Holiday Weekend Open Thread
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Lots of people buy houses in springtime, and that means it’s prime season for housewarming gifts. If you’re shopping for a close friend or family member and want to give a special but practical gift, here’s an excellent option from Scanpan.
I’d never heard of this Dutch brand until recently (it’s been around since the ’50s), when I saw a couple of members of one of my mom groups raving about it. I will mention up front that because these pans are nonstick, the coating does contain PFAS, so be sure your gift recipient will be OK with that.
Even though Scanpan pans are nonstick, you can use metal utensils with them and run them through the dishwasher. The handle is Bakelite, so it won’t get too hot to handle.
This frying pan set is $99.95 (“limited time offer”) at Williams-Sonoma
Sales of note for 7/15/25
(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)
- Nordstrom – The Anniversary Sale is open for everyone — here’s our roundup!
- Ann Taylor – Semiannual sale, extra 50% off sale styles
- Banana Republic Factory – 40-60% off everything + extra 50% off clearance
- Eloquii – Limited time, 100s of styles starting at $9
- J.Crew – End of season cashmere sale, take 40% off select cashmere
- J.Crew Factory – All-Star Sale, 40-70% off entire site and storewide and extra 60% off clearance
- M.M.LaFleur – Sitewide Sale, save 25% with code — 48 hours only! Try code CORPORETTE15 for 15% off
- Spanx – Free shipping on everything
- Talbots – All markdowns, buy 2 get 1 free, on TOP of an extra 40% off (ends 7/15)
I’m feeling a little sad for my second kid, who keeps missing out on things he wants to do that are competitive and he’s just not up to snuff. Sports, academics, music. He got cut from the travel baseball team, and missed the cutoff for the gifted program at school, both of which we learned this week so feels like a one-two punch to the ego. He’s still so little(rising third grade) and I hate how competitive things are already at this age! We are chill with him about it, telling him that the point of these tryouts/exams is to make sure each player is on the right team /student is in the right class for them, and it’s not a measure of his worth etc, but it stings to see his friends get into these programs that he wants to be in and has been evaluated as not ready. It’s tough too because my older child is the kind of kid who is always on top.
The academics are different but with sports I am a little ragey that they are Pre-Professionalized so freaking early. Like calm down people they are 8! Let them all play! Feels like we joined too late to ever catch up with these over-eager sports families. (Which on the one hand is maybe dodging a bullet as I dont really want to opt-in to that culture yet, but on the other hand feels like the only way to get real instruction as the rec team is basically extra recess with no real coaching). Sad/rant over.
Another reading question – any suggestions for chapter book read aloud for a 5-year-old that aren’t painful to the parents? We’ve done a ton of early chapter book series like Heidi Heckelbeck and Dragon Girls and I’m open to more of those but they’re soooooo repetitive (which I realize is a benefit to the kid but yikes).
Stuff we’ve both enjoyed –
The Wild Robot series
Charlotte’s Web
The Eyes and the Impossible
Little House in the Big Woods
Stuff she’s rejected after like a chapter (but she’s very stubborn).
Narnia
Ramona books
Did you guys hear about the 5 year old girl who survived a fall from the fourth deck of a Disney cruise ship? Her dad jumped in after her and they were both rescued. I’m truly amazed she survived. I think my 7 year old is a decently strong swimmer but can’t imagine her staying afloat for several minutes in open ocean after a 50+ foot fall from a ship. As a former and future Disney cruiser, I’m also very curious about how it happened. Initial reports said the dad was doing something dumb like balancing her up on the railing for a photo, but then those reports were retracted.
Another reading q…I inserted it as a threadjack on the last post, but will repost here.
What to do, if anything, when a kid who is a great reader jumps from book to book without finishing them?
My rising 5th grader loves graphic novels and similar (like Wimpy Kid). He will read those fully through again and again. But he is really resistant to books without pictures. Sometimes he will try them, even getting more than halfway through, and then just quit. It’s not an issue of ability — he tests at a high school or above reading level — but seems more an issue of stamina, or attention span?
I strongly suspect he has ADHD or similar (his brother is 2e, and this kid has been HARD his entire life). I feel like it’s probably linked? I’m inclined to let reading be his own journey and not butt in, but curious if others see this in your kids, too.
(We still read together at night and he listens to audiobooks on his Yoto, so he’s still getting good “literature” exposure.)
Audiobook recommendations for 9-12 year olds? We’ve already done Percy Jackson, Harry Potter, Wrinkle in Time and Chronicles of Narnia.