Pepperidge Farm® Milano® Cookies, A Little Time for Yourself and a GIVEAWAY

When I was offered the opportunity to write about Pepperidge Farm® Milano® cookies (love!) I jumped at the chance. Theses fabulous cookies have been a favorite of mine for years. What’s not to love, yes? Then, when I discovered Milano cookies is running a campaign promoting women, the many roles they play and the need they have to take a moment out for themselves…I was all in. Milano Cookies + A Quiet Moment to Oneself = Sign Me Up, sugar.

I know many of you women out there are busy people. I am always so impressed by what I see many of you doing. Caring for your families, building great marriages, making healthy meals, volunteering at the school, filling church callings, supporting friends, bringing home a little bacon… and let’s face it. It can all be overwhelming sometimes! I feel overwhelmed regularly and that’s a fact.

Back some 8 years ago, I found myself with newborn twins (they both had reflux and where on oxygen, mind you), 3 older elementary aged children and a husband busy teaching school full-time, going to grad school and completing an internship in his spare time. Just typing these words gives me a little pit in my stomach. Truly. That was a challenging (and great!) year. One Sunday afternoon during this time, I was able to sneak away and go to Relief Society meeting (a religious class for the women of my church). The lesson only lasted 30 minutes or so and I was so grateful to be able to be out of the house for a bit, and be in the presence of great ladies. During the lesson the teacher encouraged us to take time out for ourselves, and how important it is to do that daily. Hmmmmm. Take time out for ourselves…? I considered my current situation. I thought about my daily activities, my darling and ever so demanding newborns, the spelling tests my older kids needed help with, the piles upon piles laundry and so many other demands. I had never felt more overwhelmed in my life, seriously. I wanted to take time out for myself, but wondered how in the world I could make that happen and not shirk my responsibilities.
There were just so many needs to fill, every second of every day. How could I possibly fit a little time in for myself? Well, I thought. I am planning to brush my teeth everyday…I can at least count on that. And, ladies and gentlemen, let me tell you. I have never had cleaner teeth than in that year. Every day, I would shut my bedroom door, and brush my teeth for 5 luxuriously quite minutes. I would think calm thoughts, stare out the window and relax while my teeth got shiny clean. Now, you might think this sounds ridiculous, but it helped! It honestly did. Those 5 quiet minutes helped me manage the chaos better. It gave me the little boost I needed.
Fast forward 8 years and I find my life’s responsibilities have changed somewhat since those crazy days with newborn twins. I don’t change diapers anymore. I have a house full of teenagers, my oldest will graduate from high school in a few short months and these cute twins of mine go to school during the day.  It’s still busy, oh man it is so busy…and it is going by way too fast.

 
Could I let you in on a little secret? I still feel overwhelmed. I guess that’s just something that comes along with being a mother, wife, sister, friend, blogger, etc… It still helps to take time out for myself. The good news is, I don’t have to count “brushing my teeth for 5 minutes” as one of those time out moments anymore! Thank goodness. Some days I actually carve out 20 minutes to read a book before my kids come barreling through the door after school. It’s luxurious.

So are these cookies. If you took a little time out of your crazy schedule to munch on a fabulous Milano cookie, perhaps in a nice, quiet, sunny spot, just sitting and thinking calm thoughts, I do believe your life would be happier. Soak up a little time for yourself! You are worth it!

These Orange Chocolate Cookies are my favorite. I could eat one every day and die a happy woman, truly.

Pepperidge Farms is offering you an opportunity to win $100 Visa Gift Card. All you need do is leave me a comment telling me how you manage to take a little time out for yourself. Can’t wait to read your thoughts on the subject!

Entry Instructions: 

No duplicate comments.

You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:

1. Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
2. Tweet (public message) about this promotion; including exactly the following unique term in your tweet message: “#SweepstakesEntry”; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post
3. Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post
4. For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.

This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older (or nineteen (19) years of age or older in Alabama and Nebraska). Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. The notification email will come directly from BlogHer via the sweeps@blogher email address. You will have 2 business days to respond; otherwise a new winner will be selected. 

The Official Rules are available here.

This sweepstakes runs from 3/2/15 – 4/30/15.

Be sure to visit the Pepperidge Farm® Milano® Cookie brand page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ posts!