I sit here at my computer after a very long week and think what was my life like before I had a cell phone with apps on it?
I remember being creative. Almost every night I would keep myself from sleeping because my mind would not stop thinking of beautiful ideas. My own ideas. Not other people’s ideas. I would have to get out of bed and write all of these ideas down in a notebook just to calm my mind for the night.
My house was cleaner. Every week I cleaned my home. I had a schedule I followed. I had cleaning supplies waiting for me. A set time to start and a set time I ended. Then I would reward myself by watching a movie or special TV show.
I read a lot. I journaled a lot. I exercised every day. I loved to sing.
I talked to people on the phone, for hours at a time and I always answered when it rang.
My husband and I would dream and plan and talk for hours about our future.
I would start a painting or DIY project at 9:00 at night and go till after midnight. I did the same thing with canning and preserving. Night was the best time to can.
We went a lot of places. Visited a lot of people. Went to church. And we shopped! At a mall, or from a catalog which we combed through and marked with sticky notes.
I ran 4 hours of errands every single Saturday from 8 am till noon. I actually really miss that.
I gardened, still do, but boy did I obsess over it. Being outside was everything to me.
I cooked every single meal. Eating out was very special and fun.
I washed my dishes every night and got my clothes ready for the next day and packed our lunches.
I walked every night after dinner before and after my son was born.
I always had a project to work on, I always had a game to play at the ready, I always had a goal. I always had an idea.
I will tell you this, every single day now I roll out of bed and the very first thing I do is look at my phone. Not stretch and put my feet on the floor and open the shades to see what the day will bring.
Every day I look at my phone and I do not find what I am searching for. Never. What am I searching for?
Me. Every day I search for me.
Here’s to putting down your our phones and finding ourselves again.
It’s been a great two weeks in the goal department!
There is another goal I forgot to add and that goal is to watch Masterclass. Masterclass is its own network where people teach you stuff. You can watch a Masterclass on French cooking from Jacques Pepin or a class on Comedy with Steve Martin, etc. There are all types of classes to watch. It is a yearly subscription, so if next year I don’t want to learn anymore, I just cancel it. But I always want to learn something! These are the Masterclasses I have watched so far.
Home repairs professionally done – New back door and cut down all sumac in the hedgerow. Nothing yet on this one.
Home projects done by us – Paint everything in the kitchen and revamp some of said kitchen. Nothing yet.
Learn to sew – I took my first class yesterday and I had so much fun! There were about 7 of us in the class, and we all made pillowcases. We got to pick out our own fabric, and the class lasted about 2-1/2 hours. I haven’t sewn on a sewing machine since I was in high school, but I hand stitch and know how to use an iron, so I did really well. There are two more sessions where we will learn to sew a canvas bag and how to sew a zipper to make a zippered pouch.
If you are local and would like more info on sewing classes, contact Sew Creative in Fairport. They offer a ton of great classes. Tell them I sent you! 😊
Read all of the books I got from the Literary bookclub. This is a subscription based service that sends you a box every quarter.
I am reading Mansfield Park by Jane Austin. I got to open one of the bags that was in the subscription box because I made it to page 50. I can’t say this novel is grabbing me. It’s a classic, but just like all of the books of that age, the language can be difficult to read. Hopefully, it will pick up a bit, lol.
Add my husband to all of our household bills and finally change my name to my new married name instead of my old married name (it’s only been 15 years lol).
I got one of my accounts updated this week. Yay! It was actually easy. So easy that I am embarrassed I didn’t do it years ago. The Hubs is now added to the account and my last name has been updated on the electric bill.
Try 10 of my granny’s recipes from her stash. I picked out the 10 I want to try, so now I just need to try one!
Go to three cultured events this year like a concert, play, musical, etc.
Nothing done on this goal.
Wear all 18 dresses I have at least once this year. No dresses worn yet, but this goal seems to be my most asked about!
Get my mom and son moved into their new homes and re-arrange our own home now that the kid will be on his own. Absolutely no movement on this goal!
I didn’t roast the apple slices and I added chicken but otherwise everything else was the same.
