Things are getting pretty serious around here. The HH is now feeding our backyard friends twice a day.

He said he is going through a 40 pound sack of bird seed every three weeks now. I think all our little bird friends are year rounders too. 

Which means come winter {and when it’s freezing cold!!} he is going to have to go outside to continue their twice a day feeding regimen.

Did I mention we are now up to FOUR bird feeders on the kitchen windows? And two more next door? 

Yep. So twice a day, he’s out there filling SIX bird feeders!!! How wild is that? 

Everyone needs a hobby. Right?

Hey! I hope you have a great weekend. I’ll be here dyeing wool and staining the fence. How about you? Got any plans? Anyone going clubbing?

~Mavis

OTHER

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It’s been a great weather week here in Southern Maine. Temps in the low 60s and lots of sunshine. What more could you ask for? 

There is a definite nip in the air in the mornings and it feels every bit like early October. And we’re loving it. 

Rain is in the forecast for next week though so I told the HH that my goal is to have both sides of the back fence stained by Sunday.

Yesterday I was able to finish the first coat of stain on the garden side of the fence. Tomorrow, after it warms up a bit, I’ll do the second coat. 

Luckily, the second coat will go on much quicker. 

Meanwhile in the garden, we harvested our first leeks last night!! The stalks weren’t as long as the ones I see in the grocery stores, but then again, we didn’t use any chemicals on our leeks. 

Maybe that’s why? 

The HH said he is going to make a potato and leek soup for dinner tonight. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

And the carrots! They’re so nice and nubby. I’m resisting the urge to pull them all up to can them {for carrot cake bars and pot pies} and to make a carrot cake {which freezes really well}. 

Carrots always seem to taste a little sweeter if you leave them in the ground until you’ve had a light frost in the area. 

Waiting is hard though!! Especially when you want to put the garden to bed for the winter.

We are still getting flowers on the jalapeno plants. Can you believe it?

And the basil just won’t quit either.

Last night’s harvest. It’s it lovely? 

Are you still harvesting vegetables from your garden? If so, what? Curious minds want to know. 

~Mavis

OTHER

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You know how in the movies they’ll show a couple of construction guys working and talking non-stop about nothing in particular?

Maybe one of them went on a date, or had an interaction at the grocery store or something {whatever!} they’re just talking non stop throughout the movie about whatever the topic is. 

Well anyway, the neighbors were having some work done recently and I swear, for three days straight, from 8 am to 5 pm the three worker guys talked NON-STOP. About nothing in particular. They just kept talking and talking and talking. 

It was so funny. The best parts were when they’d do a Boston accent or get really heated about something. I loved it. Ordinary life. That’s where the good stuff is. 

Did you know people in the UK have to pay a 20% tax {VAT: value added tax} on toilet paper because it’s considered a “luxury” item. Oddly, there is no tax on caviar. 

I feel the same way sometimes. 

I don’t know how I landed on this website, but here is what a 24 square meter {258 square feet} layout of a cottage would look like. 

It actually seems pretty roomy to me. If the bed had pull out drawers to hold your clothing, and the base of the couch had storage, and there was a row or two of Shaker pegs on the wall, this layout would be fantastic. 

Hold the phone. There’s no loo. That’s a deal breaker for me. Never mind.

And last but not least, Costco now sells burrata salad. Have you tried it? Is it any good? How was the cheese? I was tempted to buy one, but for $18+ I thought I’d wait and hear what other people thought about it first. 

Also… I heard Costco churros are back in the food court. Is this true? Are they as good as they used to be? Curious minds want to know. 

~Mavis

OTHER

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The weather around here is supposed to be really nice this week so I’m going to try to spend as much time as I can, tidying up the yard before the cold weather rolls in.

Yesterday in between staining the fence and dyeing wool, I worked on cleaning up the side yard. I cleaned the peony bed and pulled all the pole bean vines off the trellises.

I was doubtful I’d be able to harvest any cranberry beans this year, but to my surprise, there were a ton of dried bean pods waiting for me to pick off the vines.

My first Christmas beans!!! Wahoo! Although not a huge haul, we should have enough for 4-5 pots of soup this winter. 

This gave me the encouragement I needed to try again next year. Instead of one trellis though, I thinkvI’ll plant all three with Christmas limas.

