@Minute_Rice and My Pantry at Work #LoveEveryMinute #spon

I feel like I live at my desk. I am at work for nine hours a day so it is easy to feel that way. Nine grueling hours, okay maybe not grueling – I do love my job after all but that is a lot of time to be in one place.

Oddly, time flies by so fast that from the minute I get there to the minute I leave there is always something to do or someone is asking me for something that it feels as if I just arrived when I am leaving. Sort of sounds like home…

At work, I manage an office. I make sure essentials like coffee and paper towels are in the kitchen and paper is stocked in the copy room. I dole out headache medicine, antacids and sympathy. I even felt two foreheads just last week for a fever.

At home, I do almost all the same things except I make sure there is paper in the bathroom and not a copy room. An, I felt one forehead for a fever and thankfully they just wanted attention.

Managing an office and a home take the same skill set. I am someone to vent to, cry to and complain about when things aren’t the way they think they should be and I love it, every minute, almost.

All of this leaves my lunch schedule up in the air. Come to think of it breakfast, too. Trying to get lunches made and kids out the door, I don’t always have time to make my breakfast and once at work I put off eating it even when I have breakfast with me. To help keep my hunger checked, I keep a pantry stocked in one of my drawers of healthy (for the most part) foods.

Yep, I am one of those that “hoard” food. I prefer to think of it as planning in advance.

Another way to combat the hunger pains of skipping breakfast is to make up for it with a healthy lunch and what better way to add extra bang for my buck than by beefing up my lunch and adding Minute® Ready to Serve Rice.

By adding a complex carbohydrate to my meal, such as Minute Ready-to-Serve brown and wild rice, not only am I adding the yummy but also adding substance to my meal that will hold me over to the next meal without adding empty calories. By staying fuller, longer I decrease my odds of hitting up the snack machine at the end of the day. And, that is what I need to avoid - the 4:00 PM munchies.

My favorite lunch is soup but soup alone is not very substantial especially when I skip breakfast. By taking plain tomato soup and adding the brown & wild rice portion cup to it I made an exciting and filling lunch fit for eating at my computer.

I also find that the convenience of the single serve cups works perfect for sending the Husband to work with leftovers.

We somehow always have meat left over from dinner but never rice or potatoes. Throwing a pre-portioned cup in with his lunch, plus a serving of froze veggies, insures he is getting a balanced lunch in his long day as well as something he likes to eat.

Minute® Ready to Serve Rice has so many great flavors to choose from, there should be no problem finding a favorite or two.

How do you do lunch and ward off the late day munchies?

How do you do lunch at work? @minute_rice and My Pantry at Work #LoveEveryMinute #spon ineedaplaydate.com/2013/03/minute…
— MryJhnsn (@mryjhnsn) March 3, 2013

Fine print:

Minute® Ready to Serve Rice is an ideal portable solution for lunch or breakfast because you can eat it on the go, straight from the cup. In just 60 seconds, you have fully cooked rice for any meal or snack. You’ll never get bored with your lunch since there are 10 flavorful and wholesome varieties. If you’re looking for a healthy option, Minute® Ready to Serve Rice provides easy portion control since it’s conveniently packaged in two individual single-serve cups.

Visit http://www.minuterice.com/ for recipes, including Minute® Ready to Serve Stir it Up recipe ideas and more information about the Minute® Rice family of products.


This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Minute® Ready to Serve Rice.

Fighting the Common Cold and Winning #spon

This winter has been rough! On top of all the snow, it just feels like it is colder than usual. I'm certain it's because I was so spoiled by last year's mild temperatures and very little snow fall.

Despite the snow and freezing temperatures, I thought our family had escaped the yearly cold. The last thing I needed was to be sick and once one person gets sick, I'm in for it! Then, the Husband got sick, the whole nine yards, coughing sneezing runny nose.  I knew I wasn't far behind.

Now, the Husband swears by two things to help him get over his cold: the netti pot and NyQuil.  I am not a fan of the netti pot for reasons too numerous to mention but I am a fan of feeling better so when my loving husband gave me his cold the first thing I reached for was the DayQuil.

I never, ever take the night time medicine. I am way too worried about being knocked on my butt and not being able to function. With the Husband’s schedule, I am on my own a lot and the last thing I need is to be groggy. I am very much a DayQuil kind of girl until the other night when I had every cold symptom listed on the bottle and my cough was keeping me awake.

