Coffee Break: Welaxy Felt Organizers

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I'm always a sucker for affordable little ways to organize desk drawers — particularly if they bring a nice pop of color. A friend was recommending these felt organizers from Welaxy, and I'm totally smitten.

Of course I've pictured the blue, but they have two really lovely pinks, a nice dark gray, as well as a brighter turquoise blue — and they have a TON of products that all look fabulous. A step up from the plastic drawer dividers you find at the Dollar Store, but not quite as fancy as some of the leather or other options.

The pictured set is $46; there's a coupon for $3 off today.

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Sales of note for 1/31/25:

  • Ann Taylor – Suiting Event – 30% off suiting + 30% off tops
  • Nordstrom – Cashmere on sale; AllSaints, Free People, Nike, Tory Burch, and Vince up to 60%; beauty deals up to 25% off
  • Banana Republic Factory – 50% off everything + extra 20 off your $100+ purchase
  • Boden – 15% off new season styles
  • Eloquii – 60% off 100s of styles
  • J.Crew – Up to 40% off winter layers
  • J.Crew Factory – 50% off sweaters and pants
  • Rothy's – Final Few: Up to 40% off last-chance styles
  • Spanx – Lots of workwear on sale, some up to 70% off
  • Talbots – End of season clearance, extra 70% off markdown tops + extra 60% off all other markdowns

Sales of note for 1/31/25:

  • Ann Taylor – Suiting Event – 30% off suiting + 30% off tops
  • Nordstrom – Cashmere on sale; AllSaints, Free People, Nike, Tory Burch, and Vince up to 60%; beauty deals up to 25% off
  • Banana Republic Factory – 50% off everything + extra 20 off your $100+ purchase
  • Boden – 15% off new season styles
  • Eloquii – 60% off 100s of styles
  • J.Crew – Up to 40% off winter layers
  • J.Crew Factory – 50% off sweaters and pants
  • Rothy's – Final Few: Up to 40% off last-chance styles
  • Spanx – Lots of workwear on sale, some up to 70% off
  • Talbots – End of season clearance, extra 70% off markdown tops + extra 60% off all other markdowns

And some of our latest threadjacks here at Corporette (reader questions and commentary) — see more here!

Some of our latest threadjacks include:

150 Comments

  1. I’m pondering asking for a raise soon — please share your best tips or resources! I know it’s a weird year for it.

  2. Now that it feels attainable within 6-12 months, what will be your first post pandemic trip besides visiting parents — like an actual weekend/vacation away? I find myself thinking I REALLY want to travel but say I’m able to by next July or Oct or whatever — would I necessarily go to a Florida type of place (my usual fast getaway from DC) or a city like Nashville (been wanting to explore); I don’t know if vaccine uptake will be equally high everywhere or if there will still be places where people refuse to take whatever remaining public health measures including vaccines? Is it then safer to plan on that first trip being to areas that have handled this well — i.e. New England, Canada etc?

    1. Going to Dublin next June! There’s a wool festival which may or may not happen and beyond that there’s a whole city that I haven’t explored at ALL and some of my very best friends have moved there in the past 18 months.

    2. I have a rafting trip planned in July 2021, but we’ll probably bump it to 2022. It would be taking place in a red state that is probably going to take up armed resistance to the vaccine (they’re just that crazy). We’ll see though. It’s obviously all outdoors and we would drive from our own state, but there are indoor bottlenecks too like gathering at the guiding office.

    3. My trip to Cape Cod was was postponed this summer so that’s what I’ll maybe be doing next July! We were able to rebook our beach house with the same dates in 2021. I am leery that things will be ok by then, though.

    4. Vegas, baby! And hopefully our friends’ wedding in La Jolla; we had an epic California adventure planned around this wedding and we were devastated when we had to cancel.

      There are also some trips we want to take to Baltimore and Montreal, but we want them to center around Sox/Orioles and B’s/Habs games, respectively, and it’s unclear whether either trip can happen in 2021.

    5. If you had asked me 3 or 4 months ago, I would have said Paris, but at this point, I’m exhausted and so sick of people (because why can’t you just wear a mask) that I just want to go somewhere remote and sit and stare at the ocean for a week. So, Vieques.

      1. going back to vieques is high on my list for return to semi normalcy trips as well!

    6. My scheduled May 2020 Iceland heliskiing trip was postponed to May 2021, and I’m reallllly hoping the rollout of the vaccines happens in time for me to go. :)

      1. I really hope you can go!! My big ski trip for 2020 was cancelled, but we’ll see how the 2022 season shapes up.

        1. Thanks – fingers crossed! The company that runs it sent around an email saying based on the vaccine news they expected to run the programs in the spring, so I’m hoping it works out this season!

