My Big List of Things I’m Going to Do in 2021 – Week 19 of 52

Stay Healthy! 

Lot’s of outdoor activities and not so healthy food. Next week I suppose I’ll be back to normal meals.

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 

Picnic table #1 is stained and has been placed down by the water! Yee-Haw.  I think we’ve finally decided to build a longer {8′} picnic table for the back deck rather than buy a patio table and chairs so that might be the HH’s next project. 

This place just has a more relaxed feel to it and I think the whole picnic table look will fit in a little better here than a traditional patio set.

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 {Done!}
• Build 4 or 6 garden boxes for his little lady {re-thinking this one}
• 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!}

Things We’d Like to Buy

• A dinghy 
• 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

We’ve been having a blast {especially Lucy} tooling around out on the water with the new dinghy. I can’t wait for Mrs. HB to get here so we can have some adventures. 

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. 

I tried watching Little Miss Sunshine but only lasted about 20 minutes. 

• 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} {13 down, 11 to go!}

New recipes I’ve made this year:

• Creamy Scalloped Potatoes with Ham
• Chicken and Green Bean Casserole 
• Chocolate Chip Sea Salt Cookies
• Lemon Meringue Pie
• Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Apples
• White Beans and Ham
• Colcannon
• Tuna Wiggle 
• Grilled Steak Tips with Garlic Butter
• Seville Orange Marmalade
• Jalapeno Cheddar No Knead Dutch Oven Bread
• Hearty Cheeseburger Soup
• Meatballs and Brown Gravy

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

No new audiobooks or trips to the library for books this week but I did check out The Girl’s new National Audubon Society Birds of North America book and boy is it a beauty! 

The HH and I spotted cool bird with distinct red feet recently when we were out on the water and so it was pretty cool to find the bird in the book. The black guillemot. Have you seen one before? What a beauty! 

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: 

• The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah {I give it a 10/10}
• The Midnight Library by Matt Haig {I’d give it a 7/10}
• Wintering by Katherine May {Hit the return button after 7 minutes}

Get 24 Stories Off My Phone and onto the Blog

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

• Ale House Inn – Portsmouth, New Hampshire
• Chicken Foot in the Pot Pie
• Pineland Farms in New Gloucester, Maine
• Sheepscot General Store and Farm in Whitefield, Maine

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

Remember when you only brought a camera on vacation or to special occasions? Just think, if I didn’t have a phone in my back pocket I wouldn’t have been able to snap this photo to show Mrs. HB the pair of lobster flip flops {dumbest footwear ever!} I found at the marine store. 

Currently at 2105 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

My #1 house project this year has been to keep the HH on track with his house projects. 😉 So far so good. HA HA HA.

• 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 :

Now that things are starting to warm up, and that I’ve decided to just sow my seeds in the ground this year because I can’t decide on what I want as far as garden boxes/borders go… I’ll be working in the garden this week. I won’t be able to get the tomatoes and peppers in the ground for a few more weeks, but at least I can get the other stuff planted. 

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 7295 sales on Etsy}. Only 2,705 to go! 

This past week was a slow one in the wool dyeing department but I did manage to dye a bunch of assorted rainbow bundles for my Etsy shop and get them listed. 

Create 12 New Rug Hooking Patterns or Kits

Hey! I finally finished hooking that big whale rug I was working on {but totally forgot to snap a picture}.

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

New Rug Hooking Kits I’ve Created This Year:

• 1820 Flower Basket
• Bunny Love
• Old Mr. Squirrel

Create 12 New Ornaments for 2021

2021 Ornaments I’ve Made So Far

• #1  Ladybug Heart 
• #2 Strawberry
• #3 Mr. Turkey
• #4 Whale Tails
• #5 Bee Skep

2021 Garlands I’ve Made So Far

• #1 Heart Garlands
• #2 Bunny Garlands
• #3 Strawberry Garlands

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

Made in Maine Products I’ve Discovered in 2021:

• Hearth and Harrow Tea Towels in Rockport, Maine
• Royal Rose Syrups in Newcastle, Maine
• Ash Cove Pottery in Harpswell, Maine
• Uncas Farms Pure Maple Syrup

Visit 6 Lighthouses in Maine

2 down, 4 to go! Mrs HB. and I will have to visit a new one when she’s here. 

Lighthouses We’ve Visited So Far This Year:

• West Quoddy Lighthouse in Lubec, Maine
• Pemaquid Point Lighthouse in Bristol, Maine

Lighthouses I’ve Been to in Maine Before 2021:

• Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse
• Marshall Point Lighthouse
• Portland Head Light

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

• Owls Head General Store
• Longfellow’s Greenhouses and Nursery in Manchester, Maine
• Fresh Off The Farm in Rockport, Maine
• Wasses Hot Dogs in Rockland, Maine
• Langlais Sculpture Preserve – Cushing, Maine

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