10 on 