Welcome to the porch! Grab a drink and come sit a spell!

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On the day we moved into our home, the neighbors across the street moved out. It took them 3 or 4 days to move out, even with U-Haul trucks. They must’ve had a ton of stuff! A few hours after they finished moving out the new neighbors were already moving in. They seem like a really nice family, with 2 little boys and a daughter the same age as our daughter. Now to just get them to meet and be friends!

Home update:

Last week, I unpacked everything in the kitchen and organized the pantry, which made me realize I really need to stock up on food. A really nice hanging pot rack was left behind so I took advantage of it and hung up my pots and pans.

My husband finished the floor in our bedroom and closet before we moved in.

He also painted the bedroom walls.

We found a new area rug at Lowe’s that matched the room and bought new end tables and lamps from Amazon. The lamps are touch lamps and have USB plugins on the base which is perfect for charging our phones at night.

I cleaned out the bathroom cabinets and drawers, then placed shelf liner from Dollar Tree in all of them and organized them. There are two sinks with matching cabinets and drawers, but I’m just going to show mine here.

We still have some more work to do in the master bedroom, including:

• hanging curtains
• bringing in my dresser
• remodeling the walk-in closet (adding more hanging rods and possibly some drawers)
• hanging some artwork and adding a few decor items to make it cozy

• Monday: McDonald’s (Because I couldn’t stand up and cook anything.)
• Tuesday: Soft tacos with nachos
• Wednesday: Spaghetti with butter rolls
• Thursday: Hot dogs with French fries and baked beans
• Friday: Grilled Chicken with green beans, mashed potatoes, and rolls
• Saturday: Eating out
• Sunday: Cheese ravioli with a side salad

This week’s dessert: Crock-pot Hot Fudge Cake

My favorite posts from around the web this week

Cleaning:

I’m not sure if you saw the Instagram post from Go Clean Co last year, but their mopping with Tide powdered laundry detergent post went viral during the pandemic. I thought for sure this isn’t any different than regular mopping, but so many people were amazed by it. Of course, I had to prove them all wrong.

I purchased a spin mop (I had been wanting one for years anyway) and a small box of Tide laundry detergent.

I decided to give it a try on my bathroom floors and I was so surprised! Our master bathroom was covered in sawdust from where my husband was working on our bedroom floor. After sweeping the floor really well, I tried their floor cleaning recipe and I was shocked! It worked so well and I only needed to mop once! Plus, the Tide will last me forever!

So, I didn’t get to prove anybody wrong. But I’m ok with that this time!

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Organizing:

How to keep the clutter out of your house: Katie from Organizing Moms has the best tips for stopping clutter before it gets started. My favorite one is to refuse free things. I cannot tell you how many plastic water bottles with company logos I’ve collected over the years. Every time we went to a kid’s event we were given another bottle. They take up so much space and never get used.

DIY/Crafts

Book of the week:

Here’s the description from Amazon:

If Fiona has learned anything in life, it’s how to keep a secret―even from the father who raised her. She is the only person who knows about her late mother’s affair in Tuscany thirty years earlier, and she intends to keep it that way…until a lawyer calls with shocking news: her biological father has died and left her an incredible inheritance―along with two half-siblings.

Fiona travels to Italy, where the family is shocked to learn of her existence and desperate to contest her share of the will. While the mystery of her mother’s affair is slowly unraveled, Fiona must navigate through tricky family relationships and tense sibling rivalries. Fiona both fears and embraces her new destiny as she searches for the truth about the fateful summer her mother spent in Italy and the father she never knew.

Spilling over with the sumptuous flavors and romance of Tuscany, These Tangled Vines takes readers on a breathtaking journey of love, secrets, sacrifice, courage―and most importantly, the true meaning of family.

Fun photo of the week

This week on the blog

Just in case you missed it, here’s this week’s blog posts:

• Reverse Canvas Bathroom Signs – Dollar Tree DIY
• Everything You Need to Know About Amazon Prime Day

I hope you enjoyed your Saturday on the porch with me! Did you have something exciting happen to you this week? Or something you’d like to share? Please tell me in the comments. I’d love to know!