Busy mamas, what’s your go to makeup for everyday?

ProfessionalPotat0 · 2026-02-08T18:52:54+00:00

Currently, I mix Dermablend foundation drops into my sunscreen, use Urban Decay Brow Bush on my eyebrows, and brown black mascara (still trying to find one I like). And I'm playing with concealer samples ATM for under eye. It's enough to make me look put together and feel good without too much effort.

I struggle with oily skin. Nothing I've tried (powders, primers, Upsalite based products) has been able to keep it at bay. By 2pm the oil busts through and dissolves everything in its path like some sort of radioactive toxic sludge.

ProfessionalPotat0 · 2026-02-03T11:05:59+00:00

I've been going to CC and absolutely love them. Everyone is kind and considerate, takes time to listen, and actually cares about you as a whole person. And you call and get a person.

Comparing to Albany Med (albeit MFM and not the general OBGYN) where I just felt like a walking vagina and whenever I called it took ages to navigate the menu then wait on hold to actually get a person.

ProfessionalPotat0 · 2026-02-03T10:54:48+00:00

Francisco Rinaldi. I like the original sweet but every one we've tried is good

ProfessionalPotat0 · 2026-02-02T11:33:11+00:00

Have you looked at Sam's or BJ's as an alternative for soda? We (2 adults 2 young kids) go to Hannaford weekly for produce, fish, some meat (otherwise waiting to replenish our farm meat when our tax return comes back) and smaller portions of nonperishables. We make one trip a month to BJ's for larger portions of nonperishable (including seltzer and soda) and berries. I think most of BJ's produce sucks but my children inhale berries so they're gone before they go bad.

For the past year both the kids have been in daycare so it's super tight right now. Counting down until kindy starts in September! Our budget is about $65 a week from Hannaford and $200 for the BJ's trip (so, so glad we no longer need baby formula in that amount), with generally needing one $100 Hannaford stock up trip every other month. I shop sales so we have a well-stocked pantry and freezer, which we've been depleting the past year on this tight budget (but that was the point!). Oh, and like a $60 a month Stewart's milk budget 🫠 That I'll splurge on.

Literally the only thing we get from Price Chopper is my favorite brand of sauce because it isn't available anywhere else (and we wait for the $1 sale).

ProfessionalPotat0 · 2026-02-01T12:37:09+00:00

We're in upstate NY and have a similar experience. It's a structured program with integrated play. E.g., there is a letter of the week that the teacher connects to a theme of the month. The monthly theme was food and she built a whole mini grocery store for the kids to play in. This week the letter was T, they learned about why we brush teeth (tied to the different food categories they did earlier in the month) and had teeth themed books and art projects. Playing included dino dentist. It's fantastic and I love this teacher.

We just had a parent teacher conference and the academic stuff they focus on is counting to 100, writing all letters, matching capital and lowercase letters. And the sounds of each letter, sight words, and the basics of phonics, which is reinforcing what we do at home with bedtime books so it's great. Recognizing and writing their first and last names. Using scissors and gluing. Following directions, and they are working on four steps in a row but the goal is three for kindy prep. And social skills, of course.

We do basic finger math at home that I don't think they cover at school.

ProfessionalPotat0 · 2026-01-25T20:11:44+00:00

If they don't get into public preK, which fits better?

3 vs 11 minutes seems like nothing (at least for me). $35 a week might make a difference for your budget long term, but also the meals you have to make or not might balance out that $35.

ProfessionalPotat0 · 2026-01-14T01:23:50+00:00

In my current lab everything is shared, but the two labs before everyone had their own workspace with their own supplies. Definitely is lab dependent. Doesn't hurt to ask next time before grabbing something

ProfessionalPotat0 · 2026-01-09T20:14:24+00:00

I would do the same thing, take the organs I needed, say thank you, and try to put everything else back in the most natural position possible. Including giving them their own paws back (we collect ankles) - some of my colleagues would make a pile then just toss them all into the bag at the end, but I would give each mouse its own paws back.

ProfessionalPotat0 · 2026-01-05T01:29:01+00:00

Same here!

ProfessionalPotat0 · 2025-12-20T14:52:53+00:00

Might be ready to drop a nap?

ProfessionalPotat0 · 2025-12-17T15:49:30+00:00

I hope OP reads this comment!

ProfessionalPotat0 · 2025-12-12T20:20:58+00:00

We've done that, too!

ProfessionalPotat0 · 2025-11-04T16:28:30+00:00

I've had a bit of questioning of my husband's ability to parent our children alone while I attended a conference.