There really is a difference between a side dish salad and a main course salad. I underestimated the amount of work it would take to prepare this salad, so my suggestion to you is to read the whole recipe first before you start. It was definitely worth all the work! Really filling and very flavorful! It’s a keeper.
Do some continuing education for cake decorating technique for myself. I looked into a class for rice paper flower making but am still on the lookout for more ideas.
Pay off $10,000 in credit card debt. I paid $1500 off in debt the last 2 weeks! I’ll write a post about it this week.
Get that fruit garden installed this year that I wanted last year. Excited to work on this. It’s definitely in the works!
That’s all for this update. What have you been up to? -MM
At the beginning of 2024 I said to my husband, buckle up it’s going to be a tough year! And it was. 2024 started awful and didn’t get much better until sometime in November.
I am optimistic for 2025. I pray every day that we have more good days than bad. Isn’t that what we all want?
I do have quite a few goals I want to get accomplished this year, God willing. Below is the list.
Home repairs professionally done – New back door and cut down all sumac in the hedgerow.
Home projects done by us – Paint everything in the kitchen and revamp some of said kitchen.
Learn to sew – I am a stitcher but have never learned to properly sew with a sewing machine. I asked for one for Christmas and I got one! This goal should be interesting.
Read all of the books I got from the Literary bookclub. This is a subscription based service that sends you a box of goodies and a book from the classics genre each quarter. I signed-up and received my boxes and only finished one. I have at least 3 boxes to get finished.
Add my husband to all of our household bills and finally change my name to my new married name instead of my old married name (it’s only been 15 years lol). This has been pure laziness on my part but sometimes when you try to change these things it creates other issues but I am committed to doing this this year.
Try 10 of my granny’s recipes from her stash. Looking forward to this!
Go to three cultured events this year like a concert, play, musical, etc.
Wear all 18 dresses I have at least once this year. Yes, some people are obsessed with shoes, I on the other hand am obsessed with dresses. I plan on wearing every dress I own at least once this year and then I will make the decision at the end of the year to get rid of some of them. I don’t need 18 dresses!
Get my mom and son moved into their new homes and re-arrange our own home now that the kid will be on his own. This should have happened last year but the builders of my mom’s new patio home took forever! Now we are more than a year and a half later so it should be soon!
Try 10 recipes off the internet. There are a few accounts I follow on Instagram and I want to see if their recipes are really as good as they say they are.
Do some continuing education for cake decorating technique for myself. I want to learn some new trends and flower piping.
Pay off $10,000 in credit card debt.
Get that fruit garden installed this year that I wanted last year. Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, you get the picture.
I know it’s a lot and yes it may not all get done but we all have to set goals right? I’ll update on Sundays what I have accomplished each week. Have you set any goals for the new year? – MM
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.
Before
After
Before
After
Before
During
After with the new hood!
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
In my last update in June we owed $8108.06 on the credit card. My goal was to get under $8,000. I am happy to say that I did achieve this goal however, not by much.
Right now that credit card is at $7529.65.
I was getting a bit down on myself because I have only paid about $600 off on that card in two months.
BUT, I paid about $1600 in cash for my new counter tops (that are now on order), and, yes, I could have put that money to my credit card debt but there comes a point where you have to take care of repairs otherwise you lose your mind. My formica counters are probably original to the house, making them 70 years old and are very embarrassing for me, and the microwave over our stove leaks from a poorly installed vent on the roof when it rains hard.
Now here’s the good news…I have also been paying on the other, LARGER credit card and, between the two cards, have paid off over $7000 in debt since the beginning of the year. So, in reality, I am more than meeting my goal of paying off a credit card this year. If I keep at this same pace, I should be able to potentially pay off $10,000 of debt this year. That is freaking fantastic!
When you don’t think you are working hard enough to pay off your debt, give yourself some grace and stand back and look at the entire picture. It becomes crystal clear when you do.
Keep moving forward even when you have to take a step back to see your progress. Don’t give up!
Join Mavis Butterfield for vegetable gardening and canning tips, easy recipes, and saving money strategies (Rug hooking, too!). Simple living at its best!
The Professional Domestic 