    7. I’d feel comfortable on a plane but not going a place like Florida or anywhere Covid is likely to still be a problem in a year or two from now (assuming low vaccination rate due to the covidiots that still don’t believe it’s real). But I’d go as far abroad as possible – possible the Maldives.

    8. Less exciting than the rest of the crowd, but I’ll be taking my kid to Chicago. It was a trip that was planned for April 2020 (overlapping with a work trip of mine), and Kiddo was so excited to ride the el and see my besties who live there. It’s been pushed back so long that now one of said besties will have a kid of her own by the time we get out there, so all the more reason to go! I hope it can be summer or at least fall of 2021, I really really hope…

  3. I don’t really like watching TV, but since the start of the pandemic I have been watching Seinfeld all the way through and I’m really enjoying it. I like the 90s life — no cell phones, internet, etc. — and the older fashions. I also love When Harry Met Sally and some of that era movies. Anyone have another show to recommend? Not Friends (I was super into when I was younger and know it too well), and nothing about teenagers.

      1. Oops that was mostly 80s. Frasier, the spin-off, was quite good and it premiered in 1993.

      2. I thought of Cheers right away – my husband and I love Seinfeld and very much liked Cheers and watched the whole thing a few years ago.

        I watched Frasier growing up and very much enjoyed it. I wonder if it aged well.

    1. I bet you would like Fraiser. That was a great show.

      I know you said no teenagers, but if you’ve never watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer, well, you really should.

    2. I remember watching ER in the 90s. I think maybe Sleepless in Seattle was early 90s?

    3. I recently rewatched the early ER seasons, which I was really into as a preteen in the 90s, and enjoyed that 90s nostalgia so much. No dating apps, no internet, old cars, no instagram or facebook, computers were novelties…

      1. I’m a huge fan of 90210, but she said she wasn’t interested in shows about teenagers. I guess if you’re willing to split hairs, start around Season 4 when they enter college.

        1. Ah reading comp fail on my end…fair point about starting later? I stand by the others!

      2. Came here to say Wings. I loved Wings when I was a kid and re-watched as an adult and it was just as good.

      1. X files all the way!! Also Ally McBeal. And then if you’re doing classic rom-coms, don’t forget While You Were Sleeping, which is an excellent Xmas movie if you’re looking for that.

    4. ER
      West Wing (the cell phones are giant)
      Sports Night
      Ally McBeal
      The Practice

      1. +1 Sports Night, so so great if you can get past the very clear Aaron Sorkin approach.

        Also newsradio is the greatest 90s show!!!

  4. Wanted to share two things that have helped me with pandemic stress lately. The first is the approach outlined in this great article from the NYT over the weekend about treating Thanksgiving (and life) like an improv script: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/22/opinion/thanksgiving-holiday-improv.html

    That kind of resilient, flexible, look-for-the-positive attitude has actually really helped me get through some of the darker moments this year. So did the phrase “this isn’t your life on hold, it’s your life.” Both helped me recognize that there is joy to be had and things to do and loved ones to talk to, even if it’s different than it used to be.

    Second, I’ve been dealing with some anger at anti-maskers and people who act like there is no pandemic (like the woman from the South Dakota article earlier). One thing that’s been helping me is cognitively reframing the situation. Instead of telling myself that that woman is a selfish a-hole who will kill others rather than skip one Thanksgiving (what I said to myself for months), I’ve started thinking about it as “not her fault.” Now I try to think things like “poor woman, it must be so hard to go through life with such limited intelligence. I’m glad that I and my friends and family have been blessed with the intellect, good education, and strength to make good choices – it’s such a gift!” I know it sounds odd, but framing anti-maskers as people to pity rather than people to loathe has made a real difference in my mental outlook. We’ve talked about this before and how you can apply this cognitive reframing to other situations in your life (like telling yourself the other driver with road rage was driving recklessly because he was on the way to the hospital with his pregnant wife, even if you know it’s not true) and the little mental trickery involved has really been helping me at this time.

    1. Pity is not an improvement; it’s a short-term solution that causes long term problems. You will come across strong, intelligent, educated people who make choices that you disagree with, and your response will be to throw out all that rage you’re suppressing. (I’ve been on the receiving end of this and it’s just sad.)

