Accessory Tuesday: Desert Wedge
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.
Zappos is having a pretty big sale through August 5, and there are a lot of great things to check out, from sneakers to pumps — I shared some of my picks over at Corporette. Zappos still has that awesome 365-day return policy, so it can be a safe place to buy shoes for your kids up through the next year without worrying about predicting the wrong sizes. As far as women’s accessories go, I’ve heard amazing things about these wedges, which were already pretty affordable at $89 but are now marked down to $49. They’ve got 792 mostly 5-star reviews and come in sizes 5–12 in four colors. TOMS Desert Wedge
This post contains affiliate links and CorporetteMoms may earn commissions for purchases made through links in this post. For more details see here. Thank you so much for your support!
Sales of note for 12.10
(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)
- Nordstrom – Beauty deals on skincare (ends 12/14) including La Mer, Kate Somerville, Dior, Sunday Riley, Dyson, and gift sets — the deals include reader favorite lip balms Dior Addict, NARS Afterglow, and Clinique’s Black Honey, as well as Too Faced mascara and Sunday Riley’s Good Genes.
- Ann Taylor – 40% off your purchase, up to 50% off outerwear
- Banana Republic Factory – 50-70% off everything + extra 20% off
- Eloquii – Extra 50% off all sale + extra 25% off 2+ items
- J.Crew – Up to 60% off everything, with 40% off their newest styles
- J.Crew Factory – 50% off everything + extra 25% off when you buy 3+ styles
- Macy’s – 15% off beauty, including Tarte, Clinique, Dior and gift sets
- Spanx – Lots of workwear on sale, some up to 70% off, plus free shipping on everything (and 20% off your first order)
- Talbots – 50% off everything + extra 25% off when you buy 3+ styles
And — here are some of our latest threadjacks of interest – working mom questions asked by the commenters!
- The concept of “backup care” is so stupid…
- I need tips on managing employees in BigLaw who have to leave for daycare pickup…
- I’m thinking of leaning out to spend more time with my family – how can I find the perfect job for that?
- I’m now a SAHM and my husband needs to step up…
- How can I change my thinking to better recognize some of my husband’s contributions as important, like organizing the shed?
- What are your tips to having a good weekend with kids, especially with little kids? Do you have a set routine or plan?
Did anyone here start getting Braxton Hicks contractions pretty early on in their pregnancy, like 18-20 weeks early? If so, did you deliver early? I’m almost 21 weeks and I find that I generally have a few a day, and have been for the last few weeks (although I didn’t know what they were initially). My OB said they can happen this early on and not to worry unless they become painful, cause bleeding, or happen repeatedly in a short period of time, but it still worries me a little bit. Also, while they don’t hurt, they certainly don’t feel pleasant.
6th Grader will be staying home after school instead of going to Grandma’s! Thanks to everyone for your encouragement yesterday!
We informed MIL last night that 6th Grader will be catching the morning bus at MIL’s house (along with 2nd Grader, per usual) but we’re letting 6th go to our house alone after school. We stressed that it will be good for 6th to have a 1.5 hour taste of independence the few times per week dad isn’t working from home, and it will be a good run before dumping her in the world of 7th grade and even longer after school hours.
In-laws tensely brought up every disaster scenario they could think of (luckily the kids were playing outside) and kept saying, “It’s your decision but I think it’s a mistake. She’s only 11. She could be targeted. Your neighborhood isn’t the best. Etc.” THEN they casually threatened that they might need extra income and may need to go back to work IF we don’t continue to pay them for watching the kids, or reduce it for only watching 2nd Grader. (Keep in mind, they are 78. Who hires someone at almost 80???)
I shot back that I had no intentions of changing the payment, but absolutely, if they needed MORE money, I would gladly adjust my hours to part-time and watch both kids myself so they could find jobs. That seemed to kill the “maybe we can’t do this anymore” threats.
