The current project I am working on is to replace the seat covering on my kitchen desk chair. It desperately needs a refresher.
Here is where I left off last update:
And here I am now:
I am still not happy with the pink. It has no definition. It almost looks like it is glowing. But I don’t feel like ripping it all out either. We’ll see I guess. I love the blue border though!!
Now off to see what the other ladies in the group are stitching! Links to their blogs below. Thank you, Avis, for organizing this Stitch-a-Long.
Holy cow, it’s been almost two months since I last posted about my goals!
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 restarted this goal because I just cannot take my kitchen counters any longer and the vent on the roof for the exhaust has been leaking with all of these heavy rain storms and I need to get it fixed asap. Our contractor came out last week and measured again and looked to see what the issue was with the vent on the roof and will be getting me another quote. Looks like we will be going with a laminate countertop. With my baking and constant use of the sink and water splashing up laminate would be much more durable than butcher block.
As far as the hedgerow trimming we took 3 loads of brush and branches to the transfer station a couple of weeks ago and will continue to work slowly on this goal ourselves. Getting there!
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.
Just a few more tweaks on the brick patio and it will be finished!
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
Summer House is done!
GOAL #4 Read 30 books (It’s my goal every year)
I finished four more books since last update. Going Rogue“, by Janet Evanovich, “The Peach Keeper“, by Sarah Addison Allen, “A Girl Called Samson“, by Amy Harmon, and “Graveyard Girl: part 1 of 6“, by Stephanie Bond. Hey I love how all of these works were written by women. Didn’t even notice that till just now.
A Girl Called Sampson is based on the true story of Deborah Sampson a woman who disguised herself as a man and joined the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. Absolutely captivating!
Thank God for listening to books in the car and while I wash dishes. It’s been hard for me to find time to actually sit down and read.
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
That’s 18 books read. 12 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!
So far I have raised approximately 23 lbs of produce between the herbs cut, rhubarb, spinach and black raspberries, beets, beans, jalapenos, a few potatoes and peppers and squash.
The new kitchen garden is booming! That’s where all the beans, beets, spinach and squash are coming from. It’s amazing how much you can get out of a small space.
The big gardens are just coming into their own. I will be harvesting potatoes in about 2 weeks and onions next week. garlic is pulled and drying. The pumpkins and squash and tomatoes and sprouting broccoli are doing really well too!
We worked on cleaning out the compost area yesterday, which had become an unruly mess of cut tree branches. Still more to do but lots of great compost already from years of breakdown to be used!
GOAL #7 Exercise somehow every single day concentrating most on core and pelvic floor and mobility.
I am back at it!
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 only got 17 more listings up since last update. I have been so busy in the garden that Etsy has kind of taken a back seat.
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.
Hubby scouted out a trail this week so will do that sometime in the next 2 weeks.
GOAL #11 Sell 300 listings on Etsy this year.
I sold 21 more listings in the past few weeks! 129 down, 171 to go!
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 spent a couple of hours down at church one night going through the 200+ year old history of the church. Did you know that vital records were not officially kept by a municipality in NY state until at least 1880? Our town’s records start around that time. Before that, many churches recorded their birth, death, and marriage in their books, but they are not official vital records.
Gah! I forgot to post again! I was so glued to the TV yesterday that I totally forgot to post an update. Better late than never, I guess.
Here is where I left off last update:
And here I am now:
I should be done by now, but my garden and graduation cakes have been calling my name. I have been too tired to pick up a needle. I know, excuses, excuses.
Now off to see what the other ladies in the group are stitching! Links to their blogs below. Thank you, Avis, for organizing this Stitch-a-Long.
In my last update in March we owed over $10,000 on the credit card.
It has been a struggle to get my husband on board about paying off our debt. I would tell him how much I paid down the debt in the month, but it wasn’t really clicking. He needed to see it visually, he said. Ok, then, I told him I’ll go a different route when reporting.
In May, I slapped a piece of paper with our debt amount and the date right on to the wall next to the coffee pot so he wouldn’t miss it every morning. Each time I make a credit card payment, I attach a new sheet with the amount and date over the last. The original amount is there in the back of the pile, so we can see how far we’ve come in a short period of time. This has really helped him!
In March, we owed $10,721.74.
I am thrilled to say we are down to $8108.06!
That’s a difference of $2613.68. Remember that includes any monthly interest, so we actually paid a couple hundred more than this is reflecting.
Goal for July: We get the credit card into the 7000s which will be easy peasy.
Last update I started a new challenge for myself to only spend $45 on groceries one week and $90 on groceries the week after and so on. Well I blew past the $90 on week 21 for a very good reason, because it was Memorial Day here in the States and that meant some awesome deals I just couldn’t pass up. So, I stocked up big time. Hey, I’m not stupid. In this economy you have to grab those deals when you can because you may not find them again for a while. Some of the deals I got were Hellmann’s mayo for only $2.99 with coupons…um..yeah! Bagels were BOGO, chips were buy two, get two which calculating it out was an excellent deal (sometimes it’s really not). Coffee, ketchup, cheese, and Oreo’s were also great deals. Plus the ice cream and the chicken legs were great too.