      People drive recklessly because they are selfish and because careful drivers like me will proactively avoid the accident, which gives them a false sense of security in what they are doing. I can only control my car and it’s my job to focus on my own driving. People with road rage will eventually get tickets and accidents and other problems. Hopefully they don’t cause too much damage to others along the way.

      The science behind masks is dubious. I wear a mask because I don’t enjoy starting fights or antagonising people and frankly wish the pro-mask nuts would back off their asinine, counterproductive rhetoric. “If you don’t wear a mask, you’re a pathetic, uneducated, anti-intellectual Grandma killer” only “works” in an argument in that no one actually wants to debate you. They just smile, grit their teeth, and throw their masks into the trash. Try “The studies are all over the place, but wearing a mask is easy. Can you please err on the side of caution on this one thing and make tense, overwrought people feel a bit better?”

      1. The science is far from dubious. Masks aren’t 100% perfect but they are absolutely better than no mask. Don’t spread disinformation.

      2. The science is not dubious but I won’t argue with people who don’t trust the scientific process.

        1. +1. Not dubious at all. It must be difficult to go through life with such limited intelligence. (Thanks, OP — it’s already working!)

          1. One of my degrees is in chemical engineering and I worked as a nanotechnologist.

            I’m guessing that you took the “lucky scrunchie” approach to passing freshman bio.

          2. I admire your commitment to reminding us that education is not the same as intelligence!

          3. Appeals to emotion, appeals to authority, and ad hominem attacks. That’s all someone has to offer when they are so blinded by fear and the natural high of moral superiority that they have to resort to the patronizing “reframings” in this thread to cope with the existence of different opinions about what we should do or be forced to do given the imperfect evidence around the effectiveness and collateral effects of various NPIs. Always important to remember: perspectives on COVID mitigation lie along a continuum, and reasonable people will disagree. Chin up, Anon at 6:27! “Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.”

          4. OMG Anon @ 5:37 idk if it was intentional or not but this is some of the most brilliant satire I’ve read. Cheers!

          5. “I know you are, but what am I?!” is really all that was missing from this thread. COVID hysterics have gone mad, sane people know it’s not worth altering our entire way of life for.

        1. Can you remind me, if the “science behind masks is dubious,” why doctors / surgeons wear them in the operating theater? Thanks so much!

        1. Not Anon at 4:08, but also a scientist. There is a lot of evidence that masks trap a percentage of large particles from the mouth and nose. That’s what the link you posted shows. Whether for influenza pre-2020, or COVID this year, studies have struggled to show that this mechanism actually leads to reduced transmission of respiratory infection, especially reduced general community rates. It just “seems like it should be true.” That is not “science,” because in science you have demonstrate the interaction between every variable, no matter how “obvious.” In the literature there is a more robust link looking at masks worn by heavily symptomatic people in healthcare settings, and not much link with asymptomatic people wearing cloth or surgical masks in the community. Now I know lack of evidence is not evidence of lack, and I have no issue with wearing masks in the community just in case they reduce transmission. That’s the conclusion studies seem to come to- the evidence they will actually reduce infection rates is weak, but that may be explained by how difficult it is to run a controlled study. Better everyone wear masks just in case. Like the poster above says, “the studies are all over the place.” So it seems like an overreaction at best to be defending the mandated use of masks in the community and criminal penalties for noncompliance with religious fervor on the grounds that SCIENCE definitely says masks work. People who make these assertions are losing credibility with a large section of the population for this reason. I don’t even understand anymore why so many people are desperate to spoil a good message by overstating the quality of the evidence. Isn’t it clear how counterproductive this has been? My personal opinion is that wearing masks in indoor areas is a small sacrifice with an similarly small benefit that won’t change anything on a population level. On the balance, we should all wear them, because why not, but having emotional conniptions over people’s mask behavior in public is not warranted.
          Here’s a recent meta-analysis on masks: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmed.2020.564280/full
          An evidence-based article on evidence-based communication: “Avoid unwarranted certainty, neat narratives and partisan presentation; strive to inform, not persuade.”
          https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-03189-1
          NYTimes article about the recent Danish mask study that applies none of these best practices and also only cites laboratory tests of particle blocking as evidence that masks protect the wearer and those around them. This is what I am criticising: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/18/health/coronavirus-masks-denmark.html

    2. Thanks for this.

      I’m from a rural area but was able to get a higher education — and it was a STRUGGLE. All the anger and hate for the rural people — well, they’ve been brought low by poverty, limited education and resources, misled by their government in a way that should be criminal … we should all hate that they haven’t had better opportunities or information but not hate them a people.

