One Hundred Dollars a Month

My 22 Goals for 2019

Goal #1 — Spend More Time Doing What I Love – Blogging

So. I don’t think I’ll be leaving the house on Thursday. 😉 We had the oil tank filled last week at the bill was $461 {I don’t know what the size of the tank is, but the tank was probably somewhere in the 85% empty range.

The HH and I both think the fuel will last 6 weeks. We’ll see. We both LOVE the radiator heat and think {oddly enough} that this house is the warmest house we’ve ever lived in. Who knew an old house could be so warm?

Goal #2 — Garden, Garden, Garden Done for the year!

Garden chores are done for the year and I’m pretty excited about that.

Goal #3 — Plant an Orchard {Calling it Quits on this one.}

Can someone please tell me why the floor is sticky under my lemon tree? I don’t get it.

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.

It was totally my intention to grow a ton of fruits and vegetables to sell at the farm-stand when I made my list of goals for 2019 last winter, but then we moved. So, that whole goal was sort of a bust. I do miss the vegetable stand.

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. 

While I didn’t add any new finished hooked rug pieces in my Etsy shop this past week, I did make good progress on my big twin kitties rug. Now all that’s left is to finish filling in the cats and add it to my stash of rugs for my next big Etsy listing on January 3rd.

I’m not exactly sure how I’m going to finish the rest of my hooking projects by the end of the year {especially with all the napping I’ve been doing lately} but who knows, miracles happen. Even for hookers.

• 73 rugs in my pattern bin {now down to 16} <– SO CLOSE!
• 183 hooked flowers {finished 150, now down to 33}
• 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 14 beginner rug hooking kits to my Etsy shop.

New rug hooking patterns I’ve created and added to My Etsy Shop this year:

• Santa and Rudy 1892
• 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 

All that firewood! We sold it. 😉

Goal #9 — Do Something with the 5,002 Photos on My Phone

Down to 2174 pictures. Cloud. I don’t need no stinking cloud.

Goal #10 –-Lose the Muffin Top Done!

Sweet digity! And I did it while eating pastries too!

Goal #11 — Run, Walk or Crawl a 5k, 10k, Half Marathon and Marathon DONE!

Glad to have finished the half marathon and to have the goal checked off my list. Mark my words… I am done with half and full marathons. I would rather eat cake and take Lucy on long walks.

Goal #12 — Read or Listen to 26 New Books {21 down, 5 to go}

No new books this week but I’m still on the waiting list for a few.

Books I’ve Read or Listened to So Far This Year:

• Marilla of Green Gables #1 Still my 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 Gown #8
• Unbroken #9
• Drama#10
• The Alice Network #11
• The Shape of Mercy #12
• Will’s Red Coat #13
• Big Little Lies #14
• Mr. Churchill’s Secretary
• Born to Run
• I Feel Bad About My Neck
• Bunny Mellon  {Doesn’t count because it was my second time}
• On Writing {Doesn’t count because it was my third time}
• Walden
• Finder’s Keepers
• Delicious!
• 50 Things to Do in Maine Before You Die
• Following Atticus

Goal #13 — Try 52 New Recipes.

40 down, 12 recipes to go. This past week I shared a recipe for pineapple Habanero Pepper Jelly

Goal #14 — Clean Up 52 Old Recipes on the Blog

9 down, 44 to go. Why did I make this goal? Note to self: Make fewer goals for next year.

Goal #15 — Fill 100 Canning Jars 81 down, 19 to go.

We made some more jelly this week to give as gifts.

So far this year I’ve I canned:

• 18 Jars of Pineapple Habanero Pepper Jelly
• 6 jars Christmas Jam
• 7 jars Spiced Pomegranate Jelly
• 7 jars Peach Jam
• 7 jars of Strawberry Jam
• 15 jars of Carrot Cake Jam
• 15 jars of Spiced Pear Jam 
• 4 jars of Almond Pears.

Goal #16 — Finish Furnishing Our House

We picked up a dresser on Craigslist. 🙂 But nobody wants to see that so here’s a picture of Lucy.

Goal #17 – 52 Dates with the HH {46 down, 6 to go}

The HH and I went on 2 date days this past week and one of them was to the tile store.

I had the HH remove one of the ends of a kitchen drawer so we could take it with us because our kitchen cabinets are a cream color and I wasn’t sure what would go with them.

And you know how it goes, you get in there and at first you’re only looking at tile for the back splash and then you start talking about replacing the kitchen counters {him, not me} and then I counter back with well if we are going to replace the counters, I would rather just replace all the cabinets because if we moved the stove over to where the microwave, is the layout would be better and wouldn’t it be nice to have a long span of uninterrupted counter space oh and while we’re at it let’s put in a farmhouse sink too. That would look really dreamy, don’t you think? 

And then he’s like, no no no, we {who is this WE person?} could just change out all the hardware and paint the cabinets out white, get a new counter top and back splash, a new sink and update the kitchen appliances. 

And then I roll my eyes and we go look at counter tops. He liked the white quartz, and I liked the black. Neither of them go with the only back splash we can agree on {chunky white subway tile} and the cabinet color we currently have though.

And then I’m like… you know what I think we should do? We should just replace the back splash and that’s it! That would be the sensible thing to do. We aren’t going to live here forever you know, and I think we can update the kitchen with just paint and a simple back splash.

BUT WHAT DO I KNOW? I’m just the little woman, and you’re the guy who in all of 25 years of marriage has only picked out 3 things for our homes {a set of ugly candle holders, a beaded tree and a leg lamp}. But again, WHAT DO I KNOW!? 

And so we left.

So tell me my dear friend across the computer screen, are you on Team HH {let’s do it all} or Team Mavis {we can get it done with back splash and paint on the walls}. Curious minds want to know.

Goal #18 — Take One Adult Education Class Done {I’ve taken 3!}

Next year I think I might want to take a painting class. Or maybe even ukulele lessons.

1. Block Printing Class with my neighbor.
2. Spoon Carving Class with Heather.
3. Mini pottery lesson {I loved it! and now I want to sign up for a full class}

Goal #19 — Secret Holiday Project{s}

• Block print towels 
• Seed packet wreaths
• Tea Bag Trees My favorite! ♥

Goal #20 — Create 12 Wowie Zowie Party Platters

8 down, 4 to go.

This goal is not going as planned and I have no idea why. Side note: Did you know you can order a Cheese Lover Artisan Wedding Cake from Costco? Yes, yes you can! How cool is that?

Goal #21 — Visit 12 General Stores 

10 down 2 to go. I totally forgot to tell you about the general store we went to last week. Oops.

• H.B. Provisions in Kennebunk, Maine
• Chase’s Daily {I think it should count}
• Squam Lake Marketplace
• 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 can pack this up on December 26th, right?

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/July: Tin Star and Flag Bunting
• August : Sunflower
• September: Indian corn and pumpkins
• October: Pumpkins and spinner do hickeys
• November: Indian corn and big pumpkins
• December: Leg lamp and nutcrackers in the window and giant Christmas balls on the porch

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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! 🙂

Have a great day everyone,

♥ Mavis

You can read more about my 22 goals for 2019 HERE.

Have a Great Day!