1. Get Organized.
Cupboards to put things in. How nice. 🙂
2. Run, walk or crawl a Marathon, half marathon, 10k, and 5k race this year.
I’ve stopped worrying about signing up for races. What with the remodel, the fence and new garden boxes we will be installing here in a few weeks, my budget for extras this year is running pretty thin. But, that isn’t stopping Lucy the Puggle Princess and I from getting about 1 – 2 hours of walking time in each day.
In fact, I think I’m wearing her out a little. 😉 When we go on our daily “long” walk {it’s about an hour} she has begun to dawdle a bit. She’ll roll in the middle of the street to scratch her back, she’ll plop down on people’s lawns and roll around like a weirdo. And she’ll try and get a pat on the head from practically everyone that walks by. This dog needs exercise as much as I do. But I think we will both do much better once we can do it in the privacy of our own fenced backyard.
3. Remodel our Master Bathroom, Master Closet and Monkey Boy’s Bathroom.
We are officially finished with this years remodel. Next spring we’ll get new carpet but other than that, we’re done. Yay! I tried to get a good picture of the bathroom but the color is a bit off. I’ll do a proper before and after picture post soon.
4. Finish Every Room in Our House.
So far the following rooms are totally finished:
Kitchen
Powder Room
The Girl’s Room
Monkey Boy’s Room
The Girl’s Bathroom
5. Turn Spare Bedroom into a Cozy Home Office Space for myself.
I’ll do it this summer.
6. Create a Vegetable Garden.
Mid May is going to be nuts around here. You can bet your cupcakes that as soon as the fence goes up, I’ll be outside everyday, rain or shine working in my vegetable garden. Where there’s a will, there’s a way! 🙂 🙂 🙂
7. Build a Path into the Hillside for Easy Access to the Upper Garden. Build a fence.
We are hoping to have it installed mid to late May. 🙂
8. Limit my personal spending to $100 a month.
Candy. It’s my one weakness. I was craving those magically delicious Russell Stover Pectin Jelly Beans so badly on Monday I could TASTE them. But I knew good ol’ Amazon would come to my rescue. 😉 $15.96
Total spent in April so far: $18.46.
- In March I spent $42.44.
- In February I Spent $32.52
- In January I Spent $84.33
9. Purge… Weekly. Find 10 things each week to donate to the thrift store.
For some strange reason I collected all the bead ties from my mother’s Christmas crackers. I have no idea what I was going to do with them, but it’s time to get rid of them. All 20 of them.
10. Read 1 book a week. – My goal is to read 52 books this year {1 book a week}.
Empty Mansions, Almost Amish and The Power of One are on my reading list for the next few weeks. Have you read any of these? Did you like them?
11. Slow Down.
I didn’t get any work done on the primitive flower rug I’ve been working on these past few months, but I’ve been having a blast puttering around the yard. 🙂 It feels GOOD.
12. Canning
My jars are cleaned and ready to go. Now I just need some produce. 😉 We do still have a boatload of blueberries from last summer sitting in the freezer that I need to do something with besides making pie and smoothies. So if you have a good blueberry recipe, send it over. I’d love to try it out.
Did you set any goals for this year? If so, how are they coming along?
~Mavis
Margaret Bushee says
I recognized those bead ties from the Christmas crackers immediately! I just tossed mine too. And I also don’t know why on earth I kept them except that they were kind of pretty. 🙂
Mavis says
They were pretty! Hard to toss them right away.
Jessica S says
I found this pound cake recipe one day and it had good reviews.. so I decided to try it.. OH MY GOODNESS.. it is YUM! I followed the directions as is for the initial run, except I always add zome lemon- zest or juice…Either way it is so good!
I also like to do poundcakes because I slice them down and wrap slices to take out later on.. and not eat it all in one weekend sitting!
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/blueberry-pound-cake/detail.aspx
Mavis says
I might have to give the “slice and save” method a try. Cause I can do some damage to a pound cake. Ha!
Cecily says
This is my favorite blueberry recipe. It says to use fresh blueberries but I make it with frozen ones all the time and it turns out great. http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/open-faced-fresh-blueberry-pie-101866
Mavis says
This sounds great for when I have a freezer full of frozen blueberries in the winter.
Susan says
If you have rhubarb in your freezer too, add it to the blueberries and make this blueberry-rhubarb jam.
http://www.rhubarb-central.com/blueberry-rhubarb-jam.html
It has become my daughter’s favorite. She hides the jam jars in the back of the pantry hoping to deter the rest of the family 🙂
Mavis says
Sounds amazing! I’ll give it a try.
charwelsh says
I’ve read Empty Mansions and its a great book. Hard to believe this family existed and I never heard of them! It’s also hard to believe the excesses of that era.
Linda says
The Power of One is one of my favorite movies but I still haven’t read the book. Someday!
Candy C says
I read Almost Amish and enjoyed it so much I reread it as soon as I was finished. It was a long cold and did I say long winter. I have always told my children that
I read Almost Amish and enjoyed it so much I reread it again as soon as I was finished.
Kayla says
Why don’t you make a batch of Blueberry jam? You could make the cooked or freezer version. I have tried both and they are delicious! Maybe make a batch of rolls or scones to go with it… I need to make that for breakfast tomorrow.
Julie says
A few years ago, I took the recipe for Carmelita’s crust ( http://www.food.com/recipe/oatmeal-carmelitas-46003 ) and substituted lemon curd and a couple cups of blueberries for the chocolate chips and caramel- just layer them and bake as per the recipe. It is so delicious and one of my favorite blueberry desserts.
Becky says
Our favorite way to eat frozen blueberries. Put them in a bowl, add some milk or 1/2 & 1/2. Let it freeze onto the berries. Enjoy. Simple yet delicious.
tracy says
I’m not good with links but the full recipe is at Fine Cooking….Blueberry Streusel Bars with Lemon Cream Filling.
It uses the same streusel for bottom and top crust. You Mix lemon juice and zest with sweetened condensed milk pour over berries in the middle. Love These!!!! Works with raspberries, blackberries, rhubarb with a little extra prep. I go crazy and add more fruit than it calls for. Sometimes I put raspberries on one side and blue on the other in same pan.
The recipe looks long but its really super easy, I found it in a summer grilling magazine a few years back. They are good warm or cold.
Erica says
I made this Blueberry Jam last year. It tastes like pie. And super delicious on vanilla ice cream. http://userealbutter.com/2013/06/05/blueberry-jam-recipe/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+userealbutter+(use+real+butter)&utm_content=Yahoo!+Mail
Kathy says
Do you have a link to the books you have read? There was a book about a boy who went into the wilderness but I can’t remember the name.