      … and all of the angry haters, who are they even, I guess they were all born on home plate and can’t even imagine what it is to struggle, they can hate so-and-so in Texas while they’re on their flight to their vacation home in Florida for Thanksgiving because it’s easier than looking in a mirror or at their own communities I guess.

      1. +1 to frustration at angry haters. I’m an educated white collar DINK in my rural area, and this kind if judgement is so frustrating to me. Just because their experience is not your experience does make them lesser or to be pitied. I honestly think the biggest problem in rural areas is that we all shut down in the spring when COVID was far, far away from us but spreading in cities. And we totally locked down everything; everyone was very cautious. And then for months and months it wasn’t here. I didn’t know anyone personally or through word of mouth that had COVID until the beginning of October – and I am in a client facing position that has municipal clients all over my state, so I talk to a lot of people. It literally wasn’t a real thing to most people’s day to day lives, but there were huge real life effects from COVID reaction – the loss of their jobs from shutdowns, having to deal with daycare because daycares and schools were closed, etc. So you have something for months and months that is totally disrupting people’s lives, the gd President saying every other week that it’s not a real thing or showing any leadership whatsoever in making sure we had a plan for reopening, while not seeing any firsthand evidence of it being a real thing to anyone who you know…I can understand where my neighbors choose to believe that it’s not as bad as what the consequences had been so far to them. I am not saying this is right or that I believe this, I am still doing ALL the things to stop the spread myself, but I get it even if I don’t like it or agree with it. I get it because I see people who are hurting worse because of shutdowns/no government assistance than they are because of COVID. My office is across the street from the local fire department where there is a drive thru food pantry every Wednesday. People line up hours early for that and are lined up for over a mile back. These people are hurting, don’t have jobs or money to pay for food, because of shutdowns. Yes, COVID is deadly – but even if you accept that, if you don’t have food in your house, money in your bank account, your kid’s school is virtual, and you are laid off from your job, what is more real and harder and more of an existential threat to you?

        This quote from the NYT summed it up much better than I can:
        “It seems like they’re passing off the responsibility for controlling the outbreak to individuals and individual choices,” said Ellie Murray, an epidemiologist at Boston University. “A pandemic is more a failure of the system than the failure of individual choices.”

        The rural reaction is absolutely stems from a system failure to enact shutdown policies that actually made sense for the region + create a super strong testing/tracking system.

        https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/23/health/coronavirus-holiday-gatherings.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

        1. I can completely understand and sympathize with the economic pain – it’s very real and we need far better policies to limit its impact on the most vulnerable members of society. No one I know questions that. However, economic pain doesn’t excuse the “screw you, I’ll never wear a mask” attitude that was quoted on the morning thread. That is a choice.

          1. Right. Most of the anti-mask sentiment that I see isn’t related to the economy or job losses. No one is saying, “oh no, I won’t wear a mask because masks are killing our economy.” It’s coming from a desire to preserve “freedoms” or stop “government tyranny” or “not live in fear” or “make your own decisions about your health” or not wanting to be a “sheeple” or not trusting the liberal media/the scientific method.

          2. And the choice to continue that attitude when the National Guard has to be brought in to bury bodies, and prisoners furloughed to be morgue attendants…well, yeah, I get angry at that kind of denial.

        2. Bonnie Kate & anonymous at 4:09, our experiences and our lives may be very different. I’ve never lived in a rural area, and right now I live in an east coast suburb. I don’t have disdain or hate for rural people, even when I don’t understand. We are all Americans. This is our country, and when it comes down to it, all we have is each other. Never forget – we are all Americans, and in our own disorganized fashion, we will get through this together.

          1. Thank you. I’ve lived in both the rural area and the big city (each for decades), and what I’ve learned is that people are people. The worst parts of human nature can be seen everywhere, but there are good parts too. By vilifying each other, I think our anger is misplaced when it would perhaps be more accurately aimed at the systems or policies or sometimes even ourselves and our communities.

    3. Yes, let’s be angry, for example, that better information and guidance was/is not available and fault the people who are responsible for that. There’s no reason Betty from rural Wisconsin should be the main target of our rage.

      There’s a lot to be angry about, but it’s not very productive to randomly hate people because we categorize them as different from us. I guess Betty hates city slickers for being sanctimonious … it’s just another side of the same coin.

    4. People are essentially falling for the marketing or the media hype — rural people are being told that the big bad cities are swarming with crime (or whatever) and the city dwellers are being told that the rural people are determinedly ignoring and safety measures. All the people railing against Fox News –> if you’re angry at rural individuals you have also been fooled.