I took down the pumpkin and spinner gourd vines off the front picket fence as well. We ended up with 4 small orange pumpkins, 3 green ones and quite a few little spinner gourds. 

I was pleased!!

Once the spinner gourds have dried and turned a nice caulky yellow color, I’ll string them together and make a nice garland. 

Maybe next summer I’ll try growing birdhouse gourds out front. We’ll see.

New fall project: shelling dried beans. But that will have to wait for a rainy day. Right now, I want to take advantage of this {quite possibly} last burst of beautiful fall weather and get the rest of those outdoor projects completed. 

Ahh fall. It’s it lovely? I think it might be my favorite time of year around here. 

~Mavis

OTHER

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Get Back To The Basics + Learning to Unplug

Southern Maine is sort of in the sweet depot of New England. It’s close {within 2-3 hours} of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut and Rhode Island. 

Want to try a famous pizza place two states away? No problem. Have I told you how much I love it here? We’ve got sandy beaches, forests and lots of lighthouses. What more do you need?

In The Kitchen

Reginas Pizza in Boston. Have you been? The HH gave it a 7.5. Nothing beats Franks Pepe’s in New Haven, CT according to him. 

Kitchen Goals For This Year

• Master the pear frangipane tart from Standard Baking Company. 
• Put my Weck jars to use. Working on it!!
• Use two bins of beans {Working on it}

Rug Hooking

I’m working on three rugs right now. A penny runner, a potted flower piece that I’ll turn into a pillow and a whale runner. 

I also dyed a few pieces of wool. I’m trying really hard to get my outside projects completed before the cold weather hits.

We are supposed to have really nice weather this week, sunny and in the 60’s} so I should really put down the hook and work outside. I miss spending all day hooking though!! 

I have to keep reminding myself the SNOW will be here soon enough!!

Rug Hooking Goals For This Year

• Finish drawing out all my patterns, making kits, dyeing wool by March 31st. 
• Release 10 new rug hooking patterns/kits.  {4 down 6 to go}
• Hook 27 of the patterns from the “someday I’ll hook these” bin. {14 down 13 to go}

Go New Places – See New Things

We didn’t go anywhere new last week. Just Boston, and up the Kancamagus Highway. I need to get crackin’ if I’m going to check my travel goals off my list this year. 

Travel Goals For This Year

• Travel someplace {internationally} that I’ve never been before.
• Travel somewhere in Maine {overnight} that I haven’t been before.

Places I’ve Been So Far This Year

• Boston {Birthday getaway}
• NYC {Girls getaway}
• John Mellencamp Concert + Stockbridge, MA

Walk And Stretch More

We’ve been doing a TON of walking lately. And the best part about walking a lot? I can eat more. 

Which of course includes the four bags of Have’a Chips I was gifted. If I could only have one type of chips for the rest of my life, they’d be Have’a Chips.

They taste like no other chip out there!! If you could only eat one chip for the rest of your life what kind of chips would they be? 

Walking/Stretching Goals For This Year

• Get into some sort of stretching routine
• Fast walk a 5K, 10K, and Half Marathon 

Garden

Remember all those Shasta daisy seeds I started in early spring? When I transplanted them in front of the fence this summer they were puny!!

But look at them now. So lush and healthy and green and hey, we even have our first daisy out front!!!

This is what those plants looked like 3 ½ months ago. 

I’ve grown Shasta daisies many times from seed, but this is the first time I’ve had a flower bloom the same year I started them from seed. With a little luck, the daisies should be 3 feet high next summer.

Garden Goals For This Year

• Rework the driveway and garden areas {DONE!}
• Go crazy and plant a ridiculous amount of flowers {DONE!}
• Step out of my comfort zone and plant some flowers I’ve never planted before {DONE!}

Paint

And last but not least, I made absolutely ZERO progress on painting the fence last week. But I did get out of the house a bit and I painted a bunch of buoys. 

This will be my week though. That fence!! I’ve got to get it stained before the rain and freezing temps arrive.

~Mavis

Painting Goals For This Year

• The Van Gogh wall
• The gallery wall down stairs
• The captains wall in the hall
• Trim and walls 

OTHER

The post My Goals For 2026 – Week 40 of 52 appeared first on One Hundred Dollars a Month.

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