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There was an interesting commenting thread on Corporette a while ago where folks discussed their single biggest purchase as far as clothes — and a TON of people called out this practical, warm coat from Patagonia. At $529 it definitely is not cheap, but I really like the layering system, the colors, and the functionality of it — it really is 3 coats in 1. What fun! Patagonia Tres 3-in-1 Parka
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Sales of note for 11.28.23…
(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)
- Nordstrom – Black Friday deals have started! 1,800+ sale items! Shop designer, get bonus notes up to $1200. Markdowns include big deals on UGG, Natori, Barefoot Dreams, Marc Fisher LTD, Vionic and more!
- Ann Taylor – Up to 40% off your purchase
- Banana Republic – 40% off your purchase, including cashmere; up to 60% off sale styles
- Banana Republic Factory – 60% off everything & extra 20% off purchase
- J.Crew – Up to 50% off almost everything; up to 50% off suiting & chinos; up to 40% off cashmere; extra 50% off sale styles
- Lands’ End – 50% off sitewide (readers love the cashmere)
- Summersalt – Up to 60% off (this reader favorite sweater blazer is down to $75)
- Stuart Weitzman – Extra 25% off full-price and sale styles with code
- Talbots – 50% off all markdowns and 30% off entire site — readers love this cashmere boatneck and this cashmere cardigan, as well as their sweater blazers in general
- Zappos – 29,000+ sale items (for women)! Check out these reader-favorite workwear brands on sale, and some of our favorite kid shoe brands on sale.
Kid/Family Sales
- BabyJogger – 25% off 3 items
- Crate & Kids – Up to 50% off everything plus free shipping sitewide; save 10% off full price items
- J.Crew Crewcuts – 50% off everything + free shipping
- ErgoBaby – 40% off Omni Breeze Carrier, 25% off Evolve 3-in-1 bouncer, $100 off Metro+Stroller
- Graco – Up to 30% off car seats
- Nordstrom – Big deals on CRANE BABY, Petunia Pickle Bottom, TWELVElittle and Posh Peanut
- Strolleria – 25% off Wonderfold wagons, and additional deals on dadada, Cybex, and Peg Perego
- Walmart – Savings on Maxi-Cosi car seats, adventure wagons, rocker recliners, security cameras and more!
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And — here are some of our latest threadjacks of interest – working mom questions asked by the commenters!
- If you’re a working parent of an infant with low sleep needs, how do you function at work when you’re in the throes of baby’s sleep regression?
- Should I cut my childcare down to 12 hours a month if I work from home?
- Will my baby have speech delays if we raise her bilingual?
- Has anyone given birth in a teaching hospital?
- My child eats everything, and my friends’ kids do not – how should I handle? In general, what is the best way to handle when your child has some skill/ability and your friend’s child doesn’t have that skill/ability?
- ADHD moms, give me your tips to help with things like behavior in the classroom, attention to detail, etc?
- I think I suffer from mom rage…
- My husband and kids are gone this weekend – how should I enjoy my free time?
- I’m struggling to be compassionate with a SAHM friend who complains she doesn’t have enough hours of childcare.
- If you exclusively formula fed, what tips do you have for in the hospital and coming home?
- Could I take my 4-yo and 8-yo on a 7-8 day trip to Paris, Lyon, and Madrid?
Anon in NYC says
I realize this is a ridiculous vent, but… my daughter’s daycare informed us on Monday that they were having a themed costume day today. Of course the costume I had already purchased (and removed the tags) didn’t work, so I elected to buy her a second costume on Amazon with 1-day shipping. That was Tuesday and it still hasn’t arrived! So now my daughter is going to daycare in her non-theme-appropriate costume and I realize that it does not matter at all and she is only 5 months so she doesn’t care, but I care.
CHJ says
Noooooo daycare, you need to give working parents at least two weeks notice before dropping a themed costume day on them! There’s no way I could pull off a themed-anything at the last minute.
RR says
It makes me stabby when daycare expects me to do ANYTHING without at least a week notice including a weekend. Note to daycare: If I had time to figure this stuff out on weekdays, I would not need daycare. And who has a themed Halloween party, almost definitely necessitating the purchase of a new costume (because most people don’t wait until the week of Halloween to buy a costume)?
