Five on Friday - Laundry Room Refresh, Rugs, and Genealogy

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Hey, y’all!  How was your week?  Ours was tiring… now that Jacob is done with his quarantine, we’re back on the baseball train, and it feels great to be back, albeit exhausting.  Lots of late practices!  Between that and entertaining my little Covid patient 24/7 + trying to keep up with the blog and the everyday house stuff, etc. it's been a long one!  Ready for some favorites from the week?

O N E – Laundry Room Décor

Our laundry room refresh is coming along, and I’m checking things off of the list right and left.  Last weekend, I finally settled on the décor in there, and I’m so excited to get it all put together!  I picked up the pink and white striped planters from the Dollar Spot at Target for only $3 each!  They are ceramic and they are excellent quality, so I can hardly believe they were only $3 each.  What a steal!  The laundry sign is also from Target, and surprisingly, it's still in stock... I bought it probably two years ago!  And yes, that sign has just been sitting in my office closet all this time just waiting patiently for me to do something with it.  Haha.  The baskets were Five Below finds and they were only $5 each!  Finally, the rug is from Target, and it is, so perfect for that space.

Here’s the list, and the progress we’ve made so far:

1. Paint walls
2. Clean out cabinets
3. Organize cabinets
4. Hang ironing board organizer
5. Buy glass containers to organize laundry items
6. Buy and put together small cabinet to maximize storage
7. Stock cabinet with cleaning rags, etc.
8. Hang wall décor over new cabinet
9. Install wood ledge over the washer and dryer (to hold décor)
10. Paint cabinets white
11. Install new light fixture
12. Decorate!

All that remains are the big-ticket projects, one or two of which will be outsourced, so I’m not sure how long it’ll take to complete the rest of the list, but I’m hoping to at least have the ledge installed soon.

 

T W O – Target Rugs

And speaking of Target rugs, my goodness, do they have the most beautiful selection right now!  I had so much trouble narrowing it down to one when I was shopping for the laundry room, so I ended up ordering seven different ones to try in there before finally settling on this one. 

 

Other contenders were this same design, but in grey.

 

I also loved this one in blush.

 

And the same design in grey.

 

This colorful one was so fun, too.  I ultimately didn’t love this one because it wouldn't lay flat and I knew that would drive me crazy in the long run.

 

And I also looooved this one.  This was probably my second favorite.

 

I ultimately went with blush to brighten up the room, and I just love the simplicity of the pattern on the one I chose.  It seems like a more classic option that won’t end up being dated in a couple of years like the others.

 

T H R E E – Old Family Photos

My mom and dad have been delving deep into the world of genealogy on both sides of the family, and they have both uncovered some pretty awesome stuff about our family’s history as well as some old pictures.  My dad recently sent this picture of my great-grandmother (his dad’s mom) to me, and I just love it.  She lived to be in her 90’s, so I was fortunate enough to be able to spend lots of time with her on her farm during the first ten years of my life, and I have the fondest memories of her.  She was such a kind, gentle soul.  All of my memories of her are obviously from when she was very old, so I had never seen her as a young woman until my dad sent this picture.  My dad believes she’s in her early twenties here, so that would mean the picture was taken in the 1920’s maybe?  Total guess, though.

 

My dad has also traced our roots on his dad’s side of the family (so for my maiden name) back by 10 generations, and the oldest generation lived from 1605-1670 and was married to the daughter of a knight (his title is Sir, so I’m assuming “knight” is the correct term) in Ipswich, Suffolk, England who was born back in 1524!!!!   

He said our family has been traced to the original colony in Jamestown, VA at or before the Mayflower, and he said that the person furthest back in our family tree (that he’s located so far) was a Captain.  We don’t know what kind of Captain yet, though, but my dad is thinking possibly the Captain of a ship.  He’s going to keep digging to see what he can find.

In addition to that, my mom has been tracing her family’s roots on her mom’s side of the family (Mama Cass!), and she recently discovered that my great-great-great grandfather (Mama Cass’s great-grandfather) was President Abraham Lincoln’s personal bodyguard!!!!  How cool is that?!  And just for the record, from what my parents can tell from their digging, he was not on duty the night that President Lincoln was assassinated.  Whew!  Haha.

 

My Mama Cass also recently received these pictures from a distant cousin who had a DNA match with her on 23 & Me… these are pictures of Mama Cass’s grandparents, so that makes them my great-great grandparents.  We don’t have a year for these pictures, but I would guess they were taken in the early 1900’s?  Maybe the 1920’s?  Another total guess based on Mama Cass’s age, though… it’s hard to tell how old they were in these pictures.

Family ancestry is all so fascinating, though, isn’t it?  After tracing our family’s roots to the 1500’s-1600’s, I’m really curious to know if any of you have been able to trace your family’s roots this far back?  If so, how far?  This makes me want to jump on the DNA testing train to see what I can find!

F O U R – Dave Matthews Band Summer Tour 2022

Dave Matthews Band released their tour dates the week before last and I was just soooo thrilled!!  After moving the 2020 tour to 2021, and then delaying the start of the 2021 tour for Covid, I thought for sure maybe they’d just take a break in 2022, so I was STOKED to see that they’re going for it!  They’re coming to Atlanta in May, and I’ll be snatching up tickets as soon as the presale starts this coming week.  GIVE ME ALL THE LIVE MUSIC, Y’ALL!

 

F I V E – Happy Birthday to Brian!

And last, but certainly not least, my favorite person is turning 44 on Sunday!!!!  We are so grateful for another year with him, and we are all looking forward to celebrating him all weekend.  Does this mean that I’m married to someone who’s officially in his mid-forties now?!  Yeesh!

 

Friday Funnies

 

On the Blog This Week

 Valentine’s Day Touches in Our Home

Our Week – The One with More Covid and a Valentine's Dinner

House Cleanout and Projects – Mid-February Update

 

Happy Friday, y’all!

*Linking up with A Little Bit of Everything for Friday Favorites.