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

Not so much this week.

Goal #3 – Shop Small

For date day this past week the HH and I toured an old country estate AND stopped for lunch {and pie} at a small country store along the way. If there is one thing that I’ll pull over for these days…. It’s the small country stores that seem to dot the landscape around here. I just love them and I bet they’re even more magical in the wintertime.

Goal # 4 – Have a Designated Meal Prep Day It’s Not For Us

I threw in the towel early on this one. Meal prep, and cooking in mass quantities is just not for my family at this stage in our lives. Although with the addition of a new freezer, I may have to whip up some new freezer meals. We’ll see.

Goal #5 – Install a Vegetable Garden

The garden is coming along nicely and although sometimes I get discouraged that we aren’t more on top of things around here, I need to remind myself that gardening is a process. I’d love to have all the projects done and the garden looking perfect, but we’ve only been here 3 1/2 months and I know we will have a better handle on things next year. I mean, the HH JUST figured out the sprinkler system yesterday for Pete’s sake! 😉

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

A big THANK YOU to everyone who left a comment on the chicken coop post last week.  Although having the chickens in the potting shed seemed like the easier route, the HH decided {and I let him decide because he’s the one that has to do it} we are going to build the ladies a free standing chicken coop.

The HH decided he wanted the wood shed…. for a wood shed. And the potting shed…. to store tools. And since when the weather turns and he would have to snowplow a racetrack around the yard for Lucy anyway, he will now include Lucy’s racetrack route out and around the chicken coop so she can visit her babies multiple times a day. Plus, I think the HH likes the idea of being able to move the coop around the yard with the pallet forks on the tractor. 😉

First he’ll build the coop. Then the run. Construction starts today…. I’m excited!

Goal #7 – Grow 500 Pounds of Vegetables

I need to put together a proper garden post this week with our current harvest totals! So far this year we have harvested Swiss chard, beets, turnips, lettuce, spinach, chives, shallots, basil, mint, oregano, sugar snap peas and a handful of blueberries.

Tomatoes, beans, cucumbers and blueberries should be ready to harvest in the coming weeks. Everything is just happening so quickly around here, it’s hard to keep up! I have a whole pile of seeds I need to get in to the ground so the harvest can continue well into the fall. Or, at least until the first frost hits. 😉

Goal #8 – Hook 100 Rugs

Only 36 more rugs to go before I can check this goal off my list! My Etsy shop was running a little low on sunflowers so I hooked up a few more bouquets.  This past week I got a surprising amount of hooking time in thanks to a long road trip the HH and I took {he did all the driving of course}.

I am currently working on another Flowers for Lucy rug, the giant chicken rug giant chicken rug {which I should have done by tonight} and then it’s on to a stack of animal themed pieces for my next Etsy shop update on July 28th. I do love summer {and the growing season}, but man oh man, I am super excited for a long winter indoors hooking around the wood stove. 😉

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 Done!

Although I’ve already finished my sampler for this year, I have collected another 3 frames over the past few months and plan to make more samplers this winter.

Goal #11 – Visit 22 Bakeries

I have sooooo many new places I need to tell you about!

Goal #12 – Start a Collection

Wahoooo! I added 2 more pieces to my collection of primitive wooden items. This past week The Girl and I stopped by The Salvation Army where I found an old butter mold for $2.99 and a wooden shaker basket for $1.99. There is a long wooden shelf in one of the bathrooms that I think would be the perfect spot for a shaker basket collection, so now I’ll be on the hunt for more of those.

The HH thinks it might be a fox, but I think the carving could be a bunny. What do you think?

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

Currently waiting for Educated. The last time I checked I was #34 on the list.

Goal #14 – Try 12 New Canning Recipes

This past week we canned pickled beets!

Goal #15 – Secret {for now} Holiday Project

It was a good week in the trial and error phase of my secret holiday project.  And that’s all I’m going to say about that! 😉

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

~Mavis

Read About My 2018 Goals HERE.