    5. I don’t know, that second mindset is a little passive aggressive and patronizing.

      I’ve tried to do some re-framing as well though. Listening to Awesome Etiquette has helped put me in the shoes of someone who regularly hosts gatherings for holidays, and it occurred to me that some people feel really obligated to fill that role, to give people a place to go and make sure they get that special meal on this special day, and they may see opting out this year as an act of abandonment and neglect. Especially in parts of the US where hospitality is super important.

      The other thing I’ve been doing, which has been hard in recent months as cases have been spiking, is that if someone’s actions are threatening my safety, or the safety of someone I know personally, I give myself permission to actively get mad – but if they’re not, and I’m just mad that they’re not following the rules, I’ll let myself feel that initial “ugh, that’s so reckless” but let it wash over me and try to move on; I feel like morally, I should be angry on behalf of everyone being put at risk, but that can get exhausting fast. But like I said, now that cases are rising so rapidly, and hospitals are once again nearing capacity, it’s getting harder to feel zen about other people’s selfish, reckless behavior.

      1. Agreed it’s passive aggressive and patronizing. Also, I’m not a fan of giving people a free pass for their ignorance and poor choices. They’re not helpless puppies who sh*t on the rug. Adults have autonomy and while there are myriad reasons that people believe what they believe, pretending that they’re just benighted simpletons helps no one. That said, I do think there’s something to be said for feeling grateful for one’s own education and ability to critically evaluate information.

        1. To be clear, the technique is just so YOU can feel better and less angry if anger is becoming a problem for you. It’s a psychological trick, not an actual response to share with those people.

    6. I have a question about this part: “this isn’t your life on hold, it’s your life.”

      Can you talk me through how this helps you feel happier/better/less sad? It makes me feel terrible to think of this as more than a pause, more than an anomaly.

      1. Maybe too late for this to go through, but for me (I’m not the OP), there have always been significant outside forces shaping what my life looks like that aren’t in my control, and nobody really gives/gave a crap about what I thought of it. My choice is to either be miserable or make the best of it, so I make the best of it. This is no different. Do the stuff you can do. Learn new things, try different activities. Life isn’t always going to go the way I want it to, and I’ve known that from the time I was tiny. You just have to make the best of the head you’re dealt.

    7. For me, I reframe it as feeling sorry for them that they are so scared that instead of facing the reality of covid they are denying it because it’s too frightening to believe it is real. Perhaps just a different form of patronizing, but certainly in several of the covid-deniers I know it is close to the truth. It does help me feel a little better and deflates some of the rage I would otherwise feel.

      1. Yes, I think everyone who is saying “don’t live in fear” in regards to taking basic precautions is at their core deeply afraid and unable to cope.

  5. Ladies. After a decade together, DH asked for fashion advice. I love him dearly and style has never been his strong suit. He’s a federal employee and wears the ubiquitous button down and khakis during the week and flannel shirt and jeans on the weekends. He has a new role that’s public facing and he’s in the office each day. Currently shops at Costco every few years and I usually buy him a shirt and sweater from LL Bean for Christmas.

    He’s 40, 6’2, 240 pounds. I’d be happy to help steer him in a direction. He needs a capsule wardrobe list for men! What stores should he (virtually) check out? A mix of business casual and some casual should be fine.

    1. Does he fit into Land’s End? They have well-made basics, one of my colleagues lives in their jackets and button downs.

    2. Banana republic

      And honestly, Costco still can have some great buys – especially for men.

    3. What are his peers wearing? As a federal employee with a public facing job – does he need a suit? Or will sports jackets work to dress up kackis? He may need up from kackis to slacks with the ubiquitous button down for daily wear. Add a jacket for meetings or public interaction.
      Places to consider: Brooks Brothers, Men’s warehouse, Lands End, Banana Republic. No particular order here. Men’s business fashion, perhaps particularly for government employees doesn’t strike me as very fashion forward as much as ubiquitous.

    4. for inspiration, check out kanoa. The prices are insane but the style is great- it’s all meant to be mixed and matched

    5. First suggestion – upgrade from khakis.
      Chinos might be fine (know your workplace), but darker colours. Navy, black, dark grey. But some nice wool trousers is the next level from dark chinos (and then next level full suit).

      Third – a good blazer with a little texture. I really like hopsack weave wool for a little discreet visual interest in a glassic darker fabric blazer, but something that’s not obviously a suit separate without the trousers is the goal. (Look at Paul Smith’s hopsack blazer for inspiration)

      Second – at least one versatile quite dark suit that can be worn with or without tie (not so formal as to look odd without tie). Don’t get anything shiny. Light wool in dark navy or dark grey quite safe, unless he needs to be very, very formal (black!).

      Third – minium of three shirts (five is better for laundry), where some of them work fine without a tie (unless more formal, of course). I would say light blue is safe, don’t get all button downs (at least one more formal for tie and suit), and get a collar that suits neck with and height and face shape. :)

      Fourth – at least one pair of good (dress) shoes, preferably two to be able to rest/air out. Black socks (or navy, if nothing else is black, but no navy socks with black suit and black shoes). Just get a lot of identical ones, no matching required.

      Fifth – at least one good tie. No bright red or skye blue unless he *wants* to signal “I’m in POWER”.

      If he’s not a suit guys – maybe remind him not to button lower button. ;)

        1. Go to instagram and search mens capsule wardrobe. There are some great stylish men of all ages represented.

        2. Thank you so much for taking the time to write this all out. I think part of the issue is that most pants are khaki colored and paired with button down shirts of varying fit and older shoes it’s just not a polished look. Peers are wearing chinos or wool trousers with collared shirt, blazer, sweater. He does have jackets that are in good shape. This formula and assorted capsule visuals will be helpful for him. Thanks!

  6. I like the way you’ve reframed it, but what about cases in which that isn’t true? There are lot of objectively smart people who are just bad people

    1. But the objectively smart people you refer to are on this board just as much as they are in rural America. It’s not a rural problem. There are plenty of wealthy city dwellers who are behaving badly right now as I’m sure many here can attest.

    2. I agree. I do appreciate the sentiment behind re-framing it that way when it comes to things that don’t objectively harm others — like, I don’t know, some jerk who butts in front of you at the supermarket — but when it comes to infectious disease where poor choices put innocent people at risk, it’s hard for me to re-frame it. I guess the analogy would be this: If faced with someone who intends on continuing to drink and drive and sees no risk to that … I can’t bring myself to get to “poor dear, it must be so hard to go through life with such limited intelligence. I’m glad that my loved ones have the intellect, good education, and strength to make good choices.”

      1. People keep using the analogy of drunk driving as a reason why people should be acting better but ignore the decades and decades of public policy and PR campaigns it took to get people to recognize that drunk driving is a problem. Texting and driving has been proven to be as dangerous but people still do it all the time – it will take a long time for people to realize it’s dangerous. I’m not sure why anyone assumes that just because there’s a global pandemic human nature is going to change so drastically that what usually takes decades (public buy in) will happen on an accelerated timeline. Especially when unlike drunk driving campaigns, there is no easy/free replacement (free car rides home from bars, etc) or massive stick (prison time, massive fines, being a felon) attached to not complying with public health recommendations. Oh and add that half the government contracts the public health recommendations.

        1. Because it’s a global pandemic affecting all of us, not a drunk driving accident that has only affected a smaller number of people in the abstract. That’s why it’s positively baffling that people “drive drunk” on all things pandemic after eight months of this.

          1. Hmm I disagree, there are still lots of people that don’t know anyone who has had COVID or only know people who have mild cases and think this is just a flu. Plenty of politicians are reinforcing that narrative so it’s not baffling that so many people aren’t taking it seriously. Much like drunk driving was initially only taken seriously by people personally affected by it.

        2. But why can’t there be a stick? I can get pulled over / fined if I’m not wearing a seatbelt, or my license sticker is out of date, or my child is not in a carseat. Why can’t there be fines for not wearing masks? Sure, I get that you’re not going to get every single instance — just like the cops don’t get every single person who speeds or who isn’t wearing a seatbelt — but there’s been such a fear of implementing some kind of compliance.

        3. The answer to drunk driving is transportation and city planning. The answer to the pandemic is policy and public spending too.

    3. Thanks for the comment (I’m OP). There are cases where I know it’s not true and I really struggle with the reframe, but honestly, even the act of TRYING to reframe it helps me. I still get angry but I can manage it better now.

  7. Anyone have a coupon for new egg? Chose a laptop, sold via 3rd party, but cannot find a coupon. Also, has anyone who has bought from them used their squaretrade insurance? It doesn’t say anything about a deductible but I’m not sure if there is one and hold times for a call are super long to ask.

    Thanks!

    1. I don’t have a coupon but can vouch for new egg. You might call them and ask if they’re doing anything for Black Friday that might help with your laptop. I’ve found them very helpful in the past.

