Washable Workwear Wednesday: Short Sleeve Eyelet Dress
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Sales of note for 4/24/25
(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)
- Nordstrom – 7,710 new markdowns for women!
- Ann Taylor – Friends of Ann Event: 30% off your entire purchase, including 100s of new arrivals
- Banana Republic Factory – Up to 50% off everything + extra 25% off
- Eloquii – Spring Clearance: Up to 75% off + extra 50-60% off sale
- J.Crew – Mid-Season Sale: Up to 60% off sale styles + up to 50% off summer-ready styles
- J.Crew Factory – Extra 50% off clearance + extra 15% off $100 + extra 20% off $125
- M.M.LaFleur – 3 pieces for $198. Try code CORPORETTE15 for 15% off
- Spanx – Lots of workwear on sale, some up to 70% off
- Talbots – Friends & Family Event: 30% off entire purchase, includes markdowns
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?
I vote sunny windowsill, first. Going from partial shade and AC to outside heat and humidity might be a shock, but if the sunny windowsill doesn’t do the trick you could try that next. My orchids live in a south-facing windowbox, and are happy there.
Help, please. My “bright, indirect sunlight” potted plants need more light. I have an orchid and a pilea pepermoiades. They’re on my window box (facing East), but that’s mostly shaded by a tall bush/tree outside. We live in a hot, humid environment and my yard has lots of trees. Do I put them on a sunny windowsill or just set them outside and move them around til they’re happy? I’m bad at this. Googling around just gives very vague advice. “Give them more sunlight, but not too much! No direct sunlight.”
Betsy DeVos just called out a local school system by name (Fairfax County) for their 2 day in person / 2 days remote learning hybrid plan, calling for 5 day in person instruction. Trump also tweeted that schools shouldn’t follow the CDC guidelines and is apparently threatening to withhold federal funding for schools that don’t go back fully in person. Are schools going to ditch the hybrid plan? File a lawsuit? Ugh. Just what parents need–more uncertainty. Parents here are supposed to elect for the hybrid model or distance learning within the next 12 days. And I had just stared figuring out childcare.
Y’all, my in-laws want to come visit us in two weeks for my kid’s birthday. Which is fine with me, they have been really wanting to see our kid, and they will stay in a hotel 1 block from us, so I’m not that concerned. But I’m afraid that just the small added stress of them coming might send me over the edge, when we’ve already been cooped up working from home with a toddler for 4 months. And at this point they have not said how long they are staying. Send cookies and good thoughts!!
Has any attorney here taken 2+ years away from work with kids and then successfully returned to practice law in some capacity?
I was in the midst of taking what I though was going to be 6ish months off of work when the pandemic hit. Now I may be pregnant again (oops) and am worried I will not be able to find a job while pregnant in this economy. That would mean I would end up being away from work for appx 2 years. I don’t want to be a SAHM :(
DH and I have a 21 month old. Pre-pandemic, he was in an in-home daycare, but she was planning to retire at the end of the school year. So he’s been home with me for the last several months (while I’ve been WFH) and was planning to start at a daycare center in the fall. My mom has offered to quit her job and watch him full time. My relationship with her is…complicated. My sister has cut ties with her, and I set hard boundaries with her given her narcissistic tendencies. However, she’s awesome with tiny kids; she was a teacher back in the day and is very good at taking care of the physical needs of little kids. It’s when the kids get older that her judgment/negativity/selfishness starts to get in the way, IMO. Are we crazy to consider accepting my mom’s offer? For further info, DH and I also have an 8 year old. As of now, her school is planning to return part-time next month, but we are actively considering other schools/options for her. The pros of accepting my mom’s offer are the cost (she said we could just pay her a little), the reliability of not worrying about COVID at a daycare center and/or the center shutting down, the fact that she could also watch our 8 year old if needed, we would have no concerns about the care she would provide for our toddler, and we have no idea what to expect at the new daycare center we found (although our neighbor’s kids go there and they love it). DH and I are also considering a 3rd child, and if we do, her providing daycare for both little ones would save us tons of money. On the other hand, the cons would be my relationship with her (this would mean seeing her every day and allowing her to be much more involved in our lives than I would prefer), her proximity to us (I routinely WFH at least one day per week and she lives about 25 minutes from us, but she lives fairly close to my office), and the fact that there are no other kids there for our toddler to play with. Can y’all please help me think this through?
Hey y’all. Two sleep/bed related questions:
1. DS is 2.5 and sleeps in a PnP. He is definitely too big overall for it, but he is a cozy sleeper so it generally works. The problem is, our new home has wood floors and the PnP tends to move very easily (likely because DS is too big for it), which is a problem because DS usually spends 45 minutes talking to his stuffed animals/singing/moving around before going to sleep for the night. Any suggestions on how to secure the PnP?
2. We also know that the PnP has run it’s course for him, and we want to transition him to a toddler bed to also free up PnP for DS #2 later this year. Any suggestions? Looking for something with railing that isn’t too high. I want to avoid the temptation of him getting out as much as possible since he does well overall. I do like the Montessori style beds but saw one online for $600 which seems way overpriced….
Thank you in advance!
How do you prove yourself during a pandemic? I took a dream/stretch job in November (#3 at a state agency) and was just getting my feet under me when covid hit. At first it was crazy and I was involved in our covid response and it was exhausting but full of learning opportunities. I had some victories but was involved in a mistake that cost us a lot in political capital.
