done enough of the work (like starting dozens of basil seedlings under grow lights) that it made more sense to continue. We had to rip out almost everything at the end of last year, so I started with a nearly blank slate and completely redesigned the entire space. I’m still waiting for a couple more seedlings to ship and for a few things I seeded in place to germinate, but it’s now probably 95% done, and I can already tell it’s going to be a huge improvement over the old setup. We can fit so many more types of herbs (nearly 40 instead of about 10), but the arrangement is much more accessible, flexible, and low maintenance. It’s also been a nice distraction from everything else we have going on.

    Reply

  4. J in OH-IO says

    Mel, good to see you post, been missing your comments. Sorry to hear you are going through a rough season. Stay strong and take care!

    Mavis, love your blog, content, and insight on life and your Maine adventures!

    Reply

  5. Lynn from NC Outer Banks says

    Hi Mavis! I’ve found the “sit in” kayaks are easier on the back. That is sweet artwork from your daughter 🙂

    Reply

  7. Rosie says

    Can you share what brand of kayaks those are? They look more roomy than some more enclosed ones we’ve been looking at. Thanks!!

    Reply

  8. Judy says

    The lobster dish towel is so beautiful! I also wanted to tell you how great the picture is of Lucy sitting at the table.

    Reply

  9. Kim says

    That painting from your sweet daughter is lovely!!!!!!!!!!! What a treasure.

    How does HH make such straight lines in removing grass? I love straight lines………….

    Your blog is such fun Mavis! We are planning a September vacation to Maine. Reading your blog is my (joy and my) homework.

    Reply

  11. Sue says

    I love reading the updates in Sunday’s post.
    Good to hear from Mel also, we all seem to have some struggles lately.
    The Girls painting is just perfect for that place on the bookshelf.
    I don’t think I could Garden without checking in with you Mavis,
    Something constantly, whether it’s gardening or cooking.
    Thanks so much for your expertise in researching and writing so we don’t have to. When I say Mavis, my whole family knows who I’m talking about.

    Reply

  12. tia in boise says

    Inspired by your goal a couple years ago, one of mine this year is: run a 5k, a 10k, a half-marathon, and a marathon. I never thought I could even run a 10 k–my toes always topped out at about 5 miles. But one day last fall I was mad or distracted or procrastinating…and I ran 6 miles on accident and realized I could do it. I took care of the 5k on January 5 and the first 10 k in March–then I found a cute shirt/10k so I did another one–but that time was icky, so I challenged myself to another one and shaved 8 minutes off the first time. Today I ran (jogged) a half-marathon. It took me a little over 4 hours, so not an excellent time, but I didn’t stop to walk once. Pretty proud of myself! I’m thinking the marathon will have to wait until fall when temps cool down, and I will probably walk a mile, jog a mile….

    Reply

  14. Lori King says

    I listened to Four Winds and then West with Giraffes- really enjoyed it! Definitely could appreciate and understand it after Four Winds! You might like it!

    Reply

  15. Mel says

    I didn’t want to flood the comments section by replying individually to everyone who mentioned me, but I wanted to say that I appreciate people thinking of me. Thanks for your kind words! They are so thoughtful and help tremendously.

    Reply

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