2016 Goals

I hate goal-setting because for me it is usually about things that aren't at all fun.  "Let's try to save $X by scrimping on everything."  "I'm going to exercise X times a week for X minutes."  "I'm going to stop eating everything that is tasty to try to lose weight."   BLECH.  Who wants to do any of that?

Instead, I want to try setting some goals for FUN things.  Sewing.  Gardening.  The FUN stuff!  I've never tried goals around fun things before.  No wonder I feel like I never succeed.  Also, don't you feel like once you set goals around something, you start to concentrate on that area more?  So, why not concentrate more on the fun things instead of things like finances or weight or why your house is never clean?  (Not that those things aren't important, but stop dragging yourself down with disappointment and/or obsessing over those things!  Bad feelings usually never help anyone.)

I want to try to get at least 5 (preferably 6) sewing projects done this next year.  One of which will be the overnight bag that I started working on about two years ago before we decided we'd had enough and finally needed a different house.  Five to six projects means that I have about 2 months per project.  I don't really know what kinds of projects I will end up working on, so if I have a mix of complicated and easy projects then 5-6 should work out.  I'm a little hesitant to say six projects because I know some weeks are out due to holidays, vacations, etc.

As for gardening, I want to plant as much stuff as my little garden plot will allow.  (Although I feel like I have SO MUCH more space now!)  To keep this list readable, I'm going to use bullet points:

• Tomatoes - I want to have a LOT of tomato plants!!  The first year I tried gardening, I had a lot of tomatoes and I'd love to do that again!
• Yellow bell peppers - I also want to try these again, although I didn't have much luck with them the one year I tried it.  I think I will try the seeds that I had purchased and also try to grow seeds from peppers that I buy in the store (although I'm not really sure those will germinate).
• Blueberries - I'm going to look more into blueberry bushes too.  I don't know anything about them except the soil requirements so far.  There are local farms with blueberries nearby, so I know they can be grown in this climate. 
• Basil - This is definitely going into the bottom of the tomato containers once the tomato seedlings get big enough.  
• Mints - I need to research and find out what the mystery plant around our mailbox really is (I'm pretty sure it's a mint but I'm not sure what type.  I've already harvested some and dried it out but am a little wary to use it in tea yet until I verify which mint it is.) Regardless, I'd love to have a peppermint plant to use for tea (I'm pretty sure the mailbox plant is not peppermint).
• I have some other random seeds in my freezer.  I need to get them out and see what's there.  I know there are some random herbs (an Italian herb mix is there for sure).

I'm excited to get started on my projects!  I just need my sewing table built and have to wait for spring to start my seeds.