I couldn’t take it any longer, the coughing, hacking, dry throat – I needed help and fast so I got up to seek out relief and found the NyQuil bottle beckoning to me from its place on the shelf. As I was pouring the liquid, I debated if it was the right course of action and as I swallowed I was rewarded with immediate relief to my itchy throat.

As soon as my head hit the pillow I was out for the entire night! I didn’t even hear the Husband get up to go to work. Best part – I awoke feeling better.

NyQuil suppress my cough, stopped my sneezing, alleviated the aches and pains I was feeling and slowed down my runny nose. I was not feeling a 100% but I was feeling a whole lot better than when I went to bed.

I followed up with a DayQuil pill in the morning and went about my day – kids to sitter, me to work and wouldn’t you know I was managing and not drowsy.  My headache was gone and although I was still sniffling I was not blowing my nose every few minutes.

I could survive this cold with the help of NyQuil and DayQuil! And, you better believe that I took one more dose that night.

This is sick me with my kid's stuffed animal

 How do you survive the cold or prevent it?

Fine print: I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for Vicks DayQuil & NyQuil. I received product samples and a promotional item as a thank you for participating.

HolidayComforts - What Makes Your Holiday Merry and Bright?

This post is sponsored by Tempur-Pedic, the brand millions of owners trust to deliver their best night’s sleep every night. Enjoy our Buy 2, get 1 free pillow offer now and give the gift of custom comfort to someone you love.

What is it about this time that makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside? Could it be the soft glow of Christmas lights? Could it be the cozy feeling of cuddling with hot cocoa and watching the endless array of holiday movies on the couch? How about all the extra joy that is in the air? Or maybe it the contagious giddiness of children (and adults) who still believes in Santa?

Despite the initial dread of the holiday season, for me, it dissipates once our tree is standing in our living room. I love how excited the kids are when they get the go ahead to start hanging ornaments. They can’t help but giggle and laugh with each decoration that is hung. Even the baby participates, of course, hers are all on one branch, on the very bottom of the tree, but she is so proud of that part of the tree.

There are so many things that bring comfort this time of year. The sights and sounds of this magical season is just the start and I want to share with you my top 5 holiday comforts.

Top 5 Holiday Comforts

1. Cinnamon
I love the smell and taste of cinnamon. Every year, right before Thanksgiving our local grocery store sells bags upon bags of pine cones covered in cinnamon and I am in heaven breathing it in. The smell sends me to that happy place of baking for the family and drinking hot chocolate dusted with this wonderful stuff. I’ve even started adding it to the salt and flour ornaments that the kids make every year.

2. Making Christmas Tree Ornaments
Speaking of the salt and flour ornaments - since my oldest has been able to manage a crayon, we have been making Christmas tree ornaments. One year it was popsicle sticks, another year was holiday themed plastic sun catchers and the last few years it has been salt and flour dough ornaments that we cut in to shapes with cookie cutters, bake and paint. Extra ornaments are handed out as gifts (and now smell like cinnamon).

3. Cookie Decorating
I know this is probably on many people’s list but for the last couple of years my son has been inviting friends over to decorate cookies together. This year he has invited his entire 1st grade class plus his PSR group. That is a lot of kids in my house and a lot of cookies but it will be worth it. Since there is always, extra cookies we decided to share the extras with the local nursing home.



4. Holiday Blankets
I am not one to do a theme for anything but I have two blankets that I keep stored away and only come out for Christmas. One is red and fluffy with white snowflakes and the other is bright red with Christmas stockings embroidered on it. Somehow seeing those blankets on my couches always make me feel cheerier and I love wrapping the kids in them when watching the Christmas specials.


5. Corny Holiday Movies
And by corny I mean all those made for TV, typically aired on ABC family and perfect to watch with the kids. Not to say that I am not embarrassed to be caught watching them but it quickly diminishes when the commercial is over and Santa is revealed to be real.






What are your holiday comforts?  Feel free to share in the comments or leave the link to your blog post!

Comfort is the perfect gift for everyone on your holiday gift list, so be sure to take advantage of Tempur-Pedic's Buy 2, get 1 free pillow offer! I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective