Washable Workwear Wednesday: The Butler Sweater
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If you haven’t heard, M.M. LaFleur is having a HUGE summer sale, and this sweater is on the top of my list.
I have the sleeveless version (currently on sale for $100) and would love to add this one to my wardrobe. It’s made from a nubby cotton blend for year-round comfort. It works equally well IRL at the office or on Zoom at home. Just add slim, tailored trousers and flats for an easy outfit.
The Butler Sweater in light gray/ivory is on sale for $135. If you prefer black/white or navy/ivory it’s $225. This sweater is available in XS–XXL.
Looking for other washable workwear? See all of our recent recommendations for washable clothes for work, or check out our roundup of the best brands for washable workwear.
Sales of note for 9.10.24
(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)
- Ann Taylor – 30% off your purchase
- Banana Republic Factory – Up to 50% off everything + extra 20% off
- Boden – 15% off new styles
- Eloquii – $29 and up select styles; up to 50% off everything else
- J.Crew – Up to 50% off wear-to-work styles; extra 30% off sale styles
- J.Crew Factory – 40-60% off everything; extra 60% off clearance
- Lands’ End – 30% off full-price styles
- Loft – Extra 40% off sale styles
- Talbots – BOGO 50% everything, includes markdowns
- Target – Car-seat trade-in event through 9/28 — bring in an old car seat to get a 20% discount on other baby/toddler stuff.
- Zappos – 26,000+ women’s sale items! (check out these reader-favorite workwear brands on sale, and some of our favorite kids’ shoe brands on sale)
Kid/Family Sales
- Carter’s – Birthday sale, 40-50% off & extra 20% off select styles
- Hanna Andersson – Up to 50% off all baby; up to 40% off all Halloween
- J.Crew Crewcuts – Extra 30% off sale styles
- Old Navy – 40% off everything
- Target – BOGO 25% off select haircare, up to 25% off floor care items; up to 30% off indoor furniture up to 20% off TVs
Husband is out of town this week for an important conference in a very fun city. He’s giving a couple of talks, hosting a dinner and sitting on an expert panel. These events are spread out over the week, though, so he has lots of downtime. He’s doing all kinds of touristy things and eating at great restaurants and sleeping in a totally blacked-out, AC-cranked hotel room by himself, as anyone should do on a work trip if they can. Meanwhile, I’m home with our three children, including a baby with a daycare cough going through a sleep regression, so I’m getting now sleep, and work is hard right now because I just returned from leave and am so overwhelmed with very little room to ask for help.
After several updates with pictures of him doing fun things and eating delicious food in expensive restaurants, I told him to read the room and knock it off with the texts showing me what a fantastic time he’s having. I am legitimately happy for him and obviously want him to enjoy his time in between work commitments but I don’t think he needs to keep reminding me of all the fun he’s having. Husband took offense to this of course and ended our conversation with a “fine, I’ll just keep this stuff to myself then.” To his credit, I was tired and snippy, and before he left he apologized for needing to go and thanked me profusely for picking up all the slack while he’s away. I was feeling bad about snapping at him but upon retrospect I think I have a point here. So — AITA?
What are your favorite “finding books” for kids? Kid in question is age 4.5. He adores I Spy and Wimmelbooks and is meh about Where’s Waldo. I want to get him some new ones to look at in bed.
In need of toy recommendations – we are sharing a beach house next month with friends, and there will be kids ages 2-7. What kind of toys/activities can we bring for indoors that don’t have a million small parts? I’m blanking on ideas!
In the spirit of the easy/quick dinner conversation last week – sharing this recipe which is often in rotation in our home. We eat it with rice, and DH has made nachos with it, my BFF’s Mom uses it for stuffed peppers – options are endless.
https://myheartbeets.com/instant-pot-keema/
Note: I’m not a peas fan, so grated a zucchini and chopped a few bell peppers and cooked them with the tomatoes. I also used fresh tomatoes (blitzed them in nutrib*llet) since I had them handy.
Just wanted to say thank you to all the moms who weighed in about their spirited children and the challenges and strategies. It was so helpful to read all of this, good ideas + made me feel less alone. We will get thru it and hopefully channel her energy for good (and maybe she will be a decent teenager who knows what’s right and doesn’t give in to peer pressure? (One can dream!).
I have a scheduling challenge. My 5 year old attends jiu jitsu M/W from 5-6PM. We’re losing our nanny in the fall so it looks like my 18 month old twins will be coming with us. I should bring all the snacks and then park them in front of screens, right? There’s no wifi at the gym. There are benches to watch the instruction, but my twins won’t sit still for more than 2 minutes. I’m looming for a babysitter but, understandably, no one wants to work a couple of hours a week.