We got notice yesterday that they wanted us to bring in food for a party today. Um….no. I refuse to make my life more insane because you fail to plan. My 2 year old doesn’t know the difference.
Anon in NYC says
I know. I’m sure they meant well, but more than 4 days notice is required in situations like this!
Lyssa says
Who is driving this stuff? I’m honestly curious – Does the day care think that parents want this sort of thing? Do a lot of parents want this stuff? Are the caregivers/administrators just trying to make their jobs more fun and don’t consider the burden? I love Halloween, and would be disappointed if I used a day care that didn’t invite the kids to wear costumes if they wanted to, but I honestly don’t understand why a day care would want to require parents to do much of anything outside of the care day, beyond things like sending diapers and drinks and stuff.
Anon in NYC says
I have no idea what the driver of the “theme” was. I love the idea of a costume day, but the theme is what bothered me. I am not sure if the administrators decided this a while ago and the communication from her daycare teacher was just really late. Stuff like that is usually up to the teacher to communicate to the parents.
But I just heard from my husband (who handles drop off) that at least 1 kid is off-theme as well!
Jen says
Our previous daycare did a theme but it was parent-friendly. They asked each class to wear a color. If you didn’t own something in that color, wear white and they put stickers with that color on the kid. They also had spare shirts (or hats or whatever).
The teachers all went as sesame st characters and the classroom kids had matching colors. It was really pretty cute and VERY low maintenance. The pre K kids and teachers planned (no idea how far in advance and it included in-school costume prep) and instead did the teachers as dorothy and glinda and all the kids came as various munchkins. Really cute.
AEK says
+10 to the inanity of same-week notice for a themed costume. Ridiculous! I didn’t hear anything “required” costume-wise from our daycare, so I bought my 9MO a jack-o-lantern t-shirt just in case we needed something. But he’s home sick anyway, so moot.
I know it can be cute, but I just don’t understand the point costumes at this age! I feel like it’s not worth it until the kid can actually find it fun.
Lyssa says
I love love love babies in costumes, but I make no assertion that it is for them in any way. I’m dressing them up completely for my own enjoyment.
My 4 month old is going as Wonder Woman, to her older brother’s Spiderman. :)
Anon in NYC says
Oh, me too. Love babies in costumes, and it’s solely for my (and my husband’s) enjoyment!
NewMomAnon says
There was a blog post on MommyShorts about summer camp theme days in NYC and how she tends to half-*ss all of them (like, pirate day was her daughter’s striped shirt with a piece of construction paper on a string as an eye patch). And the conclusion seemed to be that most families did the same thing. Maybe that was what daycare intended?
But yeah, less than a week’s notice for anything daycare related is absurd (including days off….grrr for notice the Thursday before “Columbus Day” that daycare was closed).
EB0220 says
I guess the intentions are good on the costume theme, but it seems annoying. Babies don’t care, but preschoolers have very definite opinions on their costume choices. I would be annoyed to have to get two costumes for my kid. Actually I would probably just ignore the theme but, after 3+ years of daycare I’ve learned to be apathetic on that kind of thing.
Anonymous says
Counter-vent: we switched daycares this year and last year our daycare had an ADORABLE halloween parade. This year, new daycare doesn’t do costumes and is instead doing “pajama day.” Lame. I dressed her up (she’s 2) in jammies, a bathrobe, bunny slippers and curlers ;) Also labeled her milk sippie “coffee.”
RR says
That’s adorable.
Anonymous says
Our daycare is also doing pajama day today. I don’t blame them for not wanting to do costumes – too much hassle to get them to stay on the kids, or pieces would be lost or stained and unwearable for Trick or Treat.
But they did try to do a “spirit week” at the same time as the public schools – but it wasn’t the same things on the same days. So we got less than a week’s notice (maybe Thursday for tbe week starting Monday?) for both elementary school and daycare – and some of the themes were pretty far out there. I’m all over pajama day though – no fighting to get them dressed? Score!
