2024 Goals Final Update

Wow, look how fast 2024 went! I had a large list of goals and to-do’s that I wanted to accomplish and considering the tough year we had I think I did well in the goal department. Let’s review!

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.

You know the above goal of new countertops, exhaust hood and ripping out the old over-the-counter microwave?? Well we did it! We got all of that accomplished AND got a new kitchen sink too! Now we have to repaint everything but having clean new counter tops and an exhaust that is fixed and works feels amazing! The only thing we didn’t accomplish on this goal was to cut down all of the sumac.

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.

We didn’t accomplish much on this goal this year, sadly. The mantle was hung, I layed the new brick patio (still have to finish the edges) and I did get some of the trim painted in the hallway but that’s about it.

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 very happy with what I accomplished this year on my stitching. Just finishing Joyce’s Rose felt amazing. Sadly we lost my Mother-in-Law, Joyce in January before I finished the project, but she did get to see my progress on it as I went along. I also finished the chair cover for my desk chair, and Summer House. I also stitched 3 ornaments that I wanted to attach to the tree skirt I bought, but after the cat’s decided to almost throw up on it one day I thought better of investing my time stitching something fancy only to have the cat’s ruin it.

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

Unfortunately, I will come up just one short of my 30 books goal this year. That’s ok though, I actually read more pages this year than last year. Below is my full list of books read in 2024.

Books read 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.

22. “The Recovery Agent”, by Janet Evanovich.

23. “A Forgotten Kill”, by Isabella Maldonado.

24. “Graveyard Girl: Part 3 of 6“, by Stephanie Bond.

25. “Graveyard Girl: Part 4 of 6“, by Stephanie Bond.

26. “May Day” by Jess Lourey.

27. “Graveyard Girl: Part 5 of 6“, by Stephanie Bond.

28. “Fatal Intrusion“, by Jeffery Deaver and Isabella Maldonado

29. “Graveyard Girl: Part 6 of 6″, by Stephanie Bond.

That’s 29 books read!

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

Well I am going to say I accomplished this goal because we took two vacations in one this year.

One night we stayed in the most amazing suite in a real B&B in Gettysburg and had a blast. Yes it was just one night but it felt like we were in a completely different world and both my husband and I needed that. Now that we have been to Gettysburg we want to go back and have a vacation just there for a few days. It’s only 5 hrs away from us!

We then traveled down to NC to stay with our daughter for a couple of days and had an even better time with her and her boyfriend. One day we toured the Biltmore Estate which has always been on my bucket list. If you have never been, you need to go some day! Let’s just say the Vanderbilt’s knew how to live. Picture Downton Abbey in the US.

The next day, we went to the Panthers/Chiefs game, and what a beautiful day it was. Sunny and 60 degrees. Can’t get much better in November! And the Chiefs won, so my hubby was very happy.

I say it was two vacations in one because in the end I was off for 10 days and that has honestly NEVER happened in my adult life. I got a lot accomplished at home after we got home from vacation.

One more thing on this goal…I finally got to meet my granddog and saw Emili and her new home and we got to know her new boyfriend more. All priceless things to us.

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.

In the end I raised over 300 lbs of produce this year and got a ton put away in the freezer and canned and dried. I was a great growing season! I will work on the fruit garden this next year. Need to save my pennies for that and the compost is still out of control but hopefully that will be on my list again next year. The new kitchen garden was the star of my gardening year. It was so much fun I hope to expand it this year!

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

I finished this goal strong, but I can already feel myself sliding back into not exercising enough now that it’s winter. I need to do better on this goal in 2025.

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 slowed way down listing anything after summer, so I did not accomplish this goal 😐

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

I never finished this goal.

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

I do plan on continuing to work on this goal into next year.

GOAL #11 Sell 300 listings on Etsy this year.

I sold 244 listings this year! I am very happy with that!

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.

I did it. I finished the year with 6 thrift sales for the church, and we made over $3000. I learned a lot doing all 6, but in 2025, I won’t be doing that many sales, lol. Honestly, the February sale was our best because there were no other sales going on, and people loved it!

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

In the end, I did not finish paying off any one credit card, but we did pay off over $7,000 in credit card debt, which is a huge accomplishment.

Thank you for following along with my goals this year!

Stay tuned for my 2025 goals, which I’ll post about tomorrow 😉

How was 2024 for you? Do you have goals for 2025?- MM