Lifestyle

The Ramshackle Glam Gift Guide for Teacher People 2023

December 4, 2023

I get a little stressed out about what to do for my kids' teachers around the holidays. I want to make sure that they all feel appreciated…but I also very much don’t want to offend anyone (by, say, skipping someone I really should have given a gift to, or giving something that I think is thoughtful but that isn’t especially welcome).

So I went straight to the source, and asked a former elementary school teacher, Olivia (now the founder of Fresh Starts Registry) to tell me the honest truth about teachers and holiday gift-giving.

P.S. It goes without saying that the number one gift pick for teacher people, IMO, is this.

Continue Reading
Lifestyle

10 Ideas For Locating Your Christmas Spirit

December 4, 2023

image via

Christmas is almost heeeeeeeere! (Ok, there's still about a week to go, but I have two children who are doing an excellent job at keeping me posted on exactly how many days we have until Christmas. We're talking hourly updates.)

I always have a bit of a rough time getting into the Christmas spirit, and this year is something extra. I want to be all blissed-out in front of a fireplace, feeling cozy and joyful and safe, but it's 70 degrees outside and the world is falling apart around our ears and there's so much to do every day that fireplace bliss doesn't feel like a solid use of my time, and...

Continue Reading
MY PRODUCTS
BUY THE BOOKS
bigfatactivitybookforpregnantpeople
THE BIG FAT ACTIVITY BOOK FOR PREGNANT PEOPLE
9780525538066-450
THE BIG ACTIVITY BOOK FOR ANXIOUS PEOPLE
9780593085905
THE BIG ACTIVITY BOOK FOR DIGITAL DETOX
Cover
THE BIG ACTIVITY BOOK FOR DIVORCED PEOPLE
Lifestyle

The Ramshackle Glam Gift Guide For Besties 2023

November 30, 2023

Okay, maybe these gifts aren't for besties *quite* as short as the one pictured above, but you get the point. These are mid-range priced gifts that, IMO, any one of the incredible ladies in my and your life (myself included) would absolutely adore.

P.S. If you're wondering what those amazing gloves my daughter is wearing in that pic are, they're Freezy Freakies, and IYKYK (East Coasters from the '80s, heyyyyy!).

Continue Reading

Shop My Favorites

Eat

All My Thanksgiving-ish Recipes, In One Handy Post

November 6, 2023

Thanksgiving centerpiece by The Bouqs

Thanksgiving has always been sort of a crapshoot holiday for us - some years we were with Kendrick's family, some years with mine, some years with friends (and if you're wondering whether looking at those posts I just linked to made me cry, the answer is: yes. obviously). Since our split it's become even more up-in-the-air with regards to what we're going to do each year, and with whom, but we've decided that this Thanksgiving will be another in a long line of outliers (which makes them...not really outliers, but whatevs): All four of us are going up to my parents' place, where we'll eat our mashed potatoes alongside an assortment of their displaced friends.

 

Continue Reading
-->
Lifestyle

Everything You Need to Get In That Halloween-y State Of Mind

October 11, 2023

This year, the Halloween plan is a little different. Our daughter still wants to trick-or-treat with us, but our son has reached the Age of Mischief when he wants to run around with his friends, and my goal is for him to...well, just stay away from the eggs and/or toilet paper, or you are grounded forevermore, k? (He won't, he won't, but it's still going to be weird sending him off with his buddies, since I still remember him like...well, this.

Continue Reading
DIARY

My Brain Chemistry Would Like To Say Thanks

October 4, 2023

Questioning whether this "going to sleep" thing is a good idea

My dreams have a tendency to skew towards the apocalyptic. Full-scale city collapses, plane crashes, and so forth. They also tend to be pretty lucid - meaning even as they're happening, I kinda know I'm dreaming, and am all "Alright, let's get the part where I die over with, shall we?"

Last night, Duckbill - the personal assistant service that I have been using, and that has been utterly SAVING MY SANITY (and legit changing my life) - decided to go ahead and fix the apocalyptic dream problem, too.

Continue Reading
Before & After Renovations

A New Era (And Meet My Favorite Room)

September 20, 2023

Moving day!

We're moved in!!! Mostly. Our kitchen is still a construction zone, the toilets and showers are giving me sass, and I've been wandering around at 3am every night hanging things, so I am a puffy exhausted mess - but all of the bedrooms are more or less set up, we have a usable dining room, I know what day the trash gets picked up, et cetera. And the Wifi is functioning (!), hence my ability to write this post.

(BY THE WAY. 99% of the reason I've been able to do all of this while also being a working mother and maintaining a marginal degree of mental stability is Duckbill. It's a personal assistant service. Go get your free month with code RAMSHACKLE and thank me later.)

Continue Reading
Lifestyle

In Which I Change Your Life

September 11, 2023

I've been writing about emotional labor for years. When I was married, the load that I carried in my mind each and every minute of each and every day was legitimately intolerable - but guess what? Being a single mom is...well, it's not worse, exactly, because there's one fewer person whose needs I have to keep track of, but it's also not better. I still have to maintain a constant and ongoing list in my head consisting of approximately ten thousand tasks per child (and a few for me). And the pets. And the house. And the self-care (hahahahaha).

And! Did I mention I'm moving? I'm moving! (Yes, again, and we'll discuss; I'm going to be putting up before and afters that I think will be super fun.)

You know what moving is?

Continue Reading
powered by chloédigital