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Tell the Makers of MOTRIN How You Make it Happen & Win!

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We have received information, product and materials from McNeil Consumer Healthcare Division of McNEIL-PPC, Inc., the makers of MOTRIN®. The opinions stated are our own. This is a sponsored post.

Moms, we know you’re unstoppable, and we know part of the way you stay unstoppable throughout the week is by making it happen on the weekends. Whether it’s things at home, keeping up with your own fitness routine or managing the family, you do it all week long and then continue to tackle things throughout the weekend. Moms everywhere find ways to fit it all in, and the makers of MOTRIN surveyed some of them to see how they’re making it happen at home. You can check out the results on this MOTRIN infographic.

We want you to share all of your great tips for making it happen at this week’s Twitter party on May 20 from 2-3 PM ET. Celebrity trainer Ashley Borden will be joining us for this discussion, and she will be sharing great tips on how you can take care of yourself while also taking care of all the other moving pieces in your life!

You can RSVP here for the Twitter party.

To help you feel better before and after any physically demanding project, consider some of Ashley’s tips* for adding stretches and toning moves to your daily routine. You’ll feel looser, leaner and ready to “Make It Happen.”

  • The “I’m cleaning under the couch on my hands and knees” back stretch: You know that great stretch when you arch and round your spine to really stretch those back muscles? Multi-task and peek under the couch for that missing remote while you’re at it. Alternate arching and rounding your spine, five times each way.
  • The “I’ve been avoiding it, but it’s finally time to tackle the yard work” shoulder stretch: While standing tall, interlace your hands behind your back. Try to reach down toward the floor and straighten your arms as much as you can. Raise your chest high and keep your eyes on the horizon. You will feel a big shoulder harness stretch around the both shoulders. Hold for 30 seconds.
  • The “I will paint this room by myself in one afternoon” triceps stretch: Start by putting your arms up over your head and bend your right arm so that your forearm hangs down. With your left hand grab your right elbow and pull it toward your head. Lean to the left to really open up your rib cage. Hold the stretch for a few seconds, then switch sides and repeat with opposite arm. Do three rounds on each side. Then grab that paint roller and get moving!
  • The “I can look for dust bunnies while I strengthen my core” plank: Lying face-down on the floor, get into the plank position, supporting your body with your forearms and the tips of your toes, keeping your back and legs fully extended and straight. Hold this position for 30 seconds while you scan the floor for dust bunnies. Do five sets.
  • The “I can pick up the toys while toning my legs and tush” squat: Survey that playroom floor and see what needs tidying. Stand with knees shoulder-width apart and drop into a squat. Be mindful of your position and ensure your knees don’t extend past your toes. At the bottom of the squat, pick something up and put it where it belongs. Repeat until the playroom is clean.

The MOTRIN brand is inviting all of you unstoppable women to join in and celebrate Monday as a day of triumph by sharing how you “Make It Happen” over the weekend! You can share how you “Make It Happen” on the weekends when it comes to home, fitness, fashion and family by visiting the MOTRIN Facebook page on Mondays for a chance to win a one-on-one session with actress Jennie Garth in L.A. to discuss her DIY tips and tricks, plus other great prizes.**

*Remember to talk to your doctor before starting or changing any exercise routine and always use product as directed.

**NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Open to legal residents of the 50 U.S. & D.C., 21 years or older. Enter Contest on 5/11/15. For Official Rules, including prize descriptions, visit http://bit.ly/MotrinMIHRules. Void where prohibited

Things Happen When You Get Out Of The House

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I once heard a wise saying: Things happen when you get out of the house. It’s simple, but it’s true: You’re a lot more likely to meet your neighbor if you’re in your front yard instead of your kitchen. You won’t meet the love of your life if you hunker down on your couch to watch reruns, but you might if you go to that party you were invited to. If you don’t go downtown, you won’t see the “Help Wanted” sign that leads you to your dream job. If you put yourself out there, you never know what might happen.

 

In 2005, I had two little kids, and I wasn’t getting out of the house (alone) nearly as much as I wanted to. I loved my kids, but I craved the company of like-minded moms. I had recently seen a link to a blog in one of my favorite magazines. I followed the link. I loved the blog. I started one of my own. As I wrote, I began to read. I played “blogscotch,” finding a blog I liked and then visiting blogs in that blog’s blogroll, and so on and so on. One day I saw a link to a blog called “Been There.” It was even better than I’d hoped—not one, but two women: smart, funny, sympathetic. They really had been where I was; they got it. Then came my “getting out of the house” moment. Instead of just reading, I left a comment.

 

Through that comment, one of the women, Cooper, found and commented on my blog. That reaching back was the start of an online friendship between me and Cooper and her co-blogger, Emily, too. They were the kind of mom, the kind of friend, that I wanted to be. And they made it feel like it was possible.

 

When Hurricane Katrina hit, I sent a check to the Red Cross. I sat in my house, wringing my hands, wishing there were more I could do. Cooper and Emily DID something. They started the “Been There Clearinghouse.” If someone who fled New Orleans needed a crib, or clothes, or anything, Cooper and Emily found a way to connect them with people who had those things to give away. If someone had something to offer, Cooper and Emily connected them with someone who needed it. Here I was just trying to get out of the house, for Pete’s sake; they were helping people who no longer had houses to get out of.

 

One day I got an e-mail from Emily: would I be willing to give her my phone number and actually talk on the phone? Of course, I said, despite my husband’s mutterings about Internet safety and his suspicions that “Cooper and Emily” was really an ex-con in a stained undershirt who lured unsuspecting suburban moms to his paneled basement lair. I gave my number, and soon I was hearing the real voices of these women I already loved and admired (or the surprisingly convincing voices of two women the ex-con had imprisoned in his basement as part of his diabolical plan).

 

It was really them, though—and they had a very non-diabolical plan of their own: a website for moms, a place to gather, share ideas, learn, talk, laugh, support each other, maybe even change the world. A virtual neighborhood—a Motherhood. It barely seemed possible to me; I mean, I was having a hard enough time getting the laundry done. Run a website? One that would really matter? Well, if anyone could do it, my money would have been on Emily and Cooper. I listened to them, laughing with delight and anticipation as they talked about their plans. Did I want in, to participate in some way? Of course I did. Who wouldn’t?

 

The Motherhood has been a lot of different things to me, just as “real life” friendships are. I have to put that phrase in quotes, because the friendships I’ve developed with Cooper and Emily and other women through the Motherhood are no less real or substantive than the friendship I have with my neighbor across the street.

 

Whether I was feeling grateful, fearful or hopeful, the Motherhood gave me a place to share. If I was in a valley and cried out, other voices, kinder ones, echoed back at me. When I decided I wanted to donate diapers to a local clinic for homeless women and their children, the Motherhood encouraged me (and Cooper and Emily were the first to send diapers—big boxes of them!). After almost seven years of being a stay-at-home mom, I decided to start my own family law practice. On the days I doubted I could do it, guess where some of my best encouragement came from? I had a Motherhood behind me, believing in me. So I believed in myself. The practice flourished, so much so that I was too exhausted at night to get online much. When I did make it to The Motherhood, the welcome was always warm. And when I had to close my practice so my husband could take a new job out of state, The Motherhood provided a place to voice my excitement at a new adventure, and the grief of leaving home.

 

Who would have thought all of that could spring from one little comment on a blog? I stepped outside of my “house,” my comfort zone, that day, and talked to a “stranger,” and things did indeed happen: I found new friends and a place that still feels like home.