Wednesday’s Workwear Report: Lucinda Jersey Stripe Midi Dress

This post may contain affiliate links and Corporette® may earn commissions for purchases made through links in this post. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Pre-pandemic, I was a dress-wearer. Whether I was at work or on weekends, dresses were always just easier for me to throw on and go about my business.

As life has become more and more casual, I haven’t been reaching for the dresses in my closet as frequently, but I love the look of this jersey stripe midi dress from Boden for working from home or hanging out on the weekends. It’s a viscose/elastane material, so it seems like it will be soft with just a little bit of stretch.

Perfect for easing back into a life where I’m (hopefully!) getting dressed up again.

The dress is $110 at Nordstrom and available in sizes 2–16. 

This dress from Amazon Essentials is only $20.99 and comes in sizes XS–XXL; this one from Old Navy has lucky sizes in tall and petites and is on sale for $26.97 (with an extra 30% off at checkout); this Amazon Essentials dress is available in sizes 1X–6X and starts at just $18.

Sales of note for 2/7/25:

  • Nordstrom – Winter Sale, up to 60% off! 7850 new markdowns for women
  • Ann Taylor – Extra 25% off your $175+ purchase — and $30 of full-price pants and denim
  • Banana Republic Factory – Up to 50% off everything + extra 15% off
  • Boden – 15% off new season styles
  • Eloquii – 60% off 100s of styles
  • J.Crew – Extra 50% off all sale styles
  • J.Crew Factory – 40% off everything including new arrivals + extra 20% off $125+
  • Rothy's – Final Few: Up to 40% off last-chance styles
  • Spanx – Lots of workwear on sale, some up to 70% off
  • Talbots – 40% off one item + free shipping on $150+

Sales of note for 2/7/25:

  • Nordstrom – Winter Sale, up to 60% off! 7850 new markdowns for women
  • Ann Taylor – Extra 25% off your $175+ purchase — and $30 of full-price pants and denim
  • Banana Republic Factory – Up to 50% off everything + extra 15% off
  • Boden – 15% off new season styles
  • Eloquii – 60% off 100s of styles
  • J.Crew – Extra 50% off all sale styles
  • J.Crew Factory – 40% off everything including new arrivals + extra 20% off $125+
  • Rothy's – Final Few: Up to 40% off last-chance styles
  • Spanx – Lots of workwear on sale, some up to 70% off
  • Talbots – 40% off one item + free shipping on $150+

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

Some of our latest threadjacks include:

298 Comments

  1. Some recs, for the poster from yesterday

    MM Kaye …sweeping Indian sub continent historical sagas.

    1. Lol yes exactly. I love MM Kaye but wanted less India more Central Asia since I’ve read, and re-read, all of her books many times!

      1. If you’re on twitter, you might @ Caroline Eden at @edentravels. She’s written a couple of travel/recipe books on Central Asia, and I bet she would know if there are books in the genre you’re looking for. Plus her twitter account is a fun follow.

    2. A Suitable Boy is another rec–also on the Indian subcontinent–sweeping, multi-generational historical fiction set just after partition in 1947.

  2. For those of you who live in apartments or condos, how much does your building police or enforce mask-wearing? Most people in my building wear masks but there 5-6 people who refuse for varying reasons. There is now a different group of residents wanting to impose fines on those not wearing masks. It’s gotten contentious and I’m picturing residents chasing each other down to snap photos of noncompliance and it just has me wondering how other buildings have handled this.

    1. In my building, there are signs all saying that all people MUST wear masks in all public areas, which include the pool and exercise rooms, the sauna, the washer dryer room, the community room & library and even the garage. Plus, all delivery people must wear masks, and also have to wear gloves if they come up past the doorman to deliver stuff to our apartements.

      The Board amended the house rules to include this, and to enforce $500 for every knowing violation by a resident or his invitee noted by a board member or anyone else that takes a cellphone photo and forwards it to a board member within 3 hours of occurrence (my idea). The money is to go into the staff’s holiday fund. (also my idea). To ensure there are no complaints, the rules state that the fines will go away 90 days after there is a pubic pronouncement by the CDC or the mayor that the Pandemic is over. (also my idea).

      As a result, I am only aware of 3 cases of knowing violations by residents, and the $1500 assessed to date has been paid into the holiday fund. All residents have been given a copy of the notice, so there is no issue about due process. So I am very confident we will either have high compliance or else a fat holiday fund.

      The Board is happy that I am a lawyer, and I agree! YAY!!!!

    2. We are in a coop in NYC (~40 apartments), and as far as I know, there is no enforcement of the mask rule in our building. There are lots of signs posted, and everyone seems to wear a mask, but I don’t think that there is a fine or other penalty for not wearing one.

      1. +1 – also in an NYC coop. I would say compliance is a little lower in our building. (Older people are often the culprits though!) I don’t know how you could legally enforce a fine, and who would police that?

        1. I’m in a rental in NYC and have the same experience — compliance is 100% except for the 3-4 people over 80 with walkers who keep them down below their nose and then INSIST you get in the elevator with them or act super offended if you refuse… LADY IT’S YOU I’M TRYING TO PROTECT HERE! JUST LET ME DO IT! I’ve mostly been taking the stairs for this reason.

          1. Not in NYC, but same thing here. Middle-aged people are dutifully wearing their masks and distancing, while old people are letting their noses hang out and whining that their kids won’t let them see their grandkids.

    3. There is no enforcement. Nearly everyone does at all times, very occasionally someone will forget going to their car or trash.

    4. There are signs up everywhere in my building but no one is enforcing it. I have seen most of my neighbours wearing masks (Canada, so we are generally more sensible about the pandemic). Legally I don’t think the management company could do anything to enforce masks anyway because you can say you have a medical exemption and they’re not allowed to ask for proof.

        1. Right, which is great – I’m just pointing out that it is very unlikely that there would be any “masks take away my rights!!” people in my building.

          1. I mean, I’m in Canada and we have plenty of those people around here. Maybe a bit less than in certain parts of the US, but we’re not immune.

      1. No comment on the Canadians are better seeing as there have been anti masks/lockdown protests but I’m also in Toronto and my building seems to have pretty perfect compliance? I haven’t seen anyone in the building not wearing a mask since it was mandated in July (except for me who forgot it at home somehow and didn’t notice until I was getting back into the building once whoops)

    5. My condo building doesn’t fine residents but everyone wears one. We do get fined if our contractors/dog walkers/realtors/etc don’t wear them.

    6. Mask compliance in my rental building in NYC is pretty good among residents. I’ve only seen people once or twice without them. Unfortunately, my superintendent is always around the building wearing his mask below his chin. I just avoid him if possible. Getting on his bad side does not seem in my interest. However, I always demand he wears it properly if he comes into my apartment.

    7. Yeah, this just seems like a recipe for a contentious situation among neighbors. My building (large condo building in DC) has signs everywhere, though occasionally you’ll see someone without one – usually doing something like taking their trash out. I try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt – they forgot it or whatnot. There aren’t any habitual offenders though. The worst (and I’ve done this too) is the early morning when people are walking their dogs – seems like some folks definitely just half-asleep forget to put them on. I had to start attaching one to my dog’s leash to make sure I remembered – it happens. Be kind – we’re all trying our best.

      1. No, this is not a case where people simply forgot. The OP said that people are refusing for various reasons. We do not have to be kind and understanding to those people.

  3. Cooking help! My husband and I don’t like to cook; it’s just us, no kids. We usually make large batches of soup and eat it for several days before repeating the process. I’ve been trying to branch out and try new recipes for some change, but everything I fix is just okay at best. Anyone have any websites or cook books to suggest? I’ve found one from cookieandkate that we like, but the others I’ve tried haven’t turned out so well.
    The problem is that I’m asking too much. We are vegetarian and he’s a celiac (gluten free required). Plus we are concerned about nutrition so we aren’t willing to just add more heavy cream/butter/salt/etc (you know, stuff that tastes good!) . I grew up in a family that cooks every single day so I know my way around a kitchen, but we just don’t want to put forth that much effort every day after work.

    1. It sounds like you’re bored with what you cook, rather than disliking the act of cooking itself. If you have a little spare cash to throw at the problem, what about Purple Carrot, Hello Fresh or another similar meal kit service to get you out of the rut?

    2. If you like making something that can feed you for several days like a big pot of soup, another suggestion you may enjoy is one pan meals. Easy and low maintenance to chop everything up and throw it in the oven or in a skillet. Here are several I enjoy, and you can vary them slightly by putting them over rice, quinoa, or noodles if you like:

      https://www.thechunkychef.com/sheet-pan-maple-mustard-roasted-chicken/

      https://gimmedelicious.com/meal-prep-healthy-roasted-chicken-and-veggies/?epik=dj0yJnU9VXJlNHhaRWlMWFVMUjFBR01wZE56RDNfNjRURUJnR3AmcD0wJm49UlJuYV92TnBVQ2RBYUY2ZFBXSFBuZyZ0PUFBQUFBR0FSYzRF

      https://juliasalbum.com/one-pan-pesto-chicken-and-veggies/?epik=dj0yJnU9bUNNMVplOS1RSG9qN2RWd3hmY2tMbEx3cWY4SmhJVVEmcD0wJm49LWxuX3JES0hNNUltcUhNNW11MktCZyZ0PUFBQUFBR0FSYzZJ

      https://wholefully.com/2015/06/25/one-pot-summertime-primavera/?epik=dj0yJnU9MFhMa2Vzd0g1VThKcF93ZEtjNDFVTVRNUDFLc0FyRzAmcD0wJm49aHNYWnlISXFQcEtvSU9xM3BIdWtHUSZ0PUFBQUFBR0FSYzgw

      I also make this chili which is great for dinner and for the upcoming super bowl: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/16235/debdoozies-blue-ribbon-chili/ My additions are a diced jalapeño, some brown sugar added to taste (cuts the heat), smoked paprika, and using ground turkey instead of beef.

