2016 goal recap! 

This year has been amazing, at least when it comes to our goals! We have made so much progress around here for sure! So, here’s the progress we made here: 
1. Begin beekeeping: Our bees are doing their winter thing. We don’t see them often. (Unless it gets above 50 degrees!) But, since it warmed up we actually saw them out and about! ✔

2. Make a pollinator garden: I can say that we have definitely completed this challenge! We grew black eyed Susan’s, crocus flowers, echinacea, lavender, roses and cosmos flowers. The 🐝s were happy! ✔

3. Vacation somewhere different:(Now that the boy is getting older!) We have managed to do a good bit of traveling, and plan to do even more in 2017! We have been to Tennessee, Hershey Park, Washington D.C., Gettysburg, Pa, local attractions and lots of camping! ✔

4. No new fashion in 2016: I know most females would freak out over this one! Well, this turned out to be way too easy. I didn’t buy any new clothes this year! Heck, I even had my momma help me find a second hand bathing suit! All in all, it was nice not wasting money on clothes! But, in 2017, I’m going to focus on more quality made items! ✔

5. Reduce garbage: (Did you know the average American produces 4.4 lbs of garbage per day?!?!) Only 1 bag of trash made during this over consumer kind of month! We burned a lot of paper and checked all plastic packaging for ♻️ symbols! And we are going to continue reducing in years to come! 

6. Complete the 2016 in 2016 challenge: That means getting rid of 2016 things in our home this year! So, guess what?!?! We straightened up around here and got rid of all 2,016 things! So, a big ✔️

7. Finish the kitchen remodel: only the baseboard left! Yes, that freaking baseboard is still left! #damnitmrllewellyn! 😉 But we have accomplished so much in there! And we have our adorable sign above the sink. So, we will give it a ✔

8. Build an arbor and plant some grapes:Still at a stand still! But the grapes won’t be growing anymore this year and the posts are set. This is kind of a completed!✔️

9. Expand the garden: We have definitely completed this for the year! We added on several raised beds and a three sisters garden! We even planted around the chicken run! So we can give this a ✔️

10. Preserve more food: I think I can definitely check this off! ✔️We canned so many green beans, tomato sauces, jams/jellies, salsa and chili sauce! I hope that our families enjoy the jelly and jam we gifted to them! 

11. Organize the least organized place in the house, the garage: I don’t know if the garage will ever be perfect, but it looks the best that it ever has! The recycle area is usable and I have bigger plans for this area in 2017!

12. Treat my crafting more like a business: I did so well this month! I made some money, and also made some amazing gifts! Definitely a ✔!!

13. Work on budgeting and paying down the house: We had a certain number that we were shooting for being at for the end of the year, and we are there already! So this goal is already a big ✔️! 💰 

I have loved writing about these goals every month! And don’t you worry, we have 13 more goals selected for 2017! I will definitely be sharing them very soon! Even if you don’t blog, write down a few goals and put them in a place that you see often! And if course, if you want to share some of your goals with me, please do!