Jenny Rose Ryan is a DIY junkie and a self-professed grandma. (In the sense that she likes to say things like, "Back in my day..." and enjoys doilies, blue hair and making things from scratch.) A frequent contributor to BUST Magazine, Jenny Rose also contributed heavily to the BUST DIY Guide to Life (while 9 months pregnant -- the ultimate do-it-yourself experience), and is an avid runner and marathon-fiend. When not carin' for the grumpy babe, writing or running, you can find her listening to new metal (as opposed to nu metal) and being so horrified by American politics that she bakes instead.
I’ve been staring at this page for ten minutes. Ten minutes. Ten minutes of the air conditioner’s drone from the bedroom. Ten minutes of periodic yowling from my geriatric cat. Ten minutes of my Italian greyhound, Ned, softly whining because it’s past his dinner time, he thinks. Ten minutes of the semi-silence of a compact […]
Breakfast can break the fast any time of day. By thinking this way, you can eat waffles on a Wednesday night or have bacon for lunch on Monday. In other words: there are many personal benefits from breaking breakfast free from morningtimes.
I never wanted to be someone’s mother. In fact, until a few years ago, the very thought of pregnancy made me collapse with anxious dry-heaves. I was happy to have my dogs and to enjoy my niece and nephew. But giving birth and having babies myself straight up grossed me out and made me panic. […]
When I was 16, I was in a beauty pageant.
Babies are assholes. There. I said it. They’re little jerks who steal our time, our money, our social lives, our sleep, our personal drive. They make every moment about them-them-them and they never say thank you. Seriously. Don’t have one. Never have one. No one should ever have one.
When my grandpa died a couple years ago, everyone came back to my hometown to cry a lot, drink too many fermented beverages and eat ham and Jell-o salad with carrots in it.
If this dish were a building, I’d marry it. It’s so simple, filling and taste-tastic you’ll want to make it all the time. Now get roastin’.
Mothers have collective amnesia. Huge, common experiences (both the good and the bad) are not discussed, probably because the brain can’t form memories on so little sleep. Here are seven things I wish I’d known before I had a kid. But, um, there are definitely more than seven.
Gravy is one of those foodstuffs that you either loooooove or hate. Some people (read: me) like it on everything, and not just for Thanksgiving. I’ve been known to eat it like soup. Sensible! This first recipe hit me in all the right places the 14 years I spent as a vegetarian. It has great […]
I’m trying to parent my first (and only child) like I might parent a second. Also known as the lazy way. And I don’t mean sitting my son in front of the television. As my best friend’s mom once said, “Put away the books and parent your child.” I like to think lazy is old-timey […]
I must admit I find this contemporary obsession with sourcing food organically and locally somewhat hilarious. See, I’m smug like that. Growing up on a hobby farm in rural northwestern Wisconsin, this is just what we did. Dad hunted and fished (as did we kids) because we couldn’t afford to eat meat year-round if we […]
Hey there. Granny’s typo above is intentional. Because you need some strategery when you use your slow cooker; it helps what you’re cooking for six or eight or 10 hours not just taste like a pile of goo.
I’m pretty sure refrigerator pickles are nature’s most perfect food. And they’re hard to eff up. Use these instructions to try your hand at them. These instructions are straight from yours-truly, and they’re customized for what I like in a pickle. You may find you like different things. The thing with pickles is that you […]
Hey there, dearie. Time for another installment of your friendly neighborhood granny’s guide. This time, we’re talkin’ sprouts. Not the ones from Brussels. No ma’am. We’re talking the kind you grow in a jar: lentils, beans, alfalfa. The kind you can eat by the handful with little to no work on your part. Now let’s […]
Unfortunately, teleportation isn’t yet possible. So if you need to travel this holiday season and have the means, going by air is your fastest option. And it sucks. It sucks if you’re old. It sucks if you’re young. It sucks if you do it every week, or if it is your first time. No matter […]