      I have also evangelized hummus chicken before around here, but it’s basically chicken breasts slathered in whatever hummus you like then rolled in panko breadcrumbs and baked in the oven. Can easily be varied by what flavor hummus you use. Doesn’t get much simpler than that, but delicious flavor.

      1. Oh no! Coffee needs to come before reading comprehension. Sorry for the unhelpful suggestions, OP!

    3. I love vegrecipesofindia.com
      Her recipes check your boxes of vegetarian and I don’t think many call for ingredients containing gluten. Additionally, the recipes are written so an Anglo like me can do it. Everything I’ve made has turned out great.

      1. Agree with cooking Indian food. I don’t think you’re necessarily going to go low fat that way. But there are all the lovely dals that don’t require butter or coconut milk. I would do that. Dal and rice is a nutritious, delicious meal!! You can use yogurt to add a creamy texture to the plated dish.

    4. I’m assuming you’re looking at the Cookie and Kate blog in addition to the cookbook. Many, many delicious recipes with GF options. Gimme Some Oven is not vegetarian, but the blogger’s husband is vegetarian so she often features veg recipes. They are all great. Pinch of Yum and Budget Bytes also have some veg recipes, although Pinch of Yum tends to use a lot of high-sodium ingredients that aren’t easy to substitute if that’s a concern. A general tip is to search for recipes based on quinoa–salads, soups, casseroles, etc.

      For cookbooks, try Madhur Jaffrey.

    5. Skinnytaste! Perfect for this. And every one of her recipes is fabulous. (I think she’s published her second cookbook?)

    6. Do you eat eggs? If so, Shakshuka could be a good quick meal to put in the rotation. I’d normally serve it with bread, but I think it would be good over roast cauliflower or kale.

      I also like this in the mushroom bourginon in the winter. You could do it over rice rather than pasta or a gluten free pasta like banza (chickpea pasta).

    7. Has a doctor told you that you need to avoid salt? If not you don’t. Put salt in your food or it will always taste sad.

        1. You need some salt for flavor, but not necessarily as much as many recipes call for. The key is avoiding recipes that rely on large quantities of heavily processed ingredients that already include salt and then to add salt to taste.

          My doctor hasn’t told me to avoid salt, but I blow up like a balloon if I consume more than about 1500 mg sodium per day. Plenty of recipes for main dishes and one-dish meals contain upwards of 1000 mg in a single relatively small serving, which is excessive.

          1. Salt but also acid! If things are bland, add a dash of lemon juice and taste it, before adding more salt.

      1. Cookie and Kate’s cookbook mentions that if she includes salt, it is because it is needed. Likewise, if she adds butter, it is needed.

        You can almost always cut the butter and cream in a Pioneer Woman recipe. Do not do it for other recipes.

    8. You need salt in your food or else it will always taste bland! There are tons of different kinds of big meals you could make that aren’t soup.

    9. I have had great success with recipes from these sites/books:
      Ina Garten aka Barefoit Contessa
      Serious Eats
      Thug Kitchen

      1. The Barefoot Contessa is not going to work for OP if she’s trying to avoid tons of butter, heavy cream, and salt.

        1. I don’t think that’s always true. We use a lot of her recipes and rarely use butter in them (and I don’t keep cream in the house and it’s never come up).

      2. There also aren’t that many vegetarian entrees in her books. I love them, but since my daughter went vegetarian, I don’t get to use them as much.

    10. Sometimes you have to dig through a great deal of hipster nonsense, but I have found a lot of recipes I like at The Kitchn website. They’re usually fairly simple and easy to make. They have a whole section of sheet pan recipes, which are just about the easiest way to cook a nice meal with a little variety.

      I don’t know how she is for vegetarian cooking, but I remember Rachel Ray having good, straightforward recipes, too.

    11. Love and Lemons has loads of tasty and interesting vegetarian recipes. Other regular sources that we like (not all the recipies are vegetarian, but many are or can be modified to fit) include Smitten Kitchen and Budget Bytes.

    12. I love the blog Budget Bytes. She has lots of vegetarian recipes and everything I’ve made of hers was awesome.

    13. Thank you! I knew you guys would have ideas. We are not anti-salt at all, but try to avoid processed food levels of salt. I’m going to check out these suggestions. I appreciate the help.

      1. My favorite vegetarian dish is dal tadka – aka lentils, but with the ginger/onion/spice mix added at the end, so it tastes super zingy and fresh. It’s the kind of thing that doesn’t need a ton of salt or fat (although yes salt is always essential), since the flavor is really driven by the aromatics. I love The Curious Chickpea’s recipe. I modify to make mine with half green lentils and half red, so I get a mix of textures, and serve it over brown rice or another whole grain.

      2. This won’t solve all your cooking woes, but often when something is bland I find it’s missing acid, rather than salt. Lemon juice or red wine vinegar often helps.

        It’s absolutely ok to have an appetizer plate for dinner once in a while. Some raw veggies and a white bean dip or fancy hummus plus some gluten free crackers and nuts and/or cheese plus a glass of wine or cocktail/mocktail is a very nice way to relax on a Friday evening.

        1. +1 on both these points. Adding acid or an acidic ingredient like tomatoes often makes a dish come together. If you don’t want to rely to much on salt, be creative about using other things to add flavor, like herbs, roasting the vegetables, umami, etc. You do need some salt, but rarely as my many recipes call for.

          Also a big fan of bean dips and other appetizer plates.

          1. Argh, sorry for the typos, writing on my iPad and it seems to do a terrible job of changing what I write. I don’t understand, because my iphone autocorrect seems pretty good, but my iPad typing comes out horrible. Does anyone else have this issue?

    14. Are you under-seasoning the food in general? I don’t really cook with measuring cups or spoons, just shake seasoning in as I feel like it, and my dishes were kind of bland. So I started actually measuring and figured out that I was under-seasoning, and now I put a boatload of oregano, thyme, basil, garam masala, whatever else in my food and it’s so much better. You might also consider fresh herbs or garlic vs. dried or garlic powder. The flavors are more intense with fresh seasoning. I was using garlic salt or garlic powder for a lot of dishes, and they turned out much tastier when I switched to fresh minced garlic instead.

      1. This is excellent advice. I have a household member with serious hypertension, so I try to keep the salt low in my food. Fresh herbs, extra non-salt seasoning, sauteed fresh onions/garlic/mushrooms can go a long way.

      2. Also I keep fresh herbs in stock. Some fresh parsley or cilantro or chives on top will perk up almost anything.

    15. Your cooking style sounds a lot like mine, though I like to cook, I just like to do it efficiently. Not celiac, but am vegetarian leaning vegan and don’t rely too much on wheat. If you like the flavors, I suggest looking to Indian or Thai or Mexican for good veg/gluten free options, though if you want to keep it simple and don’t really like cooking you probably want something that’s more “inspired” by those cuisines than authentic.

      I like BudgetBytes a lot, and the Cooks Illustrated/America’s Test Kitchen books are also very reliable (I don’t always follow them if they call for too much cream or something, which I know is the opposite of their meticulous approach, but whatever!). And like the others have said, I would try adding a little more salt, especially early in cooking.

    16. Most of my recipes come from Smitten Kitchen or NY Times. I really like the red lentil stew that NYT published recently and have made it 3 times — no gluten and it’s vegetarian (I think vegan actually?).

      During busy periods I like to make a sheet pan of roasted veggies and a pot of beans. The first Smitten Kitchen cookbook has a great recipe for black beans (onion and spices, dried beans in pot, cook until done) — I use the same one for different red beans too successfully (I get my beans from Rancho Gordo). Sometimes I do my roasted veggies with sweet potatoes, sometimes I do just veggies and also make some mashed potatoes. Adding some herbs makes it more exciting, and the beans have lots of flavor. I usually make enough to last a few days.

    17. I’ve been “reinventing” old recipes by using different spice mixes from Penzy’s.

      I also like to pick one ingredient I have on hand and work through recipes for it. For example, I always seem to have a lot of sweet potatoes. A sweet take on a Spanish omelet – add apples and pumpkin pie spice. A breakfast hash with peppers, onions, and veggie chorizo. Stir fry with black beans, tomatoes, and jalapeños. Lots of curry options. Cube and roast with cinnamon and a drizzle of maple syrup for snacking or adding to salads.

    18. Can you do a meal prep delivery box? I was super uninspired by everything I was making, but I like my Blue Apron boxes because they’re fairly easy to prepare and almost always tasty. It’s also a limited number of things to choose from each week that helps with my decision fatigue. See if you can find a good vegetarian-focused one!

    19. Heavy cream, butter, and salt are big parts of my diet, and I value nutrition highly. You may want to find out if those are even an issue for you or not? The idea that everyone should minimize them is starting to look outdated.

    20. Iowa Girl Eats for gluten free recipes.

      Other food blogs I like – Mel’s Kitchen Cafe, Budget Bytes, Pinch of Yum, Once Upon a Chef

    21. Veg meals we cook that last multiple days on our family of two adults and one teenager:
      Veggie chili
      A big sheet of roasted vegetables (I am fond of Brussels sprouts/sweet potatoes/onions/mushrooms, but I have been on a butternut squash/grapes kick as well – you can eat plain, make a scramble with eggs, or over barley or farro
      Chana masala – usually over rice
      Shaksuka
      Cauliflower (thekitchn has my favorite recipe) or black bean tacos – corn tortillas, double the filling or sauce, then serve in other ways (again eggs if you eat them)
      Big noodle stir fries – sub rice noodles in for regular noodles
      We also love big salads with (for me – Gardein chicken strips or cannellini beans) lots of delicious components and fun dressings – quick with no elaborate prep

      I think the key to not getting bored is to have other ways of serving the same core dish.