Now we’ve stood up our processes and things have slowed down and become more predictable, and of course my six month honeymoon on this job is over. It is so hard to figure out what is normal, what is our culture, and how to change things when I can’t see folks and can’t have in person informal conversations. I’ve taken over a department that is proving difficult to manage and am starting to wonder if I’ll be able to have any large victories by the time my boss leaves (as agency heads tend to do — I don’t expect him to be here in two years and he himself would say that). I got a glowing review recently but I really feel like I need some real accomplishments to point to and it’s hard to imagine getting anything significant done in the next year. The whole thing makes me want to curl up in bed and watch trashy tv (which I could do!) instead of try.
Advice or commiseration? I so appreciate this community for the mom and working woman wisdom.
Our DD’s private school is planning to return to the classroom FT in August but is also offering an “at home” option where a teacher will come to students’ homes a couple times a week for about an hour and leave self-paced assignments for the rest of the time. DD will only be in kindergarten, and I’m glad the school is offering this as an alternative to online, virtual learning for her age group. She was in PreK there last spring, and they did online for all when school shut down in March. It was a mess, and I think DD would do a lot better with one-on-one in-person instruction. Because we’re in a Southern hotspot with very poor projections for controlling spread this fall, we’re strongly considering signing up for the at home option. While the school is taking some precautions for classroom instruction, they’re not requiring masks for her age, not reducing class sizes, and not increasing outside time, etc. Still, I worry that DD will miss out on important social interactions/bonding, that she won’t be getting everything she needs to learn to read during her first year of “real” school, and that we’d still be paying the same tuition for less value (there’s no discount for choosing the at home option). We can swap back halfway through the semester if it isn’t working for us, but it’s possible the school won’t still be having in-person classes by October anyway so this might be our best chance for her to go to school in person this year. Very few people we know are considering the at home option, but our current work situation makes it feasible for us. We have to commit one way or the other by mid-July. What would you do?
How do you prove yourself during a pandemic and wfh? I took a job that was a big leap for me professionally— #3 at a state govt agency — in November and was getting my feet under me when covid hit. At first the pandemic response was taking up all my time, as we set up new processes and dealt with crises. I would give myself a B on that — did my part, made one large mistake, but showed my mettle.
Now things have settled down and we are still all wfh, but I am more than six months in and feeling like the honeymoon is over. Larger projects are really hard to get off the ground, new depts that I have taken over are…easily running around me…and my motivation is low. This was a dream job for me and I can’t figure out how to make an impact. My boss thinks the world of me and gave me a glowing review, but if he leaves (as agency heads seem to do) I don’t really know what I’ll have to show for myself for my first year. Any thoughts/advice/commiseration? It’s feeling more and more tempting to watch trashy tv instead of trying to work.
Cute kid stories?
My 3yo has started pretending he can read, and will scrutinize a new book cover and then pronounce what he thinks the title is: “This book is called….T-rex fire truck!” and then I read the actual title and say, “It’s called Dinosaur Rescue, sweetie.” and he responds, again, pretending to read: “Right… Dinosaur Rescue!” For books he knows really well he will say the memorized words as he turns the pages. It’s adorable.
I posted yesterday but it got stuck in mod, so trying again: I’m due in a few weeks and just found out that I will have to wear a mask in the hospital 24/7 (even during labor, sleeping, etc.) I’m pro-mask generally, but the idea of pushing with a mask on is really stressing me out. Anyone have recommendations for very lightweight, comfortable masks?
Alternatively, has anyone had a baby recently and had to wear a mask during labor? Tips? I’m torn on cloth vs. paper.
For families that have started taking daytrips with their kids – what do you do about bathrooms? I’m COVID-unemployed and have decided for my sanity being home with three kids, I need to have some bigger outings to look forward to. Most places we would go (beaches, parks, hiking trails, botanical gardens), are not opening their facilities, even though the outdoor areas are open – and truth be told, I think I would still feel a little squeamish about using the public bathrooms that are open. Am I being irrational? I’ve thought about taking our potty with us (but I guess I would still have to dump the pee somewhere), just having them pee in the woods, but not sure if I’m over-thinking this or missing some other solution? Or if you would use public bathrooms?
To the poster yesterday who was lamenting about shoe prices: Once you figure out what brand fits your kid’s foot and what you like, start just stalking sales on sites like 6pm and amazon and the brand website. I am fiercely brand loyal to keens as summer shoes, and I know that getting them for under $30 is a good deal. Once you figure out roughly what size your kid will be for the summer, it’s easy to just keep an eye out and buy ahead.
I just got Hunter boots for less than $30 each, I bought my kiddo who wears Stride Rites sneakers for $20 and in a pinch know that Nordstrom Rack usually has good shoes for not too much.
My kids also usually have 2 pair of shoes + boots… but sometimes I might have one of those pairs in half a size up (and they’re just my backup shoes) to get myself a little more time.
My son started at a childminder (small in-home daycare) last week and has had so many potty accidents. We potty trained a week before lockdown but have only been at home/at the park ever since. He’s pretty good at home, he’ll run straight to the potty, the occasional accident if we’re out or if someone is silly and ties the drawstrings of his trousers. Is this just normal adjustment? Any tips?
We brought his little potty from home and he seems otherwise really happy there. He and her 8 year old son play Thomas for hours, and he’s figured out how to scam snacks off the husband (a chef at a fancy Indian restaurant). I’m terrified the childminder will tell us he can’t come back because he was supposed to be potty trained as she doesn’t have nappy changing facilities.