  8. Hi all, my college aged daughter is looking for a new desk for second semester, which will be remote learning as was the first. What she doesn’t like about her current ikea desk is that she can’t cross her legs under it (we are both long of leg) and that the surface is marred, which affects writing on it.

    I’d like to get her a new desk for Christmas. Budget is in the low hundreds, not thousands. She needs it to be white but otherwise has no requirements.

    I figured some of you have bought new desks recently for WFH and might have recommendations. We’re leaning Wayfair level here. No trips to IKEA or local furniture store as our county is in the purple zone.

    1. Container Store has some good quality basic desks (and I believe there is a white one!). $100-200. A former roommate of mine used to have one and she loved it.

    2. I think when it comes to desks, the right fit matters more than anything. I’d take measurements of what the ideal feels like it would be in terms of height and depth and then search Wayfair. Once you’ve narrowed it down to a few, then look to see what they are made out of. That should get you something much better than Ikea or Crate and Barrel or what have you. The filtering capabilities on their site are amazing.

    3. I have one of the West Elm mini desks (the mid-century one in Acorn) and I’m happy with the quality. The size is perfect for a laptop, phone, water/coffee and small notepad. I’m sure they are going to be doing something for black friday if they aren’t already.

    4. I would look for a desk that you can adjust the height of and then a two drawer filing cabinet on wheels that fits underneath. This is the set up I had for years and years. Actually from ikea. Not a sit stand, just one where the height of the legs could be adjusted by about 10 inches or so. Our ikea (in Canada) has curb side pick up now (maybe even delivery) so not risky re Covid.

    5. I would suggest Ikea standing/sitting desk, you can adjust it so that legs fit. Signes, My Crossed Legs Barely Fit

  9. I’m trying to brush up on my French language skills, which have been neglected since college. I am giving Duolingo a good go but think it’d be helpful to have programs I can use more as “background noise” for when I can’t be actively clicking and participating in the app. Would love recommendations for French podcasts— maybe something like The Daily or Up First from a French outlet? “News in slow French” would be perfect but would rather not pay for a subscription when I can just listen to a free podcast at half speed.
    Thanks in advance!

    1. Duolingo has a French podcast! I tried it once, but I’m so new that I couldn’t understand any of it yet, but it might be just the thing for you.

    2. Don’t know any podcast, sorry, but one thing I do is to get books I already know well in the target language version from audible, and listen at low speed. Because I already know what will happen, and know what they’re talking about, it’s easier to follow. Haven’t tried French, but works well for German.

      1. That’s a good idea— I remember really enjoying Harry Potter in French back in the day.

    3. RFI Grande Reportage
      RFI Journal en Français Facile
      Splash by Nouvelles Écoutes
      Transfert by Slate
      On Hair by Jennifer Padjemi
      La Poudre
      ARTE – a YouTube channel with documentaries. You can play them with subtitles on
      Also consider taking a conversation class to improve your speaking skills

    4. If you want something more active … I just watched Painting of a Lady on Fire on Hulu. It is in French with English subtitles. My level is similar to yours and I found that I could understand most of it without the subtitles.

  10. We are doing a surf and turf Thanksgiving this year – we’re having steak and some kind of fish (TBD when we go to the fish market, but it will likely be black cod or halibut). What side dishes do you think would go well with that? I’m not at all stuck on traditional Thanksgiving sides, so the world is our oyster.

    1. Yes!! We’re doing the same with shrimp as the fish. Probably keeping it simple here with some potatoes and a green vegetable. Maybe some of Trader Joe’s frozen brussels sprouts (brussels sprouts without any cleaning/prep needed are the best in my opinion).

    2. Fun mashed potatoes, like garlic or truffle? I.e., something you would not serve your relatives with limited palettes?

    3. Well, how about combining the two – oyster dressing is a longstanding family favorite and is delicious.

    4. That sounds delicious. I would add:
      Twice baked potatoes that I would buy prepared/ready to bake at my local meat market.
      Sautéed in butter fresh green beens.
      Sautéed in butter mushrooms.

    5. I see what you did there!

      I’d probably do rolls or rice pilaf, with green beans as our vegetable. Maybe garlic bread!

  11. Cars? Hi, I need an SUV or crossover 4WD for mountainous snow country. I have been sharing my husband’s SUV but that is getting old. I am usually a luxury car driver who once every decade picks a car with a really smooth ride to protect my back. What would you suggest that is modestly sized, has 4WD, and the least truck-like ride?

