Make My Life Easier Thursday: Bedside Shelf
This post may contain affiliate links and CorporetteMoms may earn commissions for purchases made through links in this post. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
My oldest sleeps in the top bunk, so she doesn’t have a nightstand to hold her bedtime essentials.
She just got this bedside shelf to solve the problem. This durable shelf holds up to 35 pounds and has raised edges to stop things like books and glasses from sliding off. There’s also a cable channel for charging electronics or plugging in a clock. Installation is easy — my daughter did it herself.
This bedside shelf is less than $20 at Amazon.
Sales of note for 3/2:
(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)
- Ann Taylor – 30% off the Weekend Collection + extra 30% off sale + 30% off your purchase with extra 15% off $200+
- Banana Republic Factory – 40% off + extra 20% off
- Brooks Brothers – Up to 70% off clearance + 25% off select jewelry
- Express – 30%-70% off everything + $69 all Editor pants, jeans, and chinos
- J.Crew Factory – Up to 60% off everything + extra 70% off clearance + 40%-50% off the Weekend Shop
- Lo & Sons – End of winter sale, up to 50% off — reader favorites include this laptop tote, this backpack, and this crossbody
- M.M.LaFleur – Try code CORPORETTE15 for 15% off
- Nordstrom – 4,000 new markdowns for women!
- Talbots – 25% off entire purchase
Minor vent – my kid’s school set up the scholastic book fair in the lobby a whole week before it opens. So every time we walk into and out of school my kindergartner is distracted by tiny locking journals and axlotl pens that will be there for two full weeks.
Just an LOL on uppity rich suburbia. My DD is going to a sleepover and the host family is of…significant wealth. I’m not sure what the definition is, but their home sure looks like an estate to me. Father is a named partner in a top 100 law firm. Grandfather had a massive law practice that you’ve heard of. The mom is on 3 local charity boards.
We live in a town of means and the sleepover game is crazy- personal tents, themes, $$$ goody/party bags, the works.
The b’day party is…..a 3 kid sleepover to watch netflix and go to McDonalds. The mom just texted saying there has been a request to go to Five Below to look for squishies so they may do that. I love this kid and her family. My kid is *so pumped* even though she doesn’t actually eat McDonalds (her choice, not mine, IDGAF).
Would I be crazy to go from fully remote to a role that’s in office 3 days a week, with an hour commute that’s mostly by train?
Assume both jobs have various pros and cons. This new job would be the winner BUT FOR the commute. 3 young kids. Spouse is home by 2:30 every other week. (The other week he’s home at 10:30pm). We’d need to lean hard on my mom for the 3 days every other week I’m in office and he’s nightwork.
I personally would be happier in an office on a hybrid basis. WFH is lonely and I miss the in-office camaraderie. But will that increase in happiness be offset by the harder logistics and less time with my kids?
How do you help a five-year-old regulate when they are amped up? My child isn’t necessarily angry or throwing a tantrum, just impulsive and jumping from one bad decision to another. It’s like the temptations are everywhere he looks, and they are irresistible to him. He’ll leap off the stairs for fun, grab at things that aren’t his, pick a fight with his sister, open the pantry to find a snack when he should ask first, all within five minutes.
I’m hoping to hear about in-the-moment redirection and coping mechanisms that can help. For example, when we had him listen to a little toy record player, he calmed down right away within minutes, and was like a different child afterwards. I want more ideas like that in my toolbox.
Last week, for spring break, my family of 5 (three girls, ages 6, 11, and 13) traveled to Costa Rica. We found a 2 bedroom villa that looked great. It was part of a compound that had 4 villas in it of different sizes. Before we got there, the manager reached out to see if we’d like to upgrade to the largest 4 bedroom villa bc we were traveling with kids at no additional cost to us. We said yes enthusiastically— normally it rents for like $30k a week (!), but didn’t look very carefully at it.
Upon arrival, we realized it was completely and I mean completely open air. You literally walked up the front walkway, and step into an open kitchen and living room. The 4 bedrooms were down an open air corridor. Each had a door, but you walked directly in the open air hall that connected to the walkway entrance. The end of the community’s driveway had a metal gate that you could literally walk through.
Essentially, the only door between my kids and *everything else* was a bedroom door, which we didn’t lock because then my husband or I couldn’t get in if needed.
The girls each wanted their own room and were really disappointed I made them sleep in one room together. I said it was bc I didn’t want our youngest, age 6, to wake up and get confused trying to find us at night (there was also a pool at the home).
But I had a hard time sleeping at night, worried more about someone showing up to do harm to my kids. We had several different taxi drivers come pick us up during our stay. All came from the same company recommended by the manager, but they all would have seen how exposed we were. The manager and workers did not stay at the compound during the evenings.
Neither my husband nor the girls were concerned. They felt like it was the experience of a lifetime to stay in this architectural marvel. I didn’t sleep well bc I couldn’t stop worrying about someone coming at night, and we would have never even heard it. I tend towards anxiety, especially about my kids. I thought about my husband and I splitting up and each sleeping with a kid or kids, but no one else wanted to do this. Ultimately, everything was fine, but what would you have done in this situation? Switching to our original villa would not have worked bc it was rented out to someone else by the time we got there.