    22. I’m a vegetarian and get a lot of ideas from the Dinner book by Melissa Clark. Recipes are generally healthy and interesting and not too involved. It’s not a vegetarian cookbook but I’ve made plenty of meals from it – many should be gluten free or easily substitutable (like if it calls for bulgar, use quinoa or something).

      1. I’ve never bought any of her cookbooks, but I’ve always had good luck with Melissa Clark’s recipes in the NY Times. She had a great series of pantry recipes earlier in the pandemic, though a lot of them were baking recipes so maybe not so great for gluten free.

        In general, I do a lot with roasted veggies, mixing them with pasta/quinoa/a tortilla/beans/chickpeas and something with a lot of flavor (a sauce/dressing, olives, sun dried tomatoes, soyrizo, feta, etc.). One of my recent favorites has been roasted sweet potatoes and broccoli with refried black beans in a whole wheat tortilla with a little chipotle mayo, but that could be pretty easily modified to a burrito bowl or to corn tortillas to be gluten free.

    23. You might try recipes from the blog (and cookbooks) Love and Lemons. I am not vegetarian but I have enjoyed everything that I’ve cooked from there! I made their veggie soup which was a winner. The sweet potato sustenance stew was also delicious. The cookbook (I think it’s the A to Z one) gives you ways to vary different recipes, like pesto and hummus, which makes it fun to branch out and experiment. The other cookbook I just got that I like is Men’s Health Plant Based Eating (I know, I know). The recipes are quick and easy and usually scaled for 1-2 people. Lots of variety and pretty healthy too. I made the ratatouille burgers which were incredible.

    24. If you like Chinese food, The Woks of Life has a lot of vegetarian recipes. You have to invest in a different mix of pantry items, but once you have recipe prep is really quick.

  4. I’ve been having some serious period problems lately. I’m 46 and over the last year, my period has gone from 4-5 days a month active bleeding to some months where I have either multiple periods with just a week or so in between or one long continuous blood-fest for 12-14 days. My long time gyno moved so the new gyno put me on Lysteda to lighten the bleeding and also performed an ultrasound to see what was going on. I have a large ovarian cyst and something called adenomyosis. Gyno has put me on 30 days of progesterone to see if it shrinks the cyst but also has made clear that in his opinion I need a full hysterectomy. I guess I’m just stunned from this. Anybody else had something similar? Thinking about getting a 2nd opinion. I’m wary of a full hysterectomy because that likely means HRT and there’s a family history of blood clots, breast cancer and strokes. I also have a pretty good gardening life (when not actively bleeding) and am worried about changes to that.

    1. I would also want a second opinion; my impression is that the threshold for hysterectomy is a bit low currently (and that there is a live controversy about this), and it doesn’t seem as though we currently do a good job predicting who do well or very poorly with one.

    2. Get a second opinion.

      I think (mostly speculation) that a lot of women may have a very good reason to want a hysterectomy, but not be able to get one, even when they are done having kids. Ergo, some doctors overcorrect by suggesting them as a solution, or are dinosaurs and think that your uterus is only for babies so at age 46, you don’t need it anymore.

    3. Also 46. Almost identical issues except I don’t have 12-14 day periods. Also blood detected in urine. I had a 3-4 year history of UTIs. has asked me to do kidney and bladder u/S (both normal). Now I am expected to monitor periods/ bleeding and go for uterus u/s in March. Last one was dec. I have a couple of fibroids that have been there forever. She also wants to check for endometrial issues, though no pain. At no time did she recommend hysterectomy.

    4. My sister had this issue and went with an ablation. She said that a female doc told her that the uterus helps position the bladder and a full hysterectomy could cause or worsted some incontinence issues (sister also had many kids). Maybe that? She barely has periods now.

      1. I did an ablation and it was the best decision I ever made. I don’t have periods at all and feel much healthier and energetic (I was just losing too much blood for my body to keep up). It was super simple and the recovery was a breeze.

    5. Agree with getting a second opinion.

      And did the doctor clarify WHY they recommended a full hysterectomy? Because of the irregular bleeding? Are they worried about the cyst being something more concerning?

      Many many many women were given complete hysterectomies (my Mom and her sister) for reasons not unlike yours where these days more conservative options would be considered.

    6. Earthy

      In peri-menopausal group women can have irregular bleeding often. Concern is if this is originating in uterus vs other cause like cyst vs hormonal changes. Please do discuss with your gyn what does he/she think and why they think that. People in this age group may need endometrial biopsy to rule serious issues before we are sure of other benign cause or ovarian cause… Hope this helps.

      1. Treatment for Adenomyosis (the inner lining of the uterus (the endometrium) breaks through the muscle wall of the uterus (the myometrium) is a hysterectomy. Women with adenomyosis are at an increased risk of anemia.

  5. Does anyone have any insight into the legal department at Facebook? There’s an attorney role open that interests me, but I don’t know anything about the work culture.

    1. My friend interviewed in the DC office (more regulatory than legal – she’s not a lawyer). She said everyone she interviewed with said to her ‘It’s such an honor you were selected to be interviewed.’ It was not a company culture that she was interested in.

      1. I interviewed there as well (did not get an offer), and this sentiment was communicated to me as well. That said, my friend who submitted my resume is pretty happy there.

    2. A friend worked there for a couple years and after she quit, she immediately needed a 6-month sabbatical. She still regrets the time she spent trying to come up with creative ways to defend the destruction of civil society.

      1. +1 I knew someone who worked for FB and he had a moral crisis and had to move back in with his parents temporarily because doing such profoundly evil things destroyed him.

          1. The FBI has been corrupt for decades. Turns out that having law enforcement with little oversight, operating in a black box, is a terrible idea.

          2. Yes, I’ve looked at our country lately. Still, no one answered my question. What profoundly evil things was the employee doing? Are you saying that everyone who works for Facebook is profoundly evil?

          3. Omg it is not faux! I am being completely serious. I have friends who work for Facebook and they do not feel this way, nor are they inherently evil people. It is a genuine question and you are all treating me like a troll. Obviously, using Facebook to do nefarious things makes that user a bad actor, but why did this employee feel he had done profoundly evil things?

    3. I have one friend who works there and he is certainly proud of it, but the perception everywhere else in the Bay Area is that it is a very uncool place to work now. It really sounds like one of those places where they will try to beat you over the head with how great they are while simultaneously facilitating human rights abuses on their platform and selling every scrap of information they can find about you.

    4. Would never work there in 1 million years, especially not in the legal department. It’s toxic and terrible for democracy and unethical.

      1. What is unethical? This is a genuine question, I think I am not up to speed on this one.

        1. Google and twitter have been called on for years to curb the spread of misinformation, propaganda, hatte speech and harassment through their platform. Technically, they could do this, as evidenced by strong policing of copyrighted content, nudity and violent content, as well as hate speech in the European legal framework.
          They have been declining to filter content and deflected any responsibility by pretending they are merely a platform, with no editorial responsibility. Company lawyers helped make all that happen. Now it’s pretty obvious that a lot of right wing folks have received a fair share of radicalizing content through Facebook, so they get a share of the blame for what happened.
          And then there is privacy, cooperating with shady companies like cambridge analytics, monopolistic business practices, and so many other cans of worms.

    5. I’m currently reading “Tools and Weapons” The promise and the peril of the digital age. I’d recommend reading that and similar books to get an idea of what the job might be like.

    6. They used to be my client. Their legal department worked biglaw hours so far as I could tell.

  6. Kind internet friends- I’m looking for some advice on remodeling my new house.

    House is built into a hill so the garage entrance is in the basement. This area will function like a mud room ( cabinetry is not in my immediate budget, probably a year or two.) Currently, the washer and dryer are in the basement, but we had planned to bring them up to the ground floor hallway, outside the main bedroom suite. I’m wondering if the convenience of having it on the main level, but in a closet, is preferable to having more of an actual laundry space down stairs. We tend to fold our laundry in front of the tv or in the dining room anyway, so it doesn’t seem like we need folding space but I’m open to suggestions. I’m also cutting into the main bathroom to bring it upstairs, so that’s a consideration too. We’ll have a new baby and a kindergartner to give you an idea of the laundry situation. Thanks for any insight!

    1. I’m team basement – because it gives more space and keeps the noise downstairs.

    2. I would not move them upstairs if it requires losing both a main floor closet and main bathroom space. That’s also expensive, and you’d be better served spending some small fraction of that money upgrading the laundry/mud room.

    3. I currently have a laundry closet and would gladly choose a basement laundry room over a laundry closet on the main floor. The top of our dryer is slanted and the closet is in a hallway, so there’s no good place to set a laundry basket or random dirty items waiting to be washed. When baby socks fall down next to one of the machines it’s next to impossible to retrieve them. And there’s nowhere to hang clothes to air dry.

    4. Our house has a similar layout (hillside, garage entrance, downstairs laundry) and we also fold laundry in front of the tv. The only thing I like about having the laundry downstairs is the extra space – I can lay out clothes to damp dry on the furniture down there and I can sort loads in big piles on the floor and they’re not in the way of anything. Otherwise, we schlep all the loads upstairs to the ground level family room to, yes, fold them in front of the tv and put them away.

    5. 100% leave it in the basement. Spend the money you will be saving to upgrade the mudroom instead.

