2024 Goals Weeks 30-33 of 52

Hey there!

Here’s what I have been working on:

GOAL #1 Home repairs professionally done – New kitchen countertops, rip out over-the-oven microwave and replace with new exhaust hood, trim all fruit trees and cut down all sumac in the hedgerow.

I can’t believe how much we got accomplished on this goal. I had even written this goal off because I thought it could’t be done this year.

My honey worked on trimming the overgrown apple trees himself. Look at the before and after:

He took three trailer loads of brush and branches down to the Town’s transfer station. Feels amazing to get that all out of here!

As far as the kitchen counters and range hood goals I am happy to report I paid for the counters and they are now on order. Yay!! We are going with Formica laminate. They have come a long way with what they offer in laminate counter tops. There are some beautiful options! It’s kind of hard to tell from the stock photo below but this is the color we are getting. What do you think?

In addition to the counters, the range hood install is also included in the work to be done. The contractor said 3 to 5 weeks to get the countertops ordered (they will be custom made).

GOAL #2 Home projects done by us – Paint all trim in kitchen, re-paint upper kitchen cabinets, paint ceiling and walls in hallway, finish painting and put up picket pallet fencing, finish painting master bedroom and hang mantle over bed, front porch stained or painted, new brick patio in the backyard.

I haven’t accomplished a thing on the goal.

GOAL #3 Sewing projects – Finish Joyce’s Rose, New curtains for kitchen window, new seat cover for kitchen chair, new curtain over cat’s window seat, Christmas tree skirt, finish winter and summer season x-stitch projects

I am almost finished with my newest project, which I will use for a seat covering for my kitchen desk chair. The original pattern had the square outside border, but I had plenty of room on the seat to add some of the pattern outside of the border. You can see I have started to extend the pattern.

GOAL #4 Read 30 books (It’s my goal every year)

I finished three more books since last update. “Dirty Thirty“, by Janet Evanovich, “The Girl Who Chased the Moon“, by Sarah Addison Allen, and “Graveyard Girl: part 2 of 6“, by Stephanie Bond.

Graveyard Girl is a daily serial book from July 1st to December 31st. I have been reading Stephanie Bond’s serials for about 9 years now. Each year, it’s a different series with different characters, and I look forward to reading it every day for six months.

Books read so far in 2024:

1. “Not Quite Prince Charming”, by Liz Talley

2. “Buttercups in the Basement”, by Jane Harvey

3. “Searching for Sandra”, by Jane Harvey

4. “Christmas at Hummingbird House”, by Jane Harvey

5. “Perfectly Charming”, by Liz Talley

6. “Home for Christmas”, by Lloyd C. Douglas

7. “Witch Is When I Said Goodbye”, by Adele Abbott

8. “The Sun and Her Flowers”, by Rupi Kaur

9. “God Never Blinks“, by Regina Brett

10. “The Mysterious Affair at Styles”, by Agatha Christie

11. “Witch is When Stuff Got Serious”, by Adele Abbott

12. “The Murder on the Links“, by Agatha Christie

13. “Game On: Tempting Twenty-Eight”, by Janet Evanovich

14. “The Echo of Old Books“, by Barbara Davis

15. “Going Rogue“, by Janet Evanovich

16. “The Peach Keeper“, by Sarah Addison Allen

17. “A Girl Called Samson“, by Amy Harmon

18. “Graveyard Girl: part 1 of 6“, by Stephanie Bond

19. “Dirty Thirty“, by Janet Evanovich

20. “The Girl Who Chased the Moon“, by Sarah Addison Allen

21. “Graveyard Girl: part 2 of 6“, by Stephanie Bond.

That’s 21 books read. 9 to go.

GOAL #5 Take at least 2 mini vacations and see my step-daughter’s new house in NC.

We have our tickets bought for the Chiefs/Panthers game in November in NC!

GOAL #6 Garden goals – raise 500 lbs of produce, new kitchen garden in front and new fruit garden in back, compost all dug and reset, raised bed garden re-imagined.

Tons done on this goal!

This update I have weighed 184 lbs of produce. Wowsers! I cant keep up! The gardens have exploded. 223 lbs raised so far! That’s halfway to my goal!

GOAL #7 Exercise somehow every single day concentrating most on core and pelvic floor and mobility.

It may seem small but every day I try to get steps in before I go to work and I am upping it every week. I started out with 1000 steps before work and now this week it is 1200 steps before work. My job is mostly sedentary now, but I get up a lot to help people at the window and the copier is in another room. I was used to being on my feet all day, every day at the store so sitting is not good for me.

GOAL #8 Get all of my Etsy listings listed by March 31st so I can enjoy my garden in the Spring and summer months.

I don’t think I have gotten any more items listed. I need a break from it for a while.

GOAL #9 Explore the Western NY Antique Trail (Yes, there is such a thing).

Nothing more on this one.

GOAL #10 Explore at least 3 local walking/biking trails.

We finally did one yesterday! I was getting worried I would never get to this goal.

We walked part of the Ellicott Trail in Batavia. From Blondie’s ice cream shop to Seven Springs road and back. Only a couple of miles but it was fun!

GOAL #11 Sell 300 listings on Etsy this year.

I sold 41 more listings in the past few weeks. 170 down, 131 to go! More than halfway to my goal 😀

GOAL #12 Church goals – Six thrift sales this year, Work on baptism records and historical info, work on getting our church info out there for weddings, one historical themed event/fundraiser this year.

Next sale is October 5th.

GOAL #13 Pay off one of the two credit cards.

I’ll update this soon.

That’s all I have for now.

What have you all been up to? How did your summer go?- MM

P.s. if you would like to check out my Etsy shop here is the link https://redmillvintageandnew.etsy.com