These last few months of the year are going by so quickly which is how I know we’re officially in the holiday season now. I swear, I JUST did my October 10 on 10, didn’t I?! In any case, here we are on the 10th on a new month, and I have 10 more pictures to show you what my day was like!

ONE

Okay, this picture is actually from yesterday but it fit perfectly with what happened today so I felt compelled to include it. Guys, I have been on the STRUGGLE BUS ever single daylight savings. It’s so hard to wake up early when the weather is so cold and it’s so dark outside. I have been trying so hard all week to get back into the swing of waking up at 6 am (or earlier if at all possible) but I cannot. I physically can. not. No ma’am. I accidentally took this screenshot yesterday while pressing snooze on my phone for the umpteenth time which is also what happened today. So there was no waking up early.

TWO

Once I did manage to wake up, I actually had a pretty busy morning. Right after dropping off my big kids at their school pod, I headed to their actual elementary school (mask on!) to volunteer in their school library. Even though no kids are on campus, they’re still able to check out books online/return them on a weekly basis so our school library needs as many volunteers as they can get. I used be in my kids’ classrooms regularly to help out pre-COVID so I miss being back there as much as any other teacher/student would. But WHIIIILE I was volunteering, I got this text from my sister from another mister, D …

LOL! Context: she told me beforehand she was going to stop by. We have a persimmon tree and honestly, we do nothing for it, don’t take care of it at all, but every year it bears fruit for us! D’s parents love persimmon (as do I but .. I’ll just buy mine from the store) and wanted to come pick some fruit. I said be my guest because we don’t even own a ladder tall enough to reach the fruit and if nobody picks it, the rats/squirrels come and start eating them. But sidenote – LOOK HOW WONKY THIS FRUIT IS. DO YOU TRUST THIS PERSIMMON? BC I SURE DON’T LOLLLLL.

THREE

After spending two hours volunteering at the library, I rushed home to scarf down some food so that I’d have energy to meet up with D and …

walk our local reservoir together!

FOUR

Meanwhile, I got this picture texted to me from Hubby who was dropping our littlest nugget off at preschool. Look at how crazy she looks. She had asked me for “Cinderella hair” before I left and she somehow added on a bunch of headbands/tiaras once I was gone.

FIVE

When we were done with our walk, D showed me this new drink she spotted/picked up from Trader Joe’s. WTH, it’s KOREAN BORICHA!! I mean, I could probably make the same boricha at home for pennies on the dollar but I was still impressed that TJ’s was selling this stuff. I didn’t taste it but D said it was good!

SIX

After walking the reservoir, I came home and had lunch with J. That’s one of the perks of COVID … J used to barely be able to make it home for dinner time regularly, now he not only eats dinner with us most days, I also get to eat lunch with him IN PEACE (all kids gone) most days, too. J has never watched Sister, Sister EVER so I started watching it with him on Netflix because c’mon … Sister, Sister is a classic. It’s honestly still as funny as I remember it being when I was growing up.

SEVEN

The rest of the afternoon was a blur of school pick ups, errands, etc. While sitting in the parking lot of D’s TaeKwonDo class though, I started reading this book that I’d picked up from the library.

It’s historical fiction AND mystery .. I’m very excited. I’m a few chapters in and it’s good 🙂 Definitely geared toward a younger audience (YA, I think?) but I don’t mind that at all.

EIGHT

Today is Tuesday so for dinner it was TACO TUESDAY! Except my kids don’t really like tacos so we always end up making quesadillas. This is my all-star cast for how I like to make quesadillas.

I like using the almond flour tortillas from Siete because they’re a lower carb option and TASTE FRIGGIN DELICIOUS. I cook chicken breast tenders in our Instant Pot with some Siete taco seasoning and then use forks to shred them. The meat comes out super tender and my kids gobble everything up.

NINE

I’m dairy-free (or try to be at least 80% of the time) so I generally don’t eat cheese with my quesadillas. Instead, I use garlic hummus! It tastes so creamy and almost cheese-like … I LOVE cheese and honestly, when I have this alternative version I don’t feel like I’m missing out by not having actual cheese on my quesadilla.

This past week when I went grocery shopping, I spotted this cilantro & jalapeño hummus at TJ and was intrigued so decided to try that instead of my normal garlic hummus.

I spread the hummus on both sides of the tortilla and fill with whatever I want (just meat today).

I’ll be honest. My emotions were a huge roller coaster as I was trying out this hummus for the first time today. I started at 100% excited and anticipating what it would taste like. I’ve already had hummus on my quesadillas so I figured the different flavor would be just that – a different flavor – and nothing too risky. Then as I was cooking the quesadilla, something in the hummus smelled a little off while being cooked? My anticipation and excitement dropped to 30%. It smelled like dog food if I’m honest … I was really thinking that this was going to be a fail but I still wanted to taste it and try it out … IMAGINE MY SURPRISE, GUYS! IMAGINE MY SURPRISE WHEN THIS THING TASTED FRIGGIN BOMB DOT COM. It was so good, I went back and made myself another one after devouring the first. The hummus has a KICK to it and I think once the quesadilla is off the stovetop heat, you can’t smell the weird dog-food type of odor anymore (I didn’t notice the smell when I opened the hummus either, literally only as it was cooking). So my excitement for this is back at 100%, y’all need to go try it asap.

TEN

Rounding out this post and my evening with this peaceful, cozy scene:

It’s our first fire of the season! All the kids were so excited to see a fire blazing in our fireplace and man .. sitting next to this fire, with a cozy blanket, my husband, and Christmas music playing on the speaker. WHAT COULD BE BETTER?

GOOD NIGHT!