    6. I’ve always had my laundry in the basement and now I have it in a closet on the bedroom floor. I think I’m in the minority here, but I hate it. We hang a lot of stuff to dry, and there is no space, so it ends up in the bathrooms. If there is more than one load that needs to be washed, it is sitting in the hallway. I’d much rather have the space to spread out in the basement and then carry the laundry upstairs to be folder. But again, seeing most new construction with the laundry in the living space, my views are obviously not mainstream!

      1. All of this! Our last two houses had main floor laundry, one in the mudroom, and the laundry seemed to end up in the hallway and we lost an entire bedroom to the drying rack. Now it’s in the basement and the drying rack is in the main basement area and it’s out of the way so even if laundry gets thrown down the stairs (#adulting) it’s not getting stepped on.

    7. I like having a laundry room on the main floor, but I don’t think I’d do it in your situation. For one, I wouldn’t want to lose bathroom space. Plus, our laundry has only increased as our two kids have gotten older. I’d be less concerned about having folding space than a place to put all the dirty clothes. Our laundry room isn’t very big, but at least the stuff is contained. If you have the w/d in a closet, it would not be.

    8. Two considerations if you build out a laundry are upstairs: You will need to buy quieter machines, which are generally more expensive, and you will have to contend with correcting for vibration from the machines, which is tougher on an upper floor than on a basement slab. In other words, your washer may loud, and may cause the house to shake. Also, where would you prefer to have a flood? Upstairs on your main level, ruining flooring and seeping through the floor, ruining the ceiling above, or on the lower level, where there is probably a drain and you can install utility flooring.

      You may also find over time that the restrictions of the built out space make it hard to find replacement machines. We’ve had this trouble in our kitchen – what was a very reasonable family sized fridge 40 years ago when the house was built is now a special miniature fridge, so we have fewer choices when replacing them. Appliances seem to get larger over time, so fitting new ones into older spaces gets harder each time.

      1. +1 to your last sentence. We are having a heck of a time replacing our very old broken built in wall oven due to size.

      2. This is a very good point. Our house was built in 1993. When I had to replace the washer about five years ago, there was exactly one HE model that would fit in the closet. I joke that the next time the washer dies we’ll have to move, but I don’t think I’m really joking.

      3. I had to take out a set of above-fridge cabinets as part of getting a new fridge last year because the space that was built-in for the fridge is teeny tiny by modern standards. It was cheaper and faster to get a handyman to come over and yank out the cabinets than to special order a miniature-sized fridge.

        1. We had to sand ours down! The difference between the smallest regular fridge we could get and the top of our cabinet was a few millimeters. My husband just went at with a sander until the fridge fit!

        2. I can only fit an “apartment size” fridge in my kitchen. We are a family of two adults and two teens and I will tell you right now, an apartment size fridge does not cut it.

          There’s no way to make a bigger space for a fridge without bumping out an outside wall, but that wall is the driveway so it’s parking or full size fridge, choose one.

      4. +1 million to the last paragraph. I have an old home and run into this problem. With a washer/dryer you do need to make sure the closet is big enough, don’t go was just barely fits. I will say, the newer quiet models are pretty fantastic and the bells and whistles like steam refreshing mean I never iron or even steam my clothes anymore (although post-pandemic that could change)

    9. I’m totally team basement simply because we hang dry a large amount of our clothes which only makes sense in a basement. It sound like you don’t, otherwise you would mention that as a consideration. But is it possible that changes? Like maybe when your kindergartner becomes a preteen+ they get finicky about clothes? Or some of the audience you would likely sell to would be in this boat and turned off?

      (Also agree with all the other thoughts about not wanting to cut into a bathroom etc. Also, FYI, I have 2 little kids and my current laundry machines are in the basement and I’m still team basement).

      1. Oh great point! I’m currently surrounded by every sweater that fits me drying in my dining and living room so it should be a consideration.

        1. Ha! And this is why I haven’t hand washed a sweater since March of 2020…. first because I’m not really leaving the house and second because WFH in my 1 br apt at my “dining table” is bad enough without sitting in a field of moist sweaters.

          1. Get a drying rack! For some reason Americans never seem to have these but they make drying clothes so much easier.

          2. I hear you! I just took a load of sweaters for dry cleaning. I hand washed them multiple times, but my basement retains so much moisture that they just fester and develop mildew smell and won’t dry. Multiple dehumidifiers can’t keep up, and lying clothes out in the rest of the house isn’t an option due to pets.

          3. +1 to the drying rack. I seriously cannot imagine doing laundry without mine. They fold up to nothing and live beside the washer when not in use. I like the vinyl coated metal for this.

          4. This is my drying rack, except I don’t have all the bells and whistles on the bottom.
            Honey-Can-Do Heavy Duty Gullwing Drying Rack, White Metal https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00383O2UU/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_iHAeGbEMN5YNG

            We hang garments over each bar (things like black knits I don’t want tumble dried due to fading). If I have a once in a while delicate sweater, I might lay it flat across the top.

            I don’t know if you can tell from this link, but the rack folds flat for storage.

            I actually have two. Husband is the primary laundry doer and is really way better than I am about hang drying lots of things.

      2. +1. We’ve had houses with laundry both on the main or bedroom floors and in the basement. 100% prefer the basement so that I have space for my hanging clothes. With two kids, I have laundry going constantly, and when laundry is in the living spaces, I always had clothes drying the in dining room, hallways, etc. And, I like that going up and down stairs gives me a tiny bit of exercise during the day!

    10. Team upstairs! I have a a washer and dryer upstairs in a closet, as well as a set in the basement with lots of room. I literally do about 100 loads upstairs for every time I trek to the basement. Upstairs lets me toss in a load while I move about my day. Going to the basement means a commitment to doing laundry. Convenience for the win.

      1. +1 – I sacrificed a large closet to have laundry in the house because I hate the idea of taking things down to a basement (in my case garage). Maybe if the basement is really part of the house and connected by an internal staircase, but otherwise it may as well be a laundromat. While I’d love a bigger laundry area, I like having it convenient more.

      2. The only times I have used the basement pair is when my kids were small and stricken with a stomach bug requiring that both washers and both dryers be pressed into service. Fortunately, those times are rare.

    11. Our house had two laundry areas when we moved in. A large laundry room in the basement and then a stacked w/d in the 2nd floor outside the bedrooms in what used to be a hallway linen closet. We ONLY use the 2nd floor W&D. Like, never have I ever decided the full setup in the basement was worth schlepping down 2 flights of stairs. We have 3 kids. We do probably 8 loads of laundry/week.

      Lately our approach is on saturday, collect all the sheets and laundry, make giant sorted piles and just run the wash all day long. Then put it right back in the room it came from before bed.

      1. In fact, we recently removed the W&D in the basement to make the area a full bathroom. I’ve used that tons!

    12. Team basement. I prefer to keep water lines as low as possible when given the option. I’ve already had a fridge water line break on the first floor and leak into the basement, thus ruining two levels (first floor hardwood, basement ceiling and basement carpet). The higher you take it, the more floors you ruin.

      Also, having the machine in a closet is going to make maintenance and repairs a giant pain, and probably more expensive.

    13. I’ve lived in rentals with all three. The upstairs by the bedroom was my favorite. It was in the bathroom. If we hang stuff to dry we just toss it over the shower curtain in both bathrooms. My least favorite was in an unfinished basement that just felt dingy. Current house has it on the main floor. That involves still schlepping laundry up and down the stairs but it’s easier to pop in to switch a load as I go about my day than it was in the basement or upstairs.

      1. Meant to add, our current washer and dryer have a hand wash / air dry setting so we can run that instead of hanging clothes everywhere. Usually though, it is just one or two pairs of pants or bras getting pulled from the main laundry.

    14. Slightly off topic, but my new favorite instagram feed is #laundryroom, for those of you who like shelter porn!

    15. Team basement. What about a laundry chute so you can at least get rid of the one chore of carrying laundry downstairs?

  7. Has anyone made a charity their 401k or life insurance beneficiary? Is this a thing? And if so, how do I go about doing it? Anything I should be careful about? I’m thinking of doing this for my secondary beneficiary (husband is primary). No kids, and no close enough family members that I’d prefer over the charity.

    1. It’s a thing! If you reach out to the charity you’re interested in, they should have information about planned giving and will be happy to help you.

    2. Yes! My smaller company 401k account is left to a non profit because it is not taxable to the non profit (unlike if it paid out to an individual). Its a nice benefit to them and the larger life insurance proceeds are set to go to the family member who who need to handle my estate. The company that holds your 401k should be able to tell you how to set it up with them. I would also recommend adding it to your will as a call out to cover all of your basis.

    3. Yes! I have charities as beneficiaries on a lot of my accounts and in my will because I am single, no kids, no siblings, and both parents have passed away. It is very very easy. You will just need the charity’s actual name, address, and EIN (I believe). All of the information is typically easy to find on the website or by contacting the charity directly. They are very responsive to requests for this kind of information :)

    4. I work in nonprofit fundraising and this is something people do quite frequently — and it’s an awesome gift! From my/our perspective, it’s great if you notify the charity that you’ve done this so that they have it noted on their end. Then we can thank you a lot :)

    5. Yes, it’s a thing. Contact a local EP attorney to help make sure your designated assets and estate assets coordinate the way you want. Also, as others mentioned, contact the charity. Some have specific wording to use.

    6. I did. I just list the charity as my beneficiary. That’s what Fidelity told me to do years ago. Nothing fancy. I typed it in online.

    7. I have two charities listed as beneficiaries of my 401(K). I needed to provide a tax code unique to them in order to add them as beneficiaries. I simply emailed the charities and told them I what I wanted to do. They were more than happy to provide me all the information I need to add them. It was easy and I was less difficult than trying to get personal information out of some of the family members I wanted to add on the list.

  8. I’m looking for a dupe of madewell’s stovepipe jeans. They’re my favorite cut right now but I’m looking for a pair of rigid high cotton jeans in a basic black, no fading or holes. Any recs?

        1. Ehh I feel like 1% elastane isn’t going to be that noticeable.
          Levi’s has a couple pairs that might fit your bill, including one in the “wedgie” fit. I know nothing about marketing but really wonder how that name got thru.

          1. I find a major difference in fit and feel between my 100% cotton jeans and ones with 1% spandex or elastane. I actually need a different size for rigid (100% cotton).

  9. Question for those of you who have refinance student loans or are better with interest rate math than I. I have about 90k left in Federal student loans (undergrad and grad) that I have been making pay as you earn payments on for the last 10 years or so. Which basically pays the interest at the 6.5% they are currently sitting at. In the last year I took a job that essentially doubled my income and have been paying off all my other debt (had a car loan and some credit card and personal loan debt from opening a business with a family member in 2019).

    By September, I will be down to a mortgage and student loans and plan to start aggressively tackling the student loans. I figure can have them paid off in about 2 years. I am in my late 30s and this should put me at being out of or close to out of student loan debt by 40.

    Should I be thinking on refinancing to something like SOFI for those 2 years to get my interest rate down, knowing that it removes the federal protections I currently have? Or am I better off just making large lump sum principal payments on the fed loans and not going through the refinance process? My credit is in the low 700s currently due to all the financial dings of opening the business, so its not really “excellent” interest rate credit.

    I’m just looking at the fact my mortgage rate is HALF what the student loan interest rate is and wondering if its worth it, knowing I am planning on an intense pay down plan.

    1. If you are able to pay down your loans in the next two years, you will pay about $13,000 in interest. Refinancing that doesn’t get it to zero; you’ll probably be paying about $10,000 in interest.

      Is it worth $3,000 to you to eliminate federal protections in case you get laid off or disabled?

      1. Mea culpa, my math is way off.

        You will pay $6,220 in interest over two years now. If you reduced your interest to 5%, you would pay $4,700 in interest.

        Is it worth $1,500 to remove all federal protections?

    2. Just one data point: A family member went with SOFI and highly recommended it to me. He’s happy with their interest rates and his overall loan payment experience. I started looking into it but realized the loans wouldn’t qualify for public service loan forgiveness, which I’m enrolled in. So while he is very happy with them, I have no personal experience with it. A side note, he has a very secure job and isn’t concerned about the situation changing with his ability to make payments. Is that one of the drawbacks – the ability to easily put your loans into forbearance? Not totally sure. Hope this helps a bit.

    3. Way to go in paying down your debt! You’re doing great.

      I would re-finance and kill those loans as soon as possible. Put every bit of your raise into them. Live simply. And then you will be free!!!!!!!!!!

    4. If there truly will be some student loan forgiveness, I would refinance your federal loans.

    5. I wouldn’t refinance right now – there’s too many current and potential government benefits on the table. No interest until at least September, which would probably be extended if covid isn’t under control by then. While I think it is very unlikely we will see the 50k forgiveness that some people have proposed, I wouldn’t be shocked to see somewhere in the realm of $10k. Plus, the standard protections and benefits of being able to defer if you are unemployed. All of that goes away once you refinance to make them private loans. Seems like a relatively small savings in interest if you are planning to pay them off quickly anyways, and you could end up missing out on some great savings benefits.

      1. I have long believed that the biggest reason for the student loan crisis is interest. Forgiveness is unpopular, very unpopular. Low interest is basically the only way to align the “I don’t want to pay for your degree” and the “I have already paid $40,000 on a $50,000 loan and still owe $47,000” coalitions.

        I wouldn’t be surprised to see low/no interest made a permanent thing. Not betting on it, just wouldn’t be surprised.

      2. I agree with all of this, particularly while the Covid protections are in place and since you have both undergrad and grad loans. Everything I have seen says that grad loans are not part of the forgiveness proposal. I have been doing the same analysis as the OP, but on a four-year plan. I may end up refinancing once required payments start again, but it is only because my monthly payment would actually be lower with Sofi than I expect it to be under my current IBR plan.

    6. I’m curious about something….

      If you can afford it, and took out your loans well understanding the terms with the ability to pay them back, are you really the person that should be taking advantage of these federal loan forgiveness etc.. programs, if they occur?

      This is a problem, I feel, with some of our economic policies so far this year with the pandemic. Clearly they were not enough, particularly for the people that are truly suffering financially. But from the posts on this board, very few posting here are suffering finanically. And I think many of us have received some checks from the government already. We don’t need these benefits.

      My father was severely disabled in an accident, and without around the clock care, would need to be in a nursing home with additional hired help. When I hired an accountant to help us with the financial mess she immediately knew that we would drain his finances quickly as things progress, and she started talking about hiring an elder care lawyer to essentially…. start hiding my Dad’s money so that it wont be depleted by his care needs. “All legal…. “. My Dad shook his head…. absolutely not. He is the most honest, ethical man I know. He said…. “Someone’s got to pay. Why shouldn’t it be me?”

      1. The way to do this is to offer benefits broadly and then recover them from the people who don’t “need” them through taxes. Trying to sort out who you think deserves them in the administration process is not efficient and allows for all sorts of political discrimination.

    7. I refi’d my loans from 6.5-8.5% down to about 4.25% with SoFi, and have no regrets. This wasn’t my plan, but I did end up paying them off early, within about two years of refinancing, just by throwing large chunks of money at them, basically whenever I got bonuses. I waffled over losing federal benefits, but ended up pulling the trigger for a variety of reasons: (1) I’d switched from a regular salary to a bonus type structure and my salary went up, so I wasn’t really going to qualify for any IBR anymore (2) my job security was good, I’d been in my current job about 5 years at that point, and no plans to switch, (3) I was definitely not qualifying for the Public Loan forgiveness program, so paying them down and out was a priority (4) switching to SoFi was free (5) I HATED how high my interest was, and (6) I had multiple, confusing, government loans, so consolidating them made the payment process MUCH easier. Also my friend had done it and didn’t have any problems. I believe SoFi has/had some program/language about deferral if you have trouble paying, so check into that too, because that was ultimately my greatest concern. It might not work perfectly in practice, but the way they described it, it sounded like they would try to work with you if you needed to adjust your loans in the future.

  10. Any recs for a dog backpack so that doggie can carry his own water supply on nature walks? Dog is 65 pounds and floofy. I carry a large Nalgene bottle for him in my backpack but once it gets hot out will want to just carry for me in a Fanny pack. My kids carry their own water. I see other dogs with pack but keep a distance in trails so have not asked their owners where they shop.

    1. I’ve been looking at the ones by Outward Hound and OneTigris (both of which I found on Chewy).

      1. We used one from outward hound for our golden (similar weight to yours and also floofy). She looked so cute in her backpack! She is too old to hike now, sadly. But anyway – the tricky thing is that it was more like a saddle than a backpack in that it had two pouches, one on each side, and sometimes a single large water bottle in one side would make the whole thing slide over. So we either gave her two smaller bottles, or balanced the other side with her collapsable bowl, snacks or leash.

    2. I have not found a dog backpack or saddlebag solution that didn’t seem like it would overheat and/or annoy the dog. For walks/hikes shorter than 2 hours or so, I carry a large Hydroflask in an over-the-shoulder bottle sling. Pup drinks out of a collapsible silicone bowl that’s clipped either to her collar or to the bottle sling. I pour water out of my bottle into her bowl. For longer hikes, I carry a backpack with multiple bottles.

    3. I have a doggie backpack which has a pouch on each side. (No brand recommendation as its very old).

      My dog is still quite young & vet has advised she not carry alot of weight (plus she overheats very quickly). Right now we are doing around ~3 mile hikes.
      So my solution is that she carries her collapsible bowl and I wear a hydration pack (camel back) with enough water for both of us — I can carry a good amount of water without it feeling as heavy or inconvenient as waterbottles.

      Bonus — when she poos 2 miles from a trash bin, she can carry her own poo bag.

    4. We have one from RuffWear and like it. Whatever you buy, make sure you can easily return it if needed – it can be hard to figure out what size will work for your dog, particularly once they start moving around. My dog has a big neck and chest, and is slimmer in her midsection, so we had to buy one that would accommodate her curves.

      1. Second to Ruffwear. I’ve used other cheaper brands and they don’t stay centered as well and shift around. My dogs don’t like putting them on, but as soon as we are going they forget all about it. REI has a great return policy if you want to try them on first.

  11. Any success stories for getting a toxic person fired? Our Marketing director (firm of 100) belittles women, constantly lies about what he says he did (this is the third time in 2 years he told me he submitted a speaker RFP but when I asked why I didn’t get it, he said it turned out the submission didn’t submit properly, etc.). I have been documenting these issues for his supervisor and the managing partners as I can’t believe he makes six figures before or during the pandemic.

    1. Nope! I’ve left places because of toxic people and they are all exactly where I left them.

    2. You don’t and they usually get promoted, especially if their “kiss up, kick down” game is strong. If his presence/job impacts you doing yours, then start job hunting. Douchebags like this are covered in teflon. Nothing sticks to them, ever.

      1. And even if they get fired or have to leave one employer, they’ll find another job because there is always someone (usually a man) out there who doesn’t think that whatever they did was really that bad. Unless it’s someone that directly impacts your job, I’d keep documenting but give up hope.

