Jordan Reid's Blog, page 4

A Very Ramshackle Glam Holiday

Well, THIS is fun!

Duckbill – the personal assistant service I’ve been going on and on about these past few months – has started offering “bundles”: Basically, groups of related tasks that you can request to have completed all at once. And! They invited me to create my own little holiday bundle – aptly titled A Very Ramshackle Glam Holiday – with everything from book recommendations to read by the fire, tablescape ideas using whatever you’ve got around the house, festive-but-uncomplicated beaut...

The Ramshackle Glam Gift Guide for Teacher People 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...

10 Ideas For Locating Your Christmas Spirit

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 o...

The Ramshackle Glam Gift Guide For Besties 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!).

The post The Ramshackle Glam Gift Guide For Besties 2023 appeared first on Ramshack...

The Ramshackle Glam Gift Guide For Tween People 2023

MAN are tweens hard to shop for.

“So what do you want?”

“Whatever.”

“…You have…no opinions?”

[Shrugs, goes back to playing Roblox.]

OK, so we’re on our own, here. I suspect the reticence comes from a very sweet place – kids this age are sort of in limbo between still wanting toys (they’re still kids, after all), while also wanting to at least *appear* more grown-up.

Honestly? I think they really do want the toys. They’re just kind of embarrassed to want them. So the trick is finding stuff that ...

Ramshackle Glam Gift Guide: Gifts For Tween People

MAN are tweens hard to shop for.

“So what do you want?”

“Whatever.”

“…You have…no opinions?”

[Shrugs, goes back to playing Roblox.]

OK, so we’re on our own, here. I suspect the reticence comes from a very sweet place – kids this age are sort of in limbo between still wanting toys (they’re still kids, after all), while also wanting to at least *appear* more grown-up.

Honestly? I think they really do want the toys. They’re just kind of embarrassed to want them. So the trick is finding stuff that ...

All My Thanksgiving-ish Recipes, In One Handy Post

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...

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

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by jordan reid (@ramshackleglam)

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’s great, but it’s still going to be weird sending him off with his buddies, since...

My Brain Chemistry Would Like To Say Thanks

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)...

Before And After: Small, Dated Bathroom

Hellooooo before and after! 

The hall bathroom – a small space with lots of opportunities for easy fixes – was another of the first projects I tackled when we moved into our new place, just because I already knew what to do (and also knew that it would be low-cost, high-impact).

Here’s a bigger shot of the before. It’s old – guessing 1980s? – and has seemingly never been remodeled. There was no lighting save for the overhead, and the tub was a major problem. Mama likes baths. Mama was not gett...