I’d love to hear some wisdom about what worked, and what didn’t, for those of you who have had an infant and a toddler share a room!
Context: we are renting our current home, and planning to buy a house in 18-24 months. I’m due with our second child in January, when our first child will be 27 months. Her nursery is plenty large enough for a second crib, so space is not the issue. I’ll keep the baby in our bedroom for the first 6 months before moving him into the nursery. I’m also going to put a second glider in my office (our three upstairs rooms are master bedroom, nursery, and my office) so that I have a place for middle of the night feedings (although if he follows his sister’s pattern, knock wood, those will end around 7 weeks).
What are your best pieces of advice for having two different aged children with different nap needs, sleep schedules, etc. in the same room?
In case relevant, we want to keep our toddler in her crib for as long as we can.
Does anyone have any recommendations for a family friendly hotel/bed & breakfast somewhere in/around Calistioga/Napa area? Going with two kids (5 and 6) and looking for a 2-3 day get away.
Thoughts on any of these book subscription services for kids? A spendy grandparent wants to get one for LO’s upcoming third birthday. LO loves books, so it’s a good idea and hits that sweet spot of extravagant thing we would never get for him ourselves. But grandparent wants guidance on which one, and I am at a loss other than googling and vaguely recalling a podcast trying to sell me Literati at one point. Any experiences good or bad?
I’m overthinking this, but thoughts on “no gifts” birthday parties for a preschooler? My son is turning 4 and we will invite his class and a couple of other families. I’d like to say no gifts so that people don’t have to worry about getting one. Is that an okay thing to do for a little kid party?
Those of you who use a Tripp trapp, what age did you stop using the baby seat? 18 month old could probably climb onto the seat if I remove the baby seat, but if I remove the baby seat, the US version of the Tripp trapp has no harness attachment, which doesn’t feel super safe to me. Unless you guys know how I can attach the harness without the baby seat…
How annoyed would you be if your kid was attending a soccer day camp and came home with reports of watching movies?
As background, we often do inexpensive parks and rec camps, but decided to splurge on a fancy soccer camp at a private school that was supposed to be really good. It’s really expensive so I had high expectations. My 6 yo came home on day 1 with a report that she watched one and a half movies that day during camp (probably about 1.5-2 hours of screen time in a 6 hour camp). On day two my older daughter pulled her sister from the movie room so she could play indoor games with the older kids, so she watched less, but the plan was still for the younger kids to sit in a classroom to watch movies for a significant chunk of the day. I emailed the camp and they said that they need cool down time in A/C for the younger kids given the heat. I feel like this could easily be coloring or games–the counselors are being lazy by just turning on movies.
Am I out of line to expect the camp to occupy 6 yos with activities rather than screens? (It’s not like it’s rainy or insanely hot–just normal and predictable hot weather for our area.)
My 4 year old is very offended and sad that the dog is permitted to sleep in our bed every night and she isn’t. My husband thinks we just ignore it, but I sort of feel like she has a point that this is unfair. What say you guys?
Ugh. This is such a small thing but I just got an invite to my to-be sister in law’s bridal shower and it is on my toddler’s birthday. I was so excited to get to celebrate the birthday on the actual day since it’s a weekend and I had a cute little family party planned. I know I probably *have* to go to the shower and I’ll move the small family party we were having to a different day I guess – but ughhhh.
I realize no one is obligated to work around my kids’ birthdays, especially not for something like this. I just wanted to spend the day with birthday kid (they so rarely fall on a weekend!) and I’m really bummed about it. I can’t express annoyance in real life so I’m expressing it here.
I get it OP! I love being able to celebrate things on the day off (and will routinely take off from work on my kids’ birthdays to get to spend it with them, so I love when it falls on a weekend). I’d be disappointed with the way that it worked out too.
And I agree about some people just being different about birthdays. My BIL and SIL routinely do not remember to acknowledge my or my kids’ birthdays. It hurts my feelings that they cannot be bothered to remember it. On the other hand, I have another SIL who will send me a gift for my birthday, whereas I only send birthday gifts to my nieces and nephews and not to my siblings or SILs/BILs (I do send a text to wish them a happy day). Maybe that SIL is on a blog somewhere saying it hurts her feelings that I don’t send her a gift! All which is to say, people think differently about this sort of thing.