Update part 3 - Dollar Store Organizing / Ducks / Water Damage and other home disasters / Backyard Demo

We turned our office to the playroom a few months ago because let's be honest - we don't use "an office." This is what it looks like on a daily basis. And the curtains and rug totally don't match but I'm working on it :)

I had been wanting to get some baskets or organizing bins for so long but they were always at least $5-$6 a piece and I needed A. LOT.

I decided to give the dollar store a try and low and behold, I found these! I started off with 10 and then went back to get 10 more!

I spent all day reorganizing and finally made a home for every grouping of toys!! 

{Before and After}

Believe me, it's still a mess at the end of the day but at least I know exactly where it all goes. It has made cleaning up at night so much faster. 

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We lost our minds once again and bought two baby ducks. They are seriously the cutest little things! But SOOOO messy. How could you say no to these little faces?

Meet Starshine and Jackson. Starshine {named by Hollin} has the pink bill. Jackson {named by Harper} has the orange bill.

They are already turning white and as cute as they are mommy will be happy to release them and get her back porch back. 

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For the last year at least, I've been telling Jimmy that there has been a strange smell coming from underneath our kitchen sink. We blamed it on a hundred different things but it just would not go away. I finally convinced him to at least replace the cabinet bottom. Once we dug in, we found out where the smell was coming from.  There is a leak coming from the main drain, seeping through the wall, each time the sink is turned on. The plumbing it still original to our 1967 home. There is no telling how long it's been leaking. We called our homeowners insurance company and had an adjuster come out.  We were told that they do not cover damage done by slow leaks. So - it's up to us to fix this. Unfortunately it's going to end up being a total tear-out and a kitchen remodel was nowhere in our thoughts at this time. 

Prior to finding this disaster, we had already scheduled a bobcat tractor to be used in our entire backyard to smooth it out, rip out enormous bushes and fill giant holes (trenches even) that the dogs had dug. All of this was in preparation of planting grass seed this year. Our backyard has been a giant dirt pit for years. The backyard was supposed to be our focus this year!

So we went on as planned..

It was a messy, messy day.

Check out my instagram @ashlynncushing to see a quick video of the bobcat blowing by in our backyard. It was so messy and overwhelming I couldn't help but laugh the whole day. 

There has been no grass seed planted because the pump at the bottom of our hill for our well blew out. We need the pump to work so that we can water any new grass that is planted. My dad has been a sweetheart and has been working on that for a few days!

And if that wasn't enough - we pulled the cover back on our pool a few days ago to get started on prepping that for the year. There was about a foot and a half of water in the bottom of it. It has never, ever been that low. We think there could be a leak somewhere. 

If you need either one of us, we'll be hiding in our closet rocking back and forth.