Christina Leaman

Laundry October 1, 2012

Laundry Closet Make Over Part 2 – The After

I’m BAAACK! (And it’s about time ain’t it?) We finally found my big girl camera charger and I was a picture takin’ fool today because I have been waiting anxiously to show you the “After” photos from my Laundry Closet Make Over.If you’re wondering what the heck I’m talking about, start HERE.Let’s take a peek at the dismal space we started with:*Womp Womp* See how sad? Well not anymore! Take a look:Ta Da! I am literally in love with my laundry space now.These baskets were in our bathroom in our apartment, so I gave them a good clean and then added paint chip tags I cut out with a punch. Then I hand stamped the tags letter by letter and simply attached them with clothespins from my stash that I dressed up with some coordinating ribbon from the dollar bin at Michaels.These jars were used in our old laundry room, but…

31 Days to Saving Sensibly October 1, 2012

31 Days To Saving Sensibly

Last year around this time I set a goal for myself. I promised myself that I would participate in The Nester’s 31 days of Blogging series and write for 31 straight days – the entire month of October. Lately, our lives have been kind of crazy and I have to tell you that I’m more than a little afraid to undertake this challenge right now, but I’m going to do it anyway. I just need one little thing from you – encouragement. I’m a bit…daunted. But I think I can do it if you all are with me. You’re with me right? ;)Now, on to my topic. I have a not-so-secret secret. I’m one of those crazy coupon ladies you see on TV, only without the TV production crew, coupon fraud and house full of products I’ll never use. Intrigued? Keep reading.Here’s the thing: What you see on TV is…

Housewifing August 28, 2012

Wise Women

A few weeks ago, hubby and I made the short trek to Pennsylvania for his family reunion. I absolutely adore all of his aunts. So much so, that I wanted to share an exchange I had with his Aunt Margaret.She sat sewing in the shade (hand sewing tiny little stitches onto a piece of clothing…I only wish my stitches were that refined) and as I sat down she asked how we were doing. I said we were doing well, and that I was keeping very busy with our new house. Here’s how it went:Me: Oh we’re fine, we bought a house, so that’s been keeping us busy. And Adam is working longer hours now that he commutes an hour to work. So he gets up really early and heads off to work…Aunt Margaret: And then you get up and head to work.Me: Oh, no, no I don’t work anymore…Aunt Margaret: Yes, you…

Uncategorized August 25, 2012

Eyelet Storage

My new washer and dryer arrive today! Feels like Christmas.Anyway, I’m working on organizing my new craft space too, and it reminded me that I had taken some pictures of a mess in my craft area in the apartment long ago and never shared about it.I’m a scrapbooker (duh) and I love, love, love cute, tiny embellishments like brads and eyelets and therefore, have a ton.Here’s the only problem. The little containers they came in are horrible and every time I reach for one, this happens:Do you know how hard it is to clean up a thousand of these?Sooo…I decided that with a new space, I needed a new solution. Here’s what I found:Bead storage! ( I know someone out there is saying, “DUH!” right now… ) I love the deep wells and the top with built in grooves that fit down over the edges of each. No more spills! (And…

Laundry August 23, 2012

Laundry Closet Make Over Part 1

If you’ve been following me on Facebook at all this week, then you know that I’ve had the magic touch for the last two days. 😉 It started by me further damaging our back door (that’s now been fixed) and yesterday, I threw in a load of laundry only to find our washer horribly broken.Given that the washer is probably original to the house (12 – 16 years old, if not just a bit younger at around 10 years old) we decided to buy a new one. The washer and dryer were left by the previous owner and well, we’ve established how clean she was. I scrubbed those suckers clean prior to using them. Trust me…Anyway, “let’s buy a new washer” turned into, “Honey, I have a plan…” by the time The Hubs got home from work. My “plan” consisted of “Hey, honey, let’s give the laundry closet a new…

Organization August 21, 2012

How To: Organize and Maintain Your Medicine Cabinet

Before we moved, I had planned on being super organized, purging and donating and tossing. Well, that didn’t happen, but when we moved in this did: I just kind of tossed the medicine cabinet stuff in its new home. Well, I tried to organize it. I bought those little baskets with the intent to organize. You know, cold meds in one, stomach upset stuff in another. Sadly, I didn’t measure before buying the baskets and they never really fit. I put the meds in (what would fit anyway), placed the baskets on the shelves and closed the door…only the doors didn’t close. Yeah, organizing FAIL! So I decided to try something different. I ran to Wal-Mart and grabbed two cheap 3 tiered spice racks and got to work. First, I pulled everything out of the cabinet. Clearly we had a lot of over the counter medicines – some of which…

Uncategorized August 15, 2012

An Actual Text Conversation Between Me and My Best Friend

So, this happened yesterday:Me: I am not a fan of Nutella, but Jif Mocha Cappuccino Hazelnut Spread is good!Me: Also, is there some sort of stealth bomber yeast infection I don’t know about? Because all of these daytime commercials make it sound like one could strike at any moment.Her: HahahahahaHer: It’s the Monostat Mafia spreading propaganda!Me: Hahahaha I love you.Yep, we’re weird.(Sorry to all my male readers out there.)

Uncategorized August 3, 2012

Our New Kitchen – A Preview

I thought it might be fun to give you a little virtual tour of our new house in parts. Today I wanted to give you a quick glimpse into our new kitchen, but first, let’s look back at the apartment shall we?Remember the world’s tiniest kitchen? There was no way both of us could cook in here together.Not anymore!Ahhh…space. And look at all those cabinets and drawers!Not pictured? The “eat-in” space behind me and the pantry over my left shoulder and the massive deck (that now houses hubby’s grill – he’s ecstatic) and sliding glass door over my right.What about the pantry space of doom AKA The Black Hole:Nothing like reaching in blindly and grabbing a side for dinner. Let’s see what random stuff I can throw together tonight honey!I think this is a major upgrade, don’t you? ;)She’s just begging to be organized isn’t she?I’ll have more pictures of the…

Uncategorized July 30, 2012

Update on the Move and on Life

It’s been two months since I’ve blogged about anything. This is probably going to be pretty train of thought, so bear with me. We have been so fortunate to become home owners instead of renters but the move went horribly, horribly wrong. We unknowingly rented too small of a moving truck (Thanks so much Uhaul!), had to postpone the move a day because we bit off far more than we could chew (which was entirely my fault) and didn‘t have the packing done (after literally staying up day and night and sleeping in 2 to 4 hour shifts to try and get stuff done), and because of both we were not able to move everything on our “moving day” and had to make many, many car trips back and forth between the apartment and our new home and then ultimately spent $700 to hire movers to just get it done (I…

Guest Post June 5, 2012

Guest Post: The V Spot

While I’m away unpacking boxes this week, I’ve asked a few of my blogger friends to take the reins for me and share a little of themselves with you. I hope you enjoy. Pop over to Facebook when you have a chance. I’ll be uploading pics all week, giving you a snapshot of our move.Today’s guest is Vivienne from The V Spot and I have to tell you, I am extremely flattered that she agreed to do this. I really do look up to her and consider her a blogger mentor. She is a truly amazing mom to three wonderful boys and an insanely creative crafter. Thanks Viv!Hi Scrappy Housewife readers! I’m Vivienne from The V Spot and I am really happy to be filling in for Christina today! I am a big fan of thrift stores and garage sales, and I am always looking at things with hmmmm what could I…