Make My Life Easier Thursday: Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote
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I got a Fire TV Stick recently because using the TiVo interface had really been annoying me and I saw this on sale. I must say — especially if you have another TV that doesn’t have cable — this is great. It’s very fast and has a very smooth interface (but of course how well it works depends on how reliable your home internet service is). We’ve even considering cutting the cord entirely, so if anyone has any advice on that, I’d love to hear it! Also, although I love Alexa, I have yet to figure out how to use them together. The Fire TV Stick is $40 at Amazon, where it has an incredible 116,000+ customer reviews with an overall 4.5/5.0 — plus 1,000 (!) answered questions if you want to learn more. Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote | Streaming Media Player
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Sales of note for 1/16:
(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)
- Nordstrom – Cashmere on sale; AllSaints, Free People, Nike, Tory Burch, and Vince up to 60%; beauty deals up to 25% off
- AllSaints – now up to 60% off (some of the best leather jackets!)
- Ann Taylor – Up to 40% off your full-price purchase; extra 50% off sale
- Banana Republic Factory – 50% off everything + extra 20% off
- Boden – 15% off new styles with code — readers love this blazer, these dresses, and their double-layer line of tees
- DeMellier – Sale now on, free shipping and returns — includes select options like Montreal, Vancouver, and Venice
- Eloquii – $29 and up select styles; extra 50% off all clearance, plus ELOQUII X kate spade new york collab just dropped
- Everlane – Sale of the year, up to 70% off — reader favorites include their scoop tee, Dream Pant, ReNew Transit backpack, silk blouses and oversized blazers! New markdowns just added
- Hannah Andersson – Up to 30% off all pajamas;
- J.Crew – Up to 40% off select styles; up to 50% off cashmere
- J.Crew Factory – 40-70% off everything
- L.K. Bennett – Archive sale, almost everything 70% off
- M.M.LaFleur – Tag sale for a limited time — jardigans and dresses $200, pants $150, tops $95, T-shirts $50
- Spanx – Lots of workwear on sale, some up to 70% off
- Talbots – Semi-Annual Red Door Sale – 50% off + extra 20% off, sale on sale, plus free shipping on $150+
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?
In response to holiday traditions (in case I didn’t use the “reply” feature correctly)…
I buy each kid a Waterford crystal ornament each year. They aren’t cheap, but I think it’ll be nice when they are grown up and have their first Christmas tree to have 18 or more lovely ornaments to use. Plus, I buy during the Macy’s friends and family sale to save some money. So far I’ve done the baby’s first Christmas for their first years and then tried to pick one (train, teddy bear, etc) that reflects their current interests. As they get older, I might just start doing the regular ornament they have (I think it’s a crystal star?) that changes a bit each year.
We aren’t religious, so no advent calendar (unless my religious mother buys them one). But I was raised catholic, so we still do the St. Nick’s Day leaving-out-a-shoe-overnight-for-gifts tradition. And I’ve done somewhat of a non-religious “advent” calendar in that I wrap 25 Christmas books and we open one each night in December to read together. The first year was difficult to get 25 different books, and a lot of them were junk dollar-store finds. But when they’ve gotten nicer Christmas books as gifts or whatnot, we put them up with the other ones and get rid of the junk ones. Now I think we have a nice collection of good holiday books (e.g., Polar Express, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, Little Blue Truck’s Christmas, etc) to use. we put them up with the Christmas decorations each year, so the books are new and exciting for the kids.
May repost tomorrow in case it’s too late in the day…
Any positive stories of being hired at a new job while 3-4 months pregnant? I’m interviewing and a very strong candidate. I know that legally I don’t have to disclose anything, but I personally don’t feel right about that. Maybe later in the interview process when things are getting way more serious/final? Job would be WAY MORE RELAXED than current gig, so I’m not too worried about work/life at a new company post-baby…. it simply cannot be worse. What am I not considering? I would of course try to negotiate paid leave, but I know that will be hard. Halp.
And, FWIW, I told myself I was going to save interviewing for mat leave unless * * the perfect * * opportunity popped up. And here we are.
For Anonanonanon & others who were talking about missing out on the fun at work while they went on mat leave –
It’s not for everyone but I’ve stayed plugged in enough to feel included on some of the wins my team made while I was gone. My two cents;
1) I read, but don’t respond, to email.
2) I keep up social correspondence with colleagues (send picture of baby, ask about how their new condo is coming along, etc).
3) I attended a few in person events, all with social/celebratory components. One was our summer outing, where over beers I high-fived with my temp replacement over the signing of a major deal that happened in my absence. Another was a dinner during an internal conference where colleagues from almost all our global sites were in town. I also went in for a couple hours to receive an award.
I absolutely did not want to work on my leave, but I also wanted to feel a part of the good stuff that happened – I think it’s totally possible!
I’m actually really looking forward to going back in a few weeks.
Help. We are in four month sleep regression hell.
