2017 To-Do List vision-board!

I made this vision board for my Journal Junkies class at Gallery 27. The process was a wonderful meditation on my goals for this new (and honestly rather scary) year. I think I will add this to the annual to-do list process! Click on the picture if you want to zoom in on any of the goals.

1.  Grow a garden–a big one. Like I mentioned in TT22, we’ve got plenty of room for a good sized garden and I’d like to really push us this year to grow things we eat a lot of. I want to have a summer full of epic salads and a winter full of garlic & onions. I think we are going to do the raised pallet beds of bag dirt and grow a variety of lettuces and radishes there. I solemnly swear I will plant carrots and NOT PULL THEM UNTIL THEY ARE READY. We have gotten all sorts of inspiration from one of our new favorite homesteading youtube channels, Deep South Homestead. They plant their pepper plants in buckets and keep them growing for 3+ years! I’m also going to beg my Hollar cousins for another asparagus plant. So many ideas y’all!
2. Finish tee shirt quilt. Pretty self explanatory. I have a quilt going that is basically like a punk patch hoodie only it is quilt size. Like most of my quilts it is all hand work so the progress is a little slow moving. Plus, with our wood stove the living room is mostly too hot to quilt in! Dangalang! I really want to get a quilt project finished this year though, so I must get to it!
3. Ride bikes with Mr. Smith to the McFadden Farm. This is a lofty goal. The ride from our house to the farm is less than 50 miles one way. Mr. Smith is an avid road rider and although I am not interested (at this point) in riding centuries (and then some) I WOULD like to push myself on some long rides. This goal may not get accomplished until another year but I really would like to get there some day!
4. Read 50 books. Last year I read 38 books which sounds both like a lot of books and like none. I read 3-4 books at once–but let me explain that. I typically have a fiction book going at the same time as a non-fiction book, plus a graphic novel, and I ALWAYS have an audio book going in my truck. With that many different genres going I don’t get the storylines confused. All that said, it seems like I would get more read in a year than just 38 books. This year I am putting forth a challenge to make myself read more and do less aimless social media scrolling. I’ve also figured out that I can prop a book up while I knit…this takes my love of multi-tasking to a whole new level!
5. Go on a train ride. I would reaaaaaally like to go on an epic Amtrak adventure out west. There is an awful lot of life to get going though, so I will keep planning that dream trip and probably just go on a regional day trip instead. Pretty much since Mr. Smith and I met we have been wanting to go on the Great Smokey Mountains Railroad. Come hell or high water we WILL be going on one of their rides this year! So there.
6. Purge the Doom Shack. Ugh. I have so much stuff–don’t we all? Okay, maybe not everybody does, but I know an awful lot of people who do. When Mr. Smith and I found our house we were both pretty smitten with it with a few little caveats (like the old off white carpet…vom). It’s not a terribly big house and that is great (lower costs all around!), but we both have hobbies that require space. We made a plan from the get go to figure out a way to accommodate all our fun. The house came with an already wired out building that we agreed would be my studio (a pole barn will come later for the Mr.) Buuuuuuuut right now it is full of a bunch of crap that I need to mostly get rid of. So I’ve named it the Doom Shack until the purge is complete.
7. Set up the Pout House. Oh the Pout House. (See Dreamy House post for the story behind the name.) Once I get the purge done then the Doom Shack will get to be my awesome toy shop/art studio/miniature museum/sparkly party palace. Once. I. Get. The. Purge. Done. One bag of bu!!$h*t at a time.
8. Keep up the blog. I have been at this blog stuff for right at a year! Can you even believe that? I would like to be a bit more regular at posting but overall I am pretty pleased with my progress. This year I want to keep up TINY Tuesday (of course!) and the OOTD posts. I’d like to think up one more post theme that I can keep coming back to. Let me know if you have any ideas! What would YOU like to hear about?
9. Help animals in need. I am so tenderhearted, ya’ll and I want to do more to help out critters in my community. I’m not ready to add another animal to the family but I would like to foster (which I used to do regularly). After years of living in rentals with STOOPID landlords who hated pets, I am so glad to have my own home with none of the restrictions. Again, with the big yard there is potential to foster dogs as well as cats. With kitten season upon us I hope to be a temporary home for some of the animals who might not otherwise make it.
10. Keep trying 2-D art. Because it is fun.

 

A few more things I’ve decided to add since the original post:

Learn to identify regional trees. —-> I’ve been meaning to do this for everrrr. I want to learn how to identify at least 20 trees.

Plan and pack an EDC go-bag.—-> These are a good idea for everyone to have on hand everyday, but especially nowadays. I grew up in a family that always kept a tool bag,  gallon of water, and flashlight in the vehicle. In winter there was always a quilt, additional warm clothes, and some non-perishable food. I want to add to that and make up a kit with more gear. If you’re interested, I’ll do a post on the process of choosing items for my EDC (every day carry).

SAVE.—-> I rarely see any “new” advice that rings a bell with me but I saw something on Dr. Oz a week or so back that really resonated with me. (PLEASE don’t judge me on the Dr. Oz thing–it’s on at the gym!) The financial expert that was on said that if you really want something, like a higher price luxury type item, you can totally have it…BUT you should save the same amount as it cost. So if you want a $200 Blythe doll (*cough*cough*) you can have it, but only if you save an additional $200 to your savings. I’m not a big ticket item person like this very often, but I like the idea. I’m going to try to implement the idea, but with a twist. If I get a subscription box that cost $30, then I have to save an additional $15 and donate an additional $15. This way I will force some savings AND some giving. Because we ALL need to be donating to the ACLU! Isn’t that a great idea?

Do a mid-year update—-> I forgot to do this last year! This year I am gonna!

What kind of goals and to-do lists have y’all come up with?

How is your list coming so far during the first month of 2017?