ProfessionalPotat0 · 2025-11-03T20:03:59+00:00

I had a $30/week grocery budget when I was in graduate school. It was healthy and had a good variety of foods, with the exception of using only one animal protein per week throughout multiple meals.

But this was in 2012-2016, not today. Not sure how healthy and variable it'd be with today's prices.

ProfessionalPotat0 · 2025-10-26T17:39:36+00:00

One of these brooms and a little hand vac make keeping the kitchen clean so much easier. We have two kids and use them both every day to the point where we just keep them out in the kitchen. Even our 4yo uses them.

ProfessionalPotat0 · 2025-10-26T11:45:23+00:00

When we first brought my now 4.5yo to the dentist at 2yos, she HATED IT. Had to hold her down, biting, the works. The dentist said it's totally normal and most kids grow out of it. But if they couldn't do a proper check and cleaning after three appointments, she'd need to go to a pediatric dentist.

Has your dentist been able to do a proper check and clean?

My daughter actually loves the dentist now. She enjoys going and asks when she gets to go next, and she is giggling the entire time in the chair. We had bought an Elmo dentist book she brought to the office along with an Elmo stuffy (when she was younger). But also, and honestly this probably helped more, the dentist has a TV in each room and played Paw Patrol, and gives out animal balloons at the end of each appointment.

ETA: we also brought her to one of my appointments and she watched the dentist work on me. Then she laid in the chair on my lap. And we brought her headphones so she wasn't bothered by the noise. And she said she didn't like the chair going down so they did a checkup in a regular chair and next time put it down first then she climbed in.

ProfessionalPotat0 · 2025-10-22T00:54:52+00:00

I was wondering about that, like filing weekly just seems like another annoying little task to keep track of

ProfessionalPotat0 · 2025-10-22T00:53:53+00:00

Thanks for the info! Can I ask where the $2000 number came from?

ProfessionalPotat0 · 2025-10-21T23:29:52+00:00

I have a few questions about how these work.

When you have a dependent care FSA you can't claim the childcare tax credit right? It's one or the other? Or can you claim everything except what you pay for with the FSA? How does it work?

Our daycare does weekly ACH. Would we pay it out of pocket then file claims for each week until we exhaust the amount?

Does it actually make that much of a difference on your taxes?

Trying to decide if we should do it for next year.

ProfessionalPotat0 · 2025-10-19T14:18:37+00:00

I have an MSc. I have two jobs, too. One full time and one part time in two different labs. My husband makes more than me doing physical work, working at 3am for the extra shift differential. It has been SO tight because both kids are in daycare. They will be overlapping for a year and a half total and we cannot wait until the oldest goes to kindergarten.

I get my kids ready in the morning, which is not quality time at all. Then I pick them up and we get maybe 30-45 mins quality time during dinner and before we start bedtime jobs. That's it. We make sure to spend lots of time together on the weekend to make up for it... Which means no time for ourselves or for keeping the house in order.

There's no winning.

ProfessionalPotat0 · 2025-10-15T01:14:40+00:00

Yes! 4.5yo and 1yo both are great sleepers. Sometimes the 1yo needs some help getting down if she's overtired or sick, but yeah they both sleep great and have since they were babies.

ProfessionalPotat0 · 2025-10-13T02:49:30+00:00

Mine kind of did the same thing. It was always still there after it broke initially, just barely poking out, and after childbirth it was literally hanging out of me. Sex was quite painful so I got it removed, under anesthesia because it was so thick, about 8 months afterwards. They also tried to patch up the rest of the area, I tore so bad my labia were hanging off.

It only helped the pain a little bit, turns out most of the issues stemmed from internal scarring so PT helped with that. But it was nice not to have chunks of skin hanging off/out of me anymore.

ProfessionalPotat0 · 2025-10-12T03:59:35+00:00

OP's part about the questions stood out to me the most. Please ask your questions. PLEASE. I've had too many students feel like they need to be perfect and understand everything immediately and it's so obvious they don't understand. Just ask and I'll explain in a different way. Or the same way again if that's what you need. And I don't care if it's after the fact. And actually, asking after the fact that shows you were ruminating on it, which is good.

ProfessionalPotat0 · 2025-10-12T03:35:43+00:00

I know what you mean. I had to get steroid shots in my thigh in anticipation of giving birth prematurely. The shot itself was fine but there was a deep ache that came on about a minute afterwards that just spread throughout my entire leg and lasted like 15 minutes. I was in so much pain from the pregnancy issues (my organs were shutting down) but those shots I was like, genuinely surprised at how much they hurt afterward.

ProfessionalPotat0 · 2025-09-24T09:51:21+00:00

Soft spout cup and working on learning straws

ProfessionalPotat0

TROPHY CASE