CHJ says
Update on my pony/chicken costume dilemma from earlier this month — DS is at daycare today, happily dressed as a chicken. My strategy was setting it out in plain sight and making it a reward to get to wear it. (Like, you can wear your chicken costume but only if you cooperate during diaper change.) The chicken costume’s stock went up rapidly after that. Victory!
Edna Mazur says
This is brilliant.
Anon in NYC says
Great idea!
Pigpen's Mama says
My minor vent for Friday…
Apparently I’m supposed to know that we’re out of juice and certain kind of milk (both of which only the husband drinks), but knowing that the LO’s costume is supposed to go to daycare with her even though it’s the day before Halloween, it’s in her daycare bag, AND had been discussed last night would require preternatural skills.
I suppose I should be glad he asked BEFORE he left for drop-off…
SC says
This cracks me up. DH and I got into a stupid fight last week because I was supposed to know that he was working late on a night that I usually either work late or go to an exercise class. He says he told me ahead of time, but if he did, it absolutely did not register. I asked him to put schedule changes on the calendar to make sure I know about them, and he said he’s not good enough at logistical stuff to remember to do that and basically refused even to try. So, when I need him to be home at a certain time, I have to put it on the calendar AND verbally remind him multiple times. But apparently he can say something once, while I’m in the middle of taking care of the baby or cooking or working, and that’s enough for me to remember it forever, and if I don’t, it’s my problem. FWIW, I created a “rule” that if it’s not on my calendar, I’m not planning to do it, and if I can’t or won’t, he’s responsible for getting backup care. He called his dad to babysit. And it all ended up being for nothing (that time) because I had an allergy attack and couldn’t breathe well enough to work or exercise, and ended up just going home at my normal time :-/
anne-on says
Oh, so its not just my husband who does this exact same thing? Good to know ;)
Yes, honey, I know I’m normally the one who picks up, which makes it more important for me to remind you of things, but telling me once your schedule changed while I’m cooking dinner, feeding our toddler, and prepping his lunch (and then expecting me to remember it with no calendar invite/written on our paper calendar) is NOT OK.
Anon S says
Pumping advice needed. I recently had a little issue with the head of my group (without going into detail I wasn’t available for something he wanted me to do and I think it left a bad taste in his mouth). Now, this partner has asked me to go on a new client visit with him next week (which I’m happy to do so). The issue is pumping . . . the meeting itself is from 1-2:30PM, and it’s about an hour travel time, so with travel plus the meeting it could be 4 hours without pumping. I can make that work (I usually do every 3 hours) but I guess my concern is what if the meeting lasts longer, or there are things we end up doing before and after the meeting. I will definitely bring my pump with me, but should I say something in advance to this partner (who is a male)? Under normal circumstances I would, but since he and I had a little tiff recently I’m sensitive to saying anything that might make it seem like I’m not being available and on top of things. Thanks for any advice.
sfg says
Do you have to travel together? If not, I’d consider getting a car charger or battery pack and pump either en route (with a towel on your lap to control for spills) and a drape over yourself, or at least right before leaving. And then either before leaving to drive home, or on the drive itself.
If that is not an option, I understand not wanting to bring up the subject with him. When I have gone to take or defend depositions with a long drive/travel on either end of the day, I pump before leaving, during lunch, and at the end of the day once everything is finished (either in the car or the airport bathroom). If I felt uncomfortable, I would use a bathroom break to hand express, and I make sure to wear pads in my bra to absorb leaks. I haven’t found that this impacts my supply, but I am also at peace with using my freezer stash for situations like this where I can’t pump enough one day to supply the next day. I am also prone to blocked ducts, and on the occasions when I have to pump at less than ideal times, I have not experienced an increase in frequency or severity, but YMMV.
Anon S says
Not yet sure if I have to travel with him, but I would assume so. If I don’t have to, then I’ll def be pumping during the commute there and back.
I am also ok using my freezer stash for this situation. When you hand express, do you save the milk?
sfg says
Some people do, I think (or I suppose you could use a manual pump for this option), but I do not. Which makes me sad, but alas.