    3. Someone I work with told me that at her second job at a health club where she teaches tennis lessons to kids, she and several colleagues had to try for four years to get a racist coworker fired and they eventually succeeded. She said to persevere and to document, document, document.

    4. Are you documenting the things at the supervisor’s and managing partners’ requests, or are you doing it as something you intend to present to them? Has anyone else acknowledged this person is severely problematic? If not, there’s a reason they’re still there – either the company thinks this person has some value that outweighs the toxicity they bring or the company doesn’t really care all that much and probably won’t do anything.

    5. After 20 years in the work force, I have a very defeatist attitude towards toxic people and cultures. I don’t think you can fix them. The better solution is to move jobs.

    6. I have not participated in getting another person fired. When it became clear to me that my boss was toxic, I left. That may seem like a cop out, but she’s still the boss of that department, eight years later. The org doesn’t seem to care that her department bleeds good talent like a firehose. In a different job, I worked with a woman in who was…terrible. I won’t get into details but our supervisor spent the three full years documenting and eventually was able to fire the woman. The woman then successfully sued for discrimination. I’m not saying don’t try to get this guy fired, but I would seriously consider whether you want to spend the next 3-5 years working on this. Even then you may not succeed in getting what you consider justice. Also, if you do continue documenting, do not get into a he said/she said about what he is doing: “lies about what he said he did.” That will get you nowhere, especially with a director. Document the sexism.

    7. I worked with 2 toxic persons at 2 different workplaces. The first one is still there, I left. He and his wife were both managing partners at the same firm, and while married he had an affair with a senior associate. I was unlucky enough to be assigned to a project with the two of them (senior associate and male partner – wife had a different practice area). It wasn’t that it was awkward – I don’t care about that. But the project didn’t go well and I didn’t receive the mentoring and guidance I needed and was blamed for minor mistakes that the senior associate should have overseen. I worked on projects with other people later but didn’t have the clout to avoid working with the two of them; ultimately I left for lifestyle reasons. The two of them are now married after his divorce and the associate quit and spends her time remodeling their many vacation homes.
      In the second instance, I had a very toxic manager whose reputation preceded her. It was a hellish 13 months or so but while I was trying to decide whether to quit or not, she unexpectedly quit and for personal/family reasons moved across the country. I continued on successfully in that job.
      All the stories do not help you, I know. I have never had success pushing a toxic person out. Try to outlast them if you can and if you otherwise love your work; otherwise look elsewhere.

  12. How would you describe your style, especially as it comes to hair/makeup? I’d like to have a way, any way to describe mine. I guess my ideal style would be “colorful classic”, but as I think about my winter wardrobe I have a lot of very preppy sweaters. I wear a lot of colorful lipstick, idk, my hair is its natural brown and very angular. Perhaps I’m just basic, alas.

    1. Ha, before or after pandemic life? My husband and friends think I’m nuts for wearing makeup/doing my hair daily but my company culture is heavy on video use while on Teams and I felt too casual otherwise. That being said, I keep it to very minimal/classic makeup and jewelry, and ‘dressed up’ these days is a nice sweater or blouse, not a blazer or dress.
      IRL for office wear I default to very classic style – lots of dresses and skirts with blouses (pants are a total PITA to tailor and fit for my short self). I would say 95% of my work wardrobe is from Hobbs/The Fold/Brooks Brothers with some Jcrew tops/jackets thrown in. My firm is on the more formal side of business casual (slacks and blazers instead of full suits, dark jeans on Fridays only). I find classic stuff is just easier as I don’t have to think about if I’m ‘in style’. I default to classic/prep for my home life as well – again, just easier to not chase trends at this point in my life. And well, we live in New England, may as well lean into it ;)

    2. Good question…feminine and simple, I guess. I have long curly hair, my natural colour, that I wear naturally with zero styling. I wear a lot of ponytails. I love makeup but I don’t do like a full glam face or fancy contouring or anything like that. I do love lipstick in all shades and love a red lip. I guess I’m pretty boring!

    3. I’d describe mine as modern classic. I look current but rarely trendy if that makes sense. (So, yeah, probably basic, but I’m fine with that.) I do like preppy-inspired looks but often incorporate one piece at a time rather than going full-on KJP.

    4. I’ve been thinking about this – I feel like my style has changed and I’m dressing for me and me alone (even before the pandemic). I do mostly black and gray, with olive and stripes for some variety. I’ve also leaned hard into functional dressing: boilersuits/jumpsuits, pants and shoes I can move around in (mostly Docs). I always wear mascara, lipstick, and earrings. I don’t know what you’d call it – maybe broke architecture student?

      1. …I’m adopting “broke architecture student” as a description of my personal style. Thank you. I’m like you, minus the lipstick and attempts at variety, and with 3 year old chelsea boots instead of docs.

      2. I should add that I’ve had a pixie cut for I think six years now and I will not go back.

    5. “enhanced natural” for makeup – I never want anyone to look at me and think “oh her makeup looks great” as opposed to just thinking I look nice.

      hair & general style – tailored, clean, simple

    6. Proudly basic. Natural dirty blonde hair that I keep shoulder length (it’s straight). When I get grays I’ll dye it maybe slightly darker. Tinted moisturizer, bronzer, eyeliner, eyelash curler, and mascara. I sometimes wear lipstick but I drink from my Nalgene constantly. As far as clothing, I wear solids that can mix and match easily. I look best in dark colors so I gravitate toward those. Fitted items look best on me as opposed to boxy cuts and swing dresses. I’m not the trendiest one on the block but my look is classic and work- and age-appropriate so that’s fine by me!

    7. This question got asked a couple years ago and one of the responses from a regular commenter was “fierce.” I think about that often and aspire to her ethos.

    8. Pandemic aside, I describe my style as classic and elegant. I am not preppy classic but also not trendy. I love gorgeous fabrics and muted colors.

    9. I consider my aesthetic corporate goth. Lots of black, tattoos, docs, etc but balanced with sharp tailoring, pearls in my many piercing, and thoughtful details (like decorative buttons or fancy linings).

    10. I tend to slightly over-dressed or formal but low key and classic but cheery. No athletic gear for errands generally and always leather shoes and wool etc for appointments. Bright, preppy well tailored pieces from Boden, Joules, architectural dresses reminiscent of the Fold but not them since I wear an army uniform all day normally. I joke that QEII is my style icon and I love my triple strand of pearls but I have an extremely voluptuous build and can look bad in many modern clothes and manage to not look frumpy in the old fashioned classics. My make up is natural and can’t be obvious by regulation at work which is my taste anyway. Very minimal but polished. I have leaned into more statement lipstick since I stopped dying my hair at about 40 and have dramatic silver streaks at the temple which I love in my dark brown hair. I have had it chin length lately but am growing it long again.

    11. Goth minimalist ballerina (as named by my girlfriend group). Mostly black, with burgundy and gray “accents”, fitted, simple shapes. Plus an assortment of knitted items – chunky sweaters, crop wraps, etc. Angled bob with an undercut.

  13. USA
    1st Wednesday of January 2021: attempted coup
    2d Wednesday of January 2021: presidential impeachment
    3d Wednesday of January 2021: Biden/Harris inauguration
    4th Wednesday of January 2021: ???

        1. Right? Do not tempt a Wednesday into saying “hold my beer” to the prior Wednesdays.

          1. the epic Gen X/millennial social meme-conomy literally taking down stock shorting billionaires on GME?

          2. Ok stock market I just went and tried to read about this and got lost. Why is a stock for a company thought to be in its endgame phase soaring in price?

    1. Hopefully nothing! I’ve been loving the news over the past week-ish. Seriously I think the Biden/Harris campaign slogan should’ve been Make Politics Boring Again.

  14. Through forgetting what I have (because I don’t use it much) and buying more, I have ended up with huge amounts of dried rosemary and dried parsley. Does anyone have any recommendations of recipes that use one or both? Thanks!
    (Can’t believe I’m having to ask this! I feel like a fool)

    1. The rosemary is great on roasted potatoes. Or rub it all over a chicken (or chicken parts), along with salt and pepper, before roasting.

      Drief parsley doesn’t have much flavor so you can consider it as a visual aid — sprinkle it on light-colored food with a lavish hand for contrast.

    2. I like to mix a generous amount of rosemary into mayo for sandwiches, especially BLTs.

    3. Rosemary is lovely on roasted potatoes, roast in oil/salt/rosemary/garlic m/lemon. Same for roasted chicken.

      Rosemary is also great with sage in a mushroom risotto. And for roasted pumpkin seeds. Savoury biscuits. Foccacia.

      1. Ooh, focaccia would be a great way to use it up and a good weekend baking project, too.

    4. The sister pie cookbook has an insanely delicious salted rosemary shortbread recipe.

  15. I was feeling very…angry, I guess, at health care workers declining the vaccine, what with me being at the bottom of the list and being envious and all that. I think this was also echoed by others here. I just read this piece on DC/Virginia nursing home staff, vaccine hesitancy, and how through a lot of effort and individual conversations some trust could be built to increase vaccine uptake. I recommend this read!
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/nursing-homes-vaccine-decline/2021/01/27/22a602f6-5fe2-11eb-afbe-9a11a127d146_story.html

    1. FYI, in my hospital work setting we have been forbidden to even ask each other about vaccine uptake, let alone try to persuade each other. It’s considered a private medical matter. Management is encouraging everyone in emails to get the shot, but I don’t know if any 1:1 conversations about it are allowed. Maybe only with upper management? (Who would probably be the least trusted, along the lines of this article?) My dept is about 80% vaccinated, and my hospital 72%. Know that I would do more if I could.