    1. Volvo XC 60 or XC90. Just replaced my old XC 90 with a 2020 3 months ago; I’ve had neck and back issues – it’s a very customizable and comfortable ride. Super safe, 4WD, and not bad gas mileage; not at all truck-like.

    2. Our last car was an Audi Q5, which had a great interior and nice ride in a relatively compact size.

    3. I think you could do any Audi with Quattro – sedan or SUV. My A4 beats most SUVs in my snowy area of the Midwest.

  12. Part of my new job is handling HR investigations at a global company. One of the things I’m running into is how to correctly pronounce people’s names (I’m a Midwest born young person, growing up with lots of John Smiths and Jane Johnsons). I have done some Googling and YouTubing and am wondering if any of you have reliable sources/recommendations I can consult. I of course ask each person to state their name and tell me their preferred name for me to use during the interviews, but I want to do some pre-learning so I can get over how it “looks” in English. I absolutely want to get it right and anything I can listen to or see/hear would be helpful.

    1. Honestly, asking is the best thing you can do – shows care and sensitivity that even an educated guess can’t. Different regions use different pronunciations, so would be better to lean into the idea that you don’t know.

      Signed, white American with a weird name nobody gets right, who has done similar work.

    2. I think your sentiments are very good ones, but I feel like asking someone how they pronounce their name, then saying “thank you, X. Am I saying that correctly?” sincerely is the best thing to do here. My husband has a first and last name that is tricky for many Americans, and this is what he prefers (particularly the confirmation of whether you’re pronouncing it correctly, as many people feel uncomfortable when they aren’t sure they heard it right and will actively avoid ever using his name. It sucks).
      You can prepare all you want and still run into people who pronounce it differently than the standard, or who go by a nickname or something else.

    3. I made GOTV calls for the general election and had very good success googling names and listening to the “how to pronounce” audio files. That won’t get you there all the time, of course, so I think asking, stating, and confirming, as suggested above, is appropriate.

    4. I had to do this in a past role and I used to wait until after normal work hours then call their work phone and listen to how they pronounced the name on their outgoing voice mail message.

  13. How does cuddl duds fit? It looks very narrow. Kohls has a good price on several pieces on their black friday sale.

    1. I can only speak to tops, very fitted with nice long arms. With the regular tops I size up and it works for me. If I get my normal size I feel squeezed. Interestingly, the fleece lined tops are fine in my regular size. I’m tall, thin and small chested.

    2. They seem to fit pretty true to size IMO. I am taking an outdoor exercise class (with masks, social distancing far exceeding our state’s guidelines) and I actually wear the Cuddle Duds long sleeve top as one of my layers and it works great. I buy mine at Sam’s Club and have been pleased with them.

  14. I’m considering bath salts as a Christmas gift for my grandma. She likes that sort of thing, but I’ve never used them. Will they make the bathtub slippery? She’s 89 so I worry about that. If not, does anyone have recommendations for which brand to buy? Alternative ideas welcomed too!

    1. I use the basic ones you find at target ( dr teals I think) and some other boutiquey ones. The ones with essential oils can get a little slimy and slippy in the tub. I’d stick to ones that have less oils mixed in. I saw some that were packaged in tea bag type sachets somewhere online, where you can get the soothing smells and herbs without the oils or floating in a bunch of gunk

    2. I’ve never noticed salts making the tub slippery the oils and bubble bath can, but I would be nervous about her using the tub, too (heck, I’m in my mid 30s and caught myself from mid slip last week!). Could you also get her one of those grippy bath mats? And maybe find out if she has grab bars installed?

    3. I am a bath person but I do find some of those things either make the bathtub slippery, or they dirty it up and make it hard to clean and unless grandma has cleaning help, you don’t need her leaning over and scrubbing it and possibly hurting herself. Another alternative might be some really luxurious lotions or powders. (I’d love to find those powder puffs that our grandmothers used to use — I’m old enough to remember when fine fragrances would have a powder offering that you’d apply with a big puff.)

      I know this is not what you were asking for, but in general if you’re worried about a slippery bathtub you could also always get grandma a grab bar and have it installed for her.

    4. They’ve definitely made my tub slippery. I would hesitate to give them as a gift to an 89 year old unless there was an accompanying grip mat or something.

    5. Does she have a favorite fragrance? If so, I would go with lotion or another associated product with that fragrance.

  15. I’m thinking about buying the Brooklinen sheets that people rave about. They are 20% off right now. Does anyone think they will go lower on Black Friday? Or is 20% a great deal?

    1. i think 20% is a standard deal. i feel like ive seen that both on black friday and cyber monday before

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