I’m fuming today. It felt like we had to ask permission to take our own child back, and then were threatened for daring to do it! My husband thought the talk “went well” because his mother didn’t cry/get hysterical–and when I burst out about how angry I was after the kids were in bed, he sat there stone faced and refused to talk badly about his parents.
We pay $375 per month in the summer for in-laws to watch the two girls (I realize this is a steal compared to summer programs) and $250 per month during the school year to get them on and off the bus, at MIL’s house. We paid more when they had to drive for half day Kindergarten, and when the girls were toddlers, but now they are school aged and we just need odd hours help, it doesn’t make sense to continue paying them $350 per month. Also, the point wasn’t to EMPLOY our in-laws. They wanted to watch the girls to help us out financially, and also because they wanted to be in the grandkids’ lives. The money was supposed to offset food, gas, diapers (back in the day)… Now all of a sudden it’s needed income?
The whole thing was petty and gross. What’s sad is that this whole arrangement worked well for YEARS–I thought my MIL was a saint for doing this for us–then my oldest hits puberty and Crazy Conservative Grandma had to start spouting off. I’m discouraged, sickened, and just so incredibly angry. Ick.
What age did you start swimming lessons with your kids and what age did they seem to actually be learning skills to prevent them from drowning vs. getting comfortable in the water? My son is 18 months and I’m trying to figure out when we need to get him in swimming lessons.
After my nausea came back with a vengeance this morning (yay for upping my diclegis dose at 37 weeks) and I am now waking up every hour at night, I am so ready for this baby to get here. OB confirmed we are scheduling a C section for a week from today. Still kind of weirded out by being sliced open while awake, but so ready to be done with pregnancy and meet our giant-sized baby.
How do I balance saying no vs doing things for myself?
I’m feeling very burnt out lately – I said yes to a variety of things for other people as favors, and then ended up shouldering way more of the responsibility than I originally agreed to. (Think like saying yes to co-plan a milestone party for a friend, but then co-planner backed out, leaving me to do it alone.) This has happened a couple times this summer, and I’m just over it. I promised myself I wouldn’t say yes to anything for the fall and take some time to relax, esp because my kids are moving to a new school and I’m not sure how much extra support they’ll need.
But an opportunity just came along that lies directly in my passion. It would require a monthly meeting for the next two year, plus extra work in between those meetings. (Think a leadership position at a local charity that I strongly support.) I would LOVE to do this and it would make me extremely happy. Except I worry about how much “extra work” there really is, and whether I would end up resenting the commitment if it becomes more work than I’m planning. This likely won’t come around again for another several years (if that) and there’s no option to postpone for a couple months.
I don’t know what to do. I had promised myself I would say no, and I’m really looking forward to the end of this summer so I can have free time again. This would effectively take up most of that free time, and potentially more, if this spirals into a lot of work.
What would you do?
Thanks for all the mastitis advice yesterday.
Nursed and went back to sleep for two hours this morning (sorry, biglaw…) and am feeling better. Fifth day of antibiotics and maybe they are slowly helping. Just need to make sure it doesn’t rebound when my prescription is up later this week.
Help! My parents have been divorced for almost 20 years, but my mother has become increasingly bitter over that span (despite being remarried). Since having our baby, it has escalated even further. My father has moved in with us long term (probably 4-6 months) to help us care for our child until she starts daycare, after which he will look for a place of his own. My mother refuses to come to our house unless we ask my father to leave, which I will not do. I am willing to take the baby to her house to see her every couple weeks, but she says that is not enough and that I am favoring my father. (My mom is disabled and not able to care for the baby herself, so letting her care for the baby as well is not an option.)
Anyone been through anything similar? Advice?
I have been eyeing these boots for a while, but I still don’t know how to wear ankle boots. I wear tights, leggings, and skinny jeans a lot through the fall and winter and work is business casual. I feel like I finally figured out how to wear tall, flat boots and then, poof! ankle boots showed up.