    2. I don’t think I’d let a loved one move into a nursing home now. And for nursing homes: I think that the standard of care has to be hiring only vaccinated workers now. I think it has to become like how hospital workers have to get flu vaccines (or have to jump through some objective hoops to omit, nothing like “I have feelings about X”).

      1. The reason it isn’t mandatory for us the way the flu shot is: it hasn’t gone through the full FDA process. Once it has, I assume it will be mandatory.

        1. no, it is a political thing too. My mom works at a nursing home in TX and the stupid Trumper nurses there declined the vaccine at a rate of 70% to 30%.

          1. Also, the Staff there have acted abhorrently this whole pandemic. They frequently go on vacations, without requirements to quarantine after, they were very loose with how the residents could go do activities, resulting in multiple outbreaks in the facility, and they even had an indoor, Christmas party with breakfast (!!!!) during one such outbreak. It’s truly staggering.

          2. I said it’s the reason that it isn’t mandatory (mandated by my hospital for staff). Not the reason that people are declining it.

          3. That’s true, Monday. I got overzealous in my rant because this selfish behavior is abhorrent and puts my mom at risk. I still dont see my mom’s work requiring a vaccine even when fully FDA approved, just given their lax policies…

      2. My dad’s facility is doing cohorting and zoning, so residents are constantly moving in and out of different wings as risk and exposure changes. The constant change and upheaval is not a good situation for a memory care unit. If I had the choice, I would have him at home with a caretaker.

      3. Unfortunately, nursing homes already blow through staff like whoa, and if you exclude the 40-60%+ who don’t want vaccines at the moment, patient care will necessarily decline because of understaffing.

      4. If nursing homes and assisted living require the vaccine there will not be enough staff to keep them open.

      5. Most people “allow” a loved one to move into a nursing home when there isn’t another reasonable choice. Few people have the “luxury” of keeping the infirm in their home. The patients usually require a level of supervision that two working parents can’t provide, plus space for them to live, plus medical equipment for some. Also, needs to be first floor living with a bathroom. My house doesn’t have that.

        1. At some point my body will outlive my mind, based on family history. Might as well have all of the full-fat dairy and nachos now while I can savor them. Dying because of partying staff killing me with their germs or neglect from short-staffing isn’t the way I want to go out.

      6. Putting your loved one into a nursing home isn’t usually a choice. They’re too sick to be at home, but the hospital wants them out.

        Unless you’re a billionaire who can hire 24/7 private nurses and have medical staff on call for home visits, nursing homes are the only game in town.

        You may have this choice element mixed up with something like assisted living or other elder care choices.

        I’m actually a bit offended by what you said, having been in this situation with my own parent. Have you?

        1. In home professional nursing used to be much more common and much more accessible. It’s well worth looking into what’s changed and why.

          1. What is crazy is that the very family who could provide oversight in a nursing home situation aren’t allowed in but germ vector staff members are (so: we should just get a job to check in on our loved ones), so it seems that you have a vulnerable population at the mercy of others.

            In home CNA help and chore help would be preferred at this point absent grave conditions and as a first path (vs moving mom into a facility just because she can’t bathe herself and can no longer stand to cook). In my family, we clip our wings a bit to keep elders in a flat / bungalow nearby until they fully can’t be at home (generally dying within a month or two of moving into a nursing home, when their bodies are basically giving out). My grandmother hadn’t cooked in 10 years, but stayed at her home there with supports, which was cheaper than a nursing home and kept her happy until she was no longer sentient about things.

            [My generation will struggle with our parents, in part due to living further away, but I am looking at getting a rental condo property in my city with an eye towards housing my parents there eventually.]

          2. It is common and accessible in theory, but it’s cost – in urban areas, 24 hour care at home costs north of $250,000 per year, and usually out of pocket. Facilities, while hugely expensive, are cheaper ($150,000 in my area).

        2. Right. A nursing home is less about choice and more about not having many good (read: affordable) options.

        3. +1. I brought my parent home at the start of the pandemic. I was a very fit weightlifter when this all started a year ago, and now I have multiple injuries and chronic pain from leading and lifting them that may be permanent. My working life could be cut short by decades by the time the pandemic ends.

          I still think I made the morally right decision but I would not judge someone who did otherwise with their incapacitated elder. If you haven’t taken care of a full-grown adult (not a child) who needs to be fed, washed, clothed, and toileted 24 hours a day, you just don’t understand what it is like.

        4. I could write a book about this. We tried letting my MIL with dementia stay at home (next door to us) with cameras and in-home caregivers, and it was exhausting trying to coordinate them. We had to fill in when someone had to leave early or didn’t show up. MIL was up all hours of the night, trying to turn on the stove or walk to the store, so we couldn’t keep her at home with us and function at work too. Luckily we got her into a wonderful AL that only had two employees come down with Covid and NONE of the residents got it. All of the residents have had their first round of shots. I have heard the horror stories of nursing homes, and this one is a long way from perfect, but it doesn’t have to be a bad experience.

  16. Does anyone feel that their state is doing a good job of vaccine distribution? Leaving distribution up to the states makes sense in that different states have different logistical challenges, but I haven’t heard good experiences from anyone. The limited numbers of actual vaccines is a factor, but are we really 0-50 with this?

    In my state, Texas, the Dept of Health published a website late last year with sites that would distribute the vaccine, and encouraged eligible people to contact the nearest site to set up an appointment. Pharmacies had phones ringing non-stop. My county rolled out a website for residents to sign up, leaving people in neighboring counties to ask where their sign-ups were. This month my city was announced as a hub for people of neighboring rural counties to come be vaccinated, but the city health department wasn’t given advance notice to set up the infrastructure for more people.

    I registered my dad, and I’ve heard of other people (in this and other states) who helped their parents register because they struggled with the web forms. I’ve also heard of long drives and longer lines. It seems like all of the signups and vaccine distribution centers should have been set up while the vaccine was still in development. Websites don’t popup overnight, so I guess my county had that in the works earlier, but distribution as a whole still feels very thrown together last minute.

    1. Yes, but I live in Alaska and we’re number one in this regard. I believe it probably has more to do with the IHS and the extra allotments of vaccine we receive from them and for military workers (lotsa them in this state). The states that seem to be doing best have high native populations (NM, OK, AK). I’m so grateful that the people who live in villages are getting the vaccine distributed to them so quickly. They face challenges (lots of congregate living, lack of running water, isolation) that make them much more at risk than most and they needed to be a priority. After those populations are taken care of, I bet the inadequacies of our state distribution system will be more visible.

    2. I do hear a lot about scrambling to get appointments like you say, but then my neighbor was whining about the slot she got offered because she has to be at a hospital a half hour away at 8am. Which is like, if you had to catch a plane for your next vacation, you’d leave the house at 6 am, no problem, but now you’re complaining?
      I think the trickle of allocated doses and the unpredictability make it harder. If you knew for sure, how many doses exactly you’d get from the federal govt in the next 8 weeks, you could spin up large vaccination sites to use them all up. Since that’s not the case, I think many areas are erring on the side of understaffing, rather than potentially overstaffing/overplanning.

    3. NH is doing pretty well. They have mobilized the national guard to administer shots in vacant shopping malls. In some, they are using old Sears auto centers as drive through vaccine sites. Things went well when it was healthcare, first responders and then 65+ getting shots. Things got wonky when it became available to the two or more medical conditions that put them at greater risk. The reason is, health care facilities are not given any money to hire people to handle the sudden giant workload. You have to determine what patients are eligible, submit to the state, or contact the patients to see if they want the vaccine and to tell them to contact the state. You have to field calls and emails from all the patients that think they should be in this group but under the CDC guidance, they aren’t. Oh, and you have to do all this quickly before the vaccine runs out.

      I’ve heard that some smaller medical centers just said no, they wouldn’t provide letters of certification, they wouldn’t contact the state, they did not have the man power to do that and regular patient care. That is sad and unfortunate for the patients that could otherwise get the shot but also understandable. How are they supposed to do it all?

      The state is also trying to get more health care facilities to be vaccine sites but again, you can’t charge for giving out the vaccine. Who is going to pay all these workers and set up safe drive through facilities for them? They want to do it but many run on such small margins (like federally qualified health care centers) that it is going to be too burdensome without a grant.

      I think they missed a good opportunity to take on volunteers but there would have to have been some program to manage it. People could have volunteered to call patients (volunteers fall under healthcare HIPAA so no worries there) and there are many retired nurses and doctors willing to give shots but no one is matching them with facilities. They also need to be insured under the facility they are volunteering with which is not a small cost, unless there are some immunities.

      1. The comorbidities thing is very interesting. In MA there is a lot of grumbling that people are getting bumped down the list in favor of the 65-75 year olds– but I’m wondering if there isn’t some kind of logic to that. It’s a lot easier to “prove” your age. by the time they get to comorbidities it’ll be only those under 65, so a lot fewer people. And frankly, by then, it may just become an honor system.

    4. Resounding no. I live in a southern state, and only something like 15% of our vaccines received for longterm care residents have been used. They did a good job of vaccinating group 1A here (except apparently longterm care), but then opened up 2 categories within 1B and it’s gotten ridiculous. Lots and lots of young professionals who can and do work from home have found ways to fit into 1B, while those over 70 are having a difficult time navigating the system and actually get appointments. Also going very slowly like everywhere else in the country, so at this rate if it’s going to need to be a yearly vaccine, 1A and B will roll around again before those of us at the end of the line are eligible.

    5. I live in Connecticut, and think the state is doing a very good job. I had to sign up online for my mom, she doesn’t have email and wouldn’t have been able to do it herself. There is a number she could have called for an appointment, but my mom isn’t always easy so I thought it better for everyone to not have her do that!

