Our Family Life

Saturdays on the Porch

by Michelle

Welcome to the porch! Let’s sit and chat for a while.

First of all, I have to thank every single one of you for your positive words of encouragement on last week’s post. I cannot even express how much they meant to me. You guys are the best! Thank you for your prayers as well. I really appreciate them! And guess what? They worked!

This week has been so much better than last week. I was able to get out and clean up some in our old house, which gave me a sense of purpose and actually made me feel a lot better. While I was in the area, I was also able to spend some time with my mom. We visited the local farmer’s market, which was full of vendors! I grabbed a few bars of goat milk soap from my favorite farmers. I’ve been using their soap for years and I love it! It makes my skin so soft. Their lotion is really nice, too.

I’ve been spending more time outside, just taking in the fresh air. It’s been too hot and humid to do too much outside, so the darn weeds are still there staring at me in all their brownness.

Saturdays on the Porch

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Incoming thunderstorm

We did have a few storms come through this week which brought us enough rain to get us out of the drought we’ve been in. Too bad they didn’t take the humidity with them when they left!

My daughter took this photo of the storm coming while we were on our way to pick up the groceries. I was hoping that after the storm it would be cooler, but it only made it hotter!

After picking up the groceries, we brought them home and rushed to get them inside. Luckily we made it just in time because as soon as we got upstairs it started pouring! If we would have still been outside I’m sure we would have drowned. Yes, it was raining that hard!

Once the storm passed, my daughter and I went back out and did a little bit of window shopping. We planned to go to Walmart, but it was packed, so we chose to go to less crowded stores instead.

I did happen to find this cute little pig welcome sign at Big Lots. I love pigs and I just couldn’t leave him there on the shelf all by himself! So, he came home with me, and now he sits by my front door to welcome the mail lady and the UPS drivers because those are my only visitors. Haha!

Welcome Pig

Home Update

Not much to update on the new home, unless you want to hear about how many hours I’ve been sweeping up never ending cat hair. (Insert eye roll here.)

I finally finished cleaning out the boxes in the basement. Most of the stuff left was cleaning chemicals, a box of lightbulbs, and tons of wine glasses. The last box I went through had some pretty nice dishes in it, so I plan to wash those and keep them for myself. Finders keepers!

I didn’t take a picture of the shelf before I started going through boxes for some reason. However, the shelves were completely full from top to bottom with boxes stacked on the floor as well. You can see some of the boxes I went through in the first photo.

In the after photo, the 2 boxes on the bottom have the old drapes from the living room and dining room that were original to the home. I plan to put those in the attic, and hopefully figure out how to clean them someday.

Before

mess on the shelves

After

Basement After

There was also a bunch of paint left behind in the basement, so I organized some of it onto one shelf. There’s still more paint on the back shelf. Another good thing from all of this cleaning is that we have plenty of stuff to have a yard sale!

paint shelf
yard sale

Funny story: There was a set of white sheets in the basement that was stained and just gross looking, so I put them in the trash pile. We took our trash pile to the curb Monday evening and around 11 pm that night, an old man in a white truck stopped and took the sheets! We live on a cul-de-sac road, so he had to have driven down the street with the sole purpose of going through people’s trash. Now I have no problem with people taking trash from the curb. As long as it’s not stained sheets! Ugh!

As I said earlier, I did get out to the old house to do some cleaning. I’m glad the major part of the home renovation is done, but we just have smaller things to do, like patching up walls and painting and laying down the floor in the kitchen. My parents had their basement redone not too long ago and luckily there was enough flooring leftover that we can use for our kitchen. I love it when things work out like that! After those things are done we can finally list the house and pray it sells quickly in that area.

Weekly Menu

What’s on the menu this week:

  • Monday: Cheey Broccoli Casserole, Baked Potatoes
  • Tuesday: Taco Salads
  • Wednesday: Crispy Chicken Tenders, Corn, Green Beans
  • Thursday: Quick Chicken Fajitas, Brown Rice
  • Friday: Chili Dogs, Fries, Cucumber Slices
  • Saturday: Eating out
  • Sunday: Chicken Sandwhiches, Chips

This week’s dessert: ice cream

Cheesy Broccoli Casserole
Cheesy Broccoli Casserole

Frugal household tip of the week:

magic eraser

Magic erasers are actually just melamine foam. You can save money by skipping the name brand and purchasing a pack of 100 for less than $20. Plus, there is a coupon for 5% off! I love using these to clean the shower walls and bathtubs. They’re great at getting soap scum off quickly.

Positive story of the week:

The story of this teen with special needs touched my heart. Every day since the start of the pandemic, he has carried out a random act of kindness, from walking neighbor’s pets to baking cakes for nurses. I wish there were more people like him in the world instead of people spending thousands of dollars to erase history.

Fun Photo of the week:

While I was cleaning out the basement, I came across a basket of Halloween costumes. This mask was stuffed down in the bottom along with a devil costume and witch costume. Now I’m wondering what type of people the homeowners really were! Maybe these were everyday outfits?

scary mask

Deal of the week:

If you need pillows, Belk has a 2-pack of IZOD pillows for only $10 right now! (They’re normally $50.00!) And you can order online and pick them up at your local store for free. They’re on my list because I’ve been needing new pillows for a while.

Belk pillows

Your turn!

What has been going on in your neck of the woods this week? I always love to hear what you guys are up to!

Thank you for sharing!