Any tips on how to survive? Seems like the only way out is through, but holy moly this is awful.
We had a good thing going, baby! Why ruin things now?? ;)
Following up on the opera question–the other day I posted a question about leaving the kiddo with a sitter while we go to the opera when said kid has been very anxious about losing his parents. I don’t have any great updates on his worries but wanted to share that he’ll be joining us tomorrow (his idea, because he likes opera). I am eager to see what we all think of “The Exterminating Angel”!
Hoping for some advice on how to help a friend! Dear friends of ours are experiencing a medical emergency right now. We’ve been in touch daily as a sounding board and have offered to help in anyway that they need. Their children are being cared for by relatives, so that’s covered, and they’ve said they are good on meals right now. Does anyone have any recommendations on how to help? We can send a get well gift or treats we know they like, but I know they are tired and stressed over this situation and I’m wondering if there is anything you’d recommend to help them with those feelings. I’ve also thought that maybe we could do something for when they are home from the hospital, either in addition to something now or in place of something now. Thanks in advance!
It’s our first Christmas with a baby, but we’re doing new pajamas on Christmas Eve, reading The Night Before Christmas, and gifting DD a new ornament every year so she has ornaments to take with her as a grown up
Anyone have favorite holiday traditions they’d like to share?
I’m realizing that we have very few traditions so far, and I realize some of these will come about organically as the kids get older, but also that if we don’t at least try some things, they’ll never get a chance to become traditions! We also have both kid birthdays within the Thanksgiving-New Year season, so I want to make sure we have some special things that aren’t birthday related.
So far we’ve established the tradition of new PJs as a Christmas Eve gift (borrowed from my own childhood traditions), but that’s all I’ve got.
We’ve started going to church every Sunday recently, and I’ve realized that getting my kiddo dressed is always super stressful– because she doesn’t have that many church-ish clothes! She has lots of dresses that I pair with leggings for the week, and so I’ve added in tights and that’s been fine– I don’t want to spend a ton of money on frilly dresses she’ll outgrow in a month, but I need to round out her church attire. Anyone have any favorite toddler girl dresses that a) aren’t too fancy, b) are under $30, and c) are available via Amazon Prime?
Recommendations for toddler socks and underwear? Kid is 22.5 months.
Daycare says she seems ready to potty train, we’ve talked about the method, and I need to get her underwear. Thoughts as to whether to go with “training” underwear or plain old underwear? Any recommendations as to brands? (She doesn’t have favorite characters or anything, so we’re not worried about that).
Also, we’ve been losing all the socks and it’s getting cold. Planning on buying a ton of the same white socks in bulk (NOT non-skid). Any thoughts as between Carters, Old Navy, H&M, Gap, Target, other?
Thanks!
Re-posting, with a redaction, because this got caught in mod till late yesterday:
Interested to hear you educated moms’ thoughts on pre-term induction. I’m on my third pregnancy. The previous 2 ended up with babies that were born late and on the large side, but with no complications. The last one was a whopper at 10 lbs. V*ginal births, so I have what I have learned is technically called a “proven p*lvis” (although I’m not saying I wouldn’t prefer a smaller baby…) As it turned out, I had GD with the last baby that developed later in my third trimester and was not caught in the screening at 28-ish weeks, and which I was diagnosed with by the time it was really too late to do anything about. This time around, I passed my GD test, but have been tracking my blood glucose nonetheless and being more careful about what I eat. As of my growth scan this week (36 weeks), my baby seems to be in the 50th percentile. I and my doctor both know these estimates can be wildly off, and she is advocating (but not insisting) that I plan for an induction about a week before my due date, assuming my c*rvix is looking ready to go. I’m going to see what other docs in the practice think over the next couple weeks, because she is really the only one who has mentioned this to me. I suppose the risks of either doing this or not doing this are not terribly high, but I’m curious about others thoughts about which route they would choose in my situation.
I just found out that I’m pregnant with #2 (first child is about 18 months). Not an accident per se but happened much more quickly than anticipated, and am now kind of panicking. Have a very demanding job. Looking for reassurance that 2 will not be that much worse than 1? (No horror stories…pls).
Would you relocate internationally with kids? (Mine are 3 and 5.) Pondering some overseas options for my husband’s job. Considering English-speaking countries only right now. Just curious. I always said I wanted to live abroad but now that I’m a parent, I find myself strongly wanting stability.
My husband and I keep talking about going cable-free, but it honestly doesn’t seem like it would save us that much money. Our cable and internet are bundled together. To cut out cable, but then replace it with Netflix (which we already have), Amazon Prime (also already have), and maybe HBO/Hulu, I think we’d break even.
We have Amazon prime, HBO Now, and Netflix (piggyback off my parents account). We cut the cord two years ago and haven’t looked back! We also have an antenna if we want to watch local news. We would have prime anyways, so the only cost to us is the $15/month for HBO. I can’t believe how expensive cable is