      I was able to get my mom an appointment at a place she is comfortable going to at a time she likes — when you are 86, getting somewhere at 7:45 am is tough. The state has also set up a massive distribution center using an old Pratt & Whitney runway. You drive on the runway, and the person to be vaccinated sits in the rear driver side seat and they vaccinate you in the car, and then you wait your 15 minutes. They put this together really fast, with great cooperation and support from a number of organizations.

      The stats for Connecticut are we’ve used 66% of our doses, 8.2% of the population has three first shot, and 1.3% the second, and about 516,000 people. The only real obstacle in CT is vaccine supply, but I believe the are doing a great job with what we have.

      1. I agree with this. Overall, it appears that CT has handled COVID as well as can be expected for such a giant, sudden, and novel nationwide crisis.

  17. Do you think your “soft” or “hard” skills have helped you more in your career? I’m in a pretty technical field, and I was socially awkward growing up, so people are always surprised to hear me say that I actually like managing and meetings and all that stuff, and my soft skills have actually helped me a lot and defined my career. I also think being a people-person at work is easier than in real life.

    1. Soft skills have helped me a TON. You wouldn’t believe how many people in my field struggle to write a professional email or to complete basic proofreading tasks. People think I’m better at my job than I actually am because I am a strong writer and public speaker and am also pretty organized. Then they trust me to take on bigger roles, which gives me better technical skills, which gives me more prominence in the company, etc etc. Soft skills are huge.

      1. I’m the same (Attorney).

        6 years into my career and I crush clienteling, biz dev, smoothing over bad situations, team morale and firm culture (soft), to the point sometimes I worry I’m not actually a good lawyer (hard) :D

        Just kidding. I conduct myself and my career like a mediocre white man, which is probably why I don’t sweat the hard skills.

        1. +1 to this. Also an attorney. I am very good at explaining/summarizing/counseling clients, business development, training younger attorneys, morale boosting, etc. I am terrible at catching typos, I’m ok at being organized on checklists, etc. I think my hard skills were good enough to get me through the junior years but as I’ve gotten more senior soft skills matter increasingly more. I find a lot of women get caught in this trap – they are excellent junior attorneys but have a hard time transitioning to senior positions where managing and soft skills are what really matters. Unless you’re in a super niche practice area, no one makes partner due to their hard skills.

    2. I think having a mix of both is what is helpful for advancing. Like – some lawyers are absolutely brilliant scholarly types but don’t translate their knowledge well into practical explanations or advice to the business. That lends itself well to academia or very niche practices, but won’t go over well in-house.

    3. Early in my career I think it was my hard skills that impressed employers but as I move up, it’s the soft skills that are more important.

    4. In the corporate 9-5 world, hard skills are where it’s at for my field (soft tech, like UX and UI). Job openings have a checklist of languages and platforms, and that’s pretty much it. Tech as a whole tolerates the “insufferable genius” type more so than do other fields, so having poor people skills is in some cases even treated like a badge of honor.

      For freelance work, it’s all about the soft skills. People want a freelancer who’s amenable, over-communicative, and low-drama.

    5. For me it’s been the ability to combine soft and hard skills together. I got to my current position by being flexible and willing to take on new things and learn (soft skills), but then really mastering the material or job duties and doing them very well (hard skills). I imagine the same is true for anyone in any kind of teaching role (and likely also mentoring and managing): you need to have the technical (hard skills) down pat but also the patience and ability to explain it (soft skills) to be able to teach it to someone else.

      If you look around you at good leaders in your company or organization, it should be people who have a good combination of both who rise to the top e.g., a CFO who really understands all the financial nuances of the company’s performance and position in the market and can also communicate well to all stakeholders (employees as well as external investors), or a CTO or CIO who really understands the company’s IT infrastructure and needs and is also able to successfully lobby for needed upgrades or redundancies.

    6. Soft skills definitely. I’m in a technical role but I don’t consider myself a technical expert, just decent. However I am organized, a great manager based on feedback from my direct reports, I am accountable and I know how to motivate a team.

    7. IT person in senior management here, and soft skills absolutely made my career. I was a software developer for the first few years of my career, and then moved into project management and management. Having experience with all parts of IT projects from design and architecture, development, testing training etc. has been a huge help for my credibility and ability to make good decisions, but it is my communication, decisionmaking ability and management skills (soft) along with the analytics and planning skills (hard) that has made me advance.

    8. Both. I am in a technical field, which I couldn’t be in if I didn’t have the hard skills, but I have set myself apart with my soft skills – I’m a good communicator, a people person, and comfortable socially. It’s the combination of the two that has made my career what it is.

  18. Any recommendations for a food delivery place that would be suitable for a condolence gift in the greater Boston (North Shore) area? My uncle just lost his lifelong best friend suddenly and I’d like to send something, but I’m not a fan of Edible Arrangements. If anyone has recommendations for another place, I’d love to hear them. TIA.

  19. Is it reasonable to ask that other meeting attendees avoid drinking or eating during the meeting so they don’t have to remove their masks? My firm has been pushing for people to come back to the office, especially for monthly in person meetings. The meetings are brief, ~30 minutes, and the space is big enough to allow 6+ feet between each attendee. People bring a drink or snack with them, which means they’re moving/removing their mask to eat and drink. I’m uncomfortable attending these meetings in person, but when I’ve attended remotely, I’m the only one who isn’t physically present. I’m also the most junior person in these meetings. I think the answer is I just have to suck it up, maybe wear two masks. I just don’t understand why people can’t put down their coffee for a few minutes.

    Also, I’m getting pretty tired of people saying “but I wear a mask!” like mask wearing is a binary thing. No you’re not wearing a mask if you’re removing it every 2 minutes to drink your coffee, and usually you put it right back on but sometimes you forget and it hangs off your ear for a while.

    1. 6 feet is not that helpful when you’re all in a confined indoor space sharing the same air. If you’re not suffering for attending remotely I’d keep doing that. It’s probably less of an adverse impact than the junior person telling the senior people not to bring a snack (sadly).

    2. Wear an N95 mask and a cloth one on top. Don’t just wear cloth. To be clear, I think what you firm is doing is COMPLETE BS and it’s also BS that Americans can’t make it through a brief meeting without snacking, but such is our world.

    3. These masked, indoor meetings only work if people are in fact wearing masks the whole time. Which they obviously can’t do if they’re eating or drinking. I agree that as a junior person its harder for you to push back – is there any more senior person or like the health&safety person you could talk to about this?

      1. Exactly! It is amazing that we are so far in the pandemic and this is how we are acting. Misinformation and falsehoods are so difficult to defeat. There are millions of Americans who don’t know how to prevent transmission, and millions who won’t work to prevent it.

        OP, one thing to argue is that if someone tested positive after attending this meeting, you all would be considered close contacts. If you are all close contacts, at a minimum you would all need to quarantine in your homes. Of course, multiple people could get covid, which would negatively impact firm business. Having the meeting by video or phone eliminates that risk. If it must be in person, everyone must wear a mask the entire time (no eating, drinking, or removing to talk) for the masks to make any difference.

    4. Ugh, that’s so frustrating. If these are short 30-minute meetings what is the point of having them in person? I agree with the other poster about seeing if you can get help from senior leadership or maybe having a group of people push back.

    5. Just another vote that you continue to attend virtually as long as it’s an option. I don’t think it’s really reasonable for them to even be holding in-person meetings. I also don’t think it’s reasonable to drink coffee during a 30 minute meeting but sadly, I think it will only reflect poorly on you if you push back on this. My company has been pushing hard since last summer for us all to return to the office full time (which in itself is kinda bonkers) but even they admit we shouldn’t be holing up in conference rooms together and certainly not without masks.

  20. PSA – the Karen Scott Open front cardigan is on sale at Macy’s for under $20 today – it’s been featured on the blog before and I own it in merlot and charcoal. I absolutely love it and highly recommend. Will post link in comment.

    1. Thanks for this! Just this morning I was looking in my closet and thinking I could use a new cardigan or three!

  21. People on this board have talked about the covid vaccine and whether or not to get it if pregnant or considering pregnancy, a new study is out to today in the well respected American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology on maternal covid mortality. It might make one reconsider getting the vaccine before/during pregnancy, especially if you’re of color or have comorbidities. I’ll post a link to follow.

    Quote: Contracting COVID-19 while pregnant can have deadly consequences for the mother, a new study published today in American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology shows.

    The study, which followed 240 pregnant women in Washington state between March and June 2020, found that COVID-19 mortality among them was significantly higher than in similarly aged individuals with COVID-19 who were not pregnant.

    Specifically the study found:

    Pregnant women with COVID-19 had a 3.5 times higher rate of associated hospitalization than the similarly aged people who had COVID-19 and were not pregnant.
    The mortality rate was 13 times higher among pregnant mothers than among similarly aged individuals infected with COVID-19 who were not pregnant. This said, most of the pregnant patients with COVID-19 had asymptomatic or mild infections and healthy pregnancies.
    The three women who died of COVID-19 were from minority ethnic groups and had other health conditions such as obesity and hypertension.
    Of the 240 pregnant women with SARS-CoV-2 infections, 24 were hospitalized and three succumbed to the virus.

    1. There was also a good oped in the NY Times today about the misinformation aimed at pregnant women that’s discouraging pregnant women or women of childbearing age from getting the vaccine. I think this is a big part of the reason that vaccination rates have been so low in nurses and nursing home workers. I definitely get the caution when you’re pregnant, but it seems very clear than any possible risk from the vaccine (and there might be some, though it’s clearly fairly low) is dramatically outweighed by the risk of actually getting covid.

      https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/26/opinion/covid-vaccine-rumors.html

Comments are closed.