One Hundred Dollars a Month

“The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams.” ~ Oprah Winfrey 

My goals for 2018

Goal #1 – Write Like No One is Reading.

“Close the door. Write with no one looking over your shoulder. Don’t try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say. It’s the one and only thing you have to offer.” ~  Barbara Kingsolver

Goal #2 – Slow Down

In the old days, slowing down might have meant lounging around on the couch with a pint of Chunky Monkey and catching up on my favorite shows. But since stepping foot in New England, my idea of slowing down has changed immensely.

Playing in the garden, with the birds chirping, and not other distractions, staying home for 5 days in a row working on tiny projects here and there, hoping online less, organizing rooms and adding another log to the fire…. That’s what slowing down means to me these days. And I am loving it.

Goal #3 – Shop Small

• Local hardware store {It was like being transported back to 1985. I LOVED it.} 🙂
• Bought some local food from someone’s pop up roadside stand at the end of their driveway. Ah-Some.
• Found the local {mom and pop} feed store and bought supplies for Lucy’s chicks.

Goal # 4 – Have a Designated Meal Prep Day

Looking forward to starting next week.

Goal #5 – Install a Vegetable Garden

I was going to rent a giant tiller to turn over the sod, so I called the local hardware store/rental shop and yada yada yada…. They wanted $105 to rent a {much larger} tiller plus delivery {we don’t have a truck yet}. Anywho, after reading the {awesome} reviews online from several sites for the Mantis 4-Cycle Tiller Cultivator I was 100% certain I was going to be buying the Mantis this spring anyway, so I asked the peeps at the hardware store if they thought the Mantis would till up the grass.

After showing them a few pictures of the area I wanted dug up, they said the Mantis would break up the grass…. but it was going to be much MORE work than the larger tiller that I could rent. But then again, if I was willing to do the work to save the $105 rental fee, why not. 

The HH and pretty much everyone on the blog said to RENT the big tiller…. or at least pay someone else to do it. Did I listen? NO. No, I did not. 🙂 🙂 🙂

Because c’mon now…. $105? That’s like the equivalent of 8 big Yankee Candles on sale! Bahahhahaa. Priorities. We’ve all got ’em. The way I see it, even if it takes me a several 20 minute sessions at the patch of grass {and a dent in my ibuprofen stash}, as long as the garden is dug in time to plant… All will be well with the universe. Plus the house will smell nice.

Also, I happily paid $10 more to purchase my Mantis tiller at the local hardware {totally not big box} store instead of ordering it off of Amazon. Don’t get me wrong, I love Amazon, but was Amazon going to assemble the tiller for me? Were they going to take it back to the repair shop, put a little gas and oil in it and give it a whirl to make sure everything was working? Were they going to take it outside and show me how to start ‘er up and answer all of my 22 rapid fire questions and then load it in my car? Uhhh no.

Small town stores. I love them.

Goal #6 – Clear Land for a Chicken Coop and Future Raised Garden Bed Area 

Poor Lucy. Hang in there puggles! Less than 10 days to go until your babies arrive.

Goal #7 – Grow 500 Pounds of Vegetables

So far I have 3 flats of vegetables and 1 flat of flowers planted and under the grow lights. As soon as I finish tilling up the veg patch, and building some teepees, I’ll get the sugar snap peas planted.

Goal #8 – Hook 100 Rugs

38 down, 62 to go. This past week I worked on not only my GIANT double trouble chicken rug, but finishing up the rugs I hooked while we were living in the 600 square foot apartment. Hooking rugs in front of the wood stove? Freakin’ awesome!

Goal #9 – Make a Set of Dolls

I plan to make a set {or two} of primitive dolls later this year after the garden has been put to bed.

Goal #10 – Make a Sampler, Frame it and Hang it on the Wall

1 down, 1 more to go. I’ll probably work on the second one this fall and then get the samplers hung on the wall.

Goal #11 – Visit 22 Bakeries

I plan to share our trip the Bernice’s Bakery on the blog this week.

Goal #12 – Start a Collection

Check out this cool glass frog I found at our local recycling center for free. I used to have a nice collection of these but sold them off a few years ago. I don’t know what it is about old fogs {especially the green ones} but every time I come across one I just have to snatch it up. Who knows, maybe it’s the start of a new collection. 😉

Goal #13 – Read {or listen to} 26 Books

I am in LOVE with the podcast How I Built This. If you are as fascinated as I am about how people started their businesses and how they evolved, you must check it out.

Goal #14 – Try 12 New Canning Recipes

Check out all those old glass top Atlas and Ball jars! This is only about 1/3rd of the stash. The previous owner had a rather large collection and left them for me. How cool is that? I’ve since unpacked all of our canning jars and now have an entire wall in the house dedicated to canning jars. It’s soooo much fun and I am looking forward to canning season.

Goal #15 – Secret {for now} Holiday Project

 

I’ll be placing my order for the biggest component of this project on Monday. I’m excited!!

How about YOU? Did you set any goals for 2018? How are they coming along?

~Mavis

Read About My 2018 Goals HERE.