Total spent: A whopping $165.24. Eeeks! But it’s ok, seriously!
Week 22 was back to the $45 spent: my total that week was: $44.90. I only bought 12 items that week!
This week, Week 23 I spent $88.45, so just shy of $90. Feeling good about this!
Have you ever spent a ton of money and gotten what looks like a ton of food only to realize you don’t have much to cook with? I felt that way the week I spent over $160. Weird huh? But in hindsight most of what I purchased that week were condiments and just stuff. Not a lot of meat or veggies.
Week 24 it’s back to only spending $45. I think I can do it, especially with my garden getting ready to explode with greens. (Plus I still have a turkey in the freezer from February).
There was also pulled pork sandwiches with coleslaw, chicken and rice soup and more I didn’t get a photo snapped for.
Total spent on groceries so far in 2024 – $2,138.88 that’s an average of $93. I want to be better than that! Hopefully with my garden growing strong I can get the grocery bill average way down. What do you think?
Question of the week: How much is butter where you are? A woman in Canada said butter was $9/lb where she was. Yikes!
The last three weeks have been busy and I took my son’s words to heart…if you want to do something then do it!
Here’s what I have been working on the past couple of weeks:
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 am putting all of these repairs and projects on hold for now because we need to concentrate on getting the credit cards paid off. Some of these we will work on ourselves when we have time.
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.
Two Thursdays ago, I took the day off and worked my butt off on placing the bricks for the patio! It was a big job and my Hubby wasn’t very happy with me that I didn’t wait for him but hey, he was pretty happy when he saw it. There is still more to do but at least the bricks are in place. Whew!
Home projects done so far: Hang mantle over bed
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 stitched a ton more on Summer House. It’s coming along. 😊
Read 30 books (It’s my goal every year)
I finished reading three more books in the last 3 weeks.
The Murder on the Links, by Agatha Christie, Game On: Tempting Twenty-Eight by Janet Evanovich and The Echo of Old Books by Barbara Davis. I was a little behind in my Stephanie Plumb books so I was excited to listen to number 28 while I was driving. Who listens to CD’s in the car anymore? Me! My car still has a CD player. Murder on the Links was ok. It’s a little hard to follow because if you aren’t paying close attention you get a little lost. The echo of Old Books in the end was very good but it took a bit to get there. I almost gave up on it half way through because it was kind of boring but I pushed through and I am glad I did!
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
That’s 14 books read. 16 to go.
Take at least 2 mini vacations and see my step-daughter’s new house in NC.
We plan on going to NC for a Chiefs Panthers game, and then I get to see my Step-Daughter’s new house!
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.
Lots done in the gardening dept at the Ripley homestead. I planted four varieties of onions including, Yukon gold potatoes, Lunchbox peppers, green bell peppers, some celery, eggplant, lettuce, spinach, peas, a bush bean variety and a pole bean variety. The garlic is now putting out scapes.
I planted 12 more varieties indoors. Tons of pumpkins, cucumbers, zucchini, yellow squash and a few flowers and in two weeks they are huge!
I did some more work on my two new raised beds. Every day I try to accomplish something outside.
Exercise somehow every single day concentrating most on core and pelvic floor and mobility.
Gardening is definitely counting as exercise right now. Hauling those bricks 12 at a time with a wheelbarrow for 5 hours most certainly counts as a full body workout.
Get all of my Etsy listings listed by March 31st so I can enjoy my garden in the Spring and summer months.
I only got 6 more listings up since last update. I have been so busy in the garden that Etsy has kind of taken a back seat.
Explore the Western NY Antique Trail (Yes, there is such a thing).
Nothing more on this one.
Explore at least 3 local walking/biking trails.
After Little League is done and I have my husband back I will work on this goal.
Sell 300 listings on Etsy this year.
I sold 12 more listings in the past few weeks! 108 down, 192 to go!
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.
Our next thrift sale is this coming Saturday!
Pay off one of the two credit cards.
I do have an update on this but I’ll post separately.
That’s all I have for now. I am getting there and feel I just need to be more organized on my days off to get some of these things knocked off my list.
What have you all been up to? Got anything good growing in the garden? Any trips planned? Let me know! – MM
I have given myself a new challenge in the meal dept. Only spend $45 one week and $90 the next, then $45 then $90. I am going to try to stay within a strict budget for the next few months because I NEED to pay off that credit card. I can’t stand it anymore.
So I figure it will be fun to try these amounts to see what I can come up with. Why $45 and $90? Why not? It just sort of popped into my head. I love a good challenge!
We stocked up pretty well last week spending $160 so it will be as good a time as any to start this.
This week I have the challenge of only spending $45. After figuring out what I wanted for dinners for the week, I spent $43.11 and this is what I bought:
Yep, this is it. I am glad I have $90 to spend next week because I will need coffee and creamer by then, lol.
I’ll report back what I came up with.
Total spent on groceries so far in 2024 – $1840.29
Question of the week: could you spend only $45 on groceries?
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 