I really like Leche Libre. I got the sweatshirt in their last Kickstarter. They just announced they are doing a plus-size collection. Depending on how long you plan to nurse (or if you plan to nurse future babies), you might want to check it out!
This is long, bear with me! Appreciate any and all feedback. Somewhat in line with previous OP.
I’m halfway through my 4 month maternity leave and dreading going back to work. I’m already starting to think about it daily and I just really can’t imagine being apart from baby all day long. I work at a job where the expected hours are from about 9 am to 7 pm with evenings and weekends as necessary (from home). I feel like the 9 am to 7 pm is too long for me to sit at the office. I’m the only female and while I have nice colleagues, I’m afraid of leaving at 5 pm daily.. I plan to do it regardless, because it’s more important to me to be home to spend time with baby before bedtime than the professional consequences, but just have a lot of angst about it all. I’m the only female professional on a fairly large team.
Also, I’m also afraid that getting home at 5 pm and spending time with baby will leave me drained for when I’ll need to log back in to finish up those extra 2 hours (or more) most days. I feel like I will have no time or mental energy for my spouse when he gets home. For women that are lucky enough to have flexibility in a more intense job, how do you spend time with spouse? I feel like between seeing kid, doing job, keeping house, I don’t know how anyone carves out time to spend quality time with spouse monday through friday. It was fine pre-baby because getting home at 7:30 still left us plenty of time to hang out before bed.. now I feel like that will be filled with work.
Maybe I just need a different job, but is working 9 to 5 any better? Ugh, I wish I could work part-time, but I don’t think part-time roles exist in my very nichey area.
Looking for advice on how to stay engaged when I feel like everything is falling apart. Our 7 month old has been undergoing lots of testing and treatments for some issues (2-3 appts/wk). We’re getting close to a diagnosis but we’re still probably at least 1-2 months out from that. My firm is notoriously unfriendly about this stuff. On the advice of others in my firm, I’ve been told today not bring it up until someone brings up my hours. I’m afraid I’ll be forced into “part time” and I carry our insurance. But I’m having a hard time coping. I’m constantly behind and even when I’m in the office I’m consumed with worrying for kiddo. I don’t know what to do. Also fmla isn’t an option because it was used up for mat leave. I don’t want to take a leave (I worry about my client book) but I’m feeling helpless.
Oh totally, I expect to work lots of hours! I just hate how early the office gets started. I’d rather stay later in the evening and rush home for bedtime!
(Note: this is not specifically directed at the OP, just a PSA that I feel like I need to get out.)
Lawyers trying to ‘escape’ from Big Law: Don’t forget that Big Law is not the only all-consuming field that there is! Don’t forget that many Non-Profits and Government gigs can also be 7:30-?? with 24/7 remote availability as well. The difference is that you aren’t paid the same to compensate; however, the ‘mission’ may be something that drives you more.
I work in a field where I have had lawyers come onboard who thought, ‘Oh! It’s a government/NonProfit gig! I know that they say it’s intense, but I’m sure it’s nothing compared to what I’m used to.’ Then they realize that the face-time requirement might be higher in ‘helping’ fields, or that they are still working similar hours but the compensation doesn’t allow to outsource as many things as they had previously. I know that they have felt like this because they’ve sobbed to me, ‘This was supposed to be better!’
There are lots of great jobs that offer work life balance, but really do check and make sure you’re choosing one. I have seen people so desperate to ‘escape’ that they don’t realize that they’re going into an equally intense situation.
I just moved from big law to a nonprofit which should be a family friendly move. Except my big law office hours were 9-5:30 (with work from home) and at the nonprofit everyone is there from 8 to 6 (some get in earlier). My two young kids wake up around 7:45 so i have gone from seeing them in the morning and evening to just the evening.
Has anyone else had this type of transition? Will it become less of a big deal? Trying to decide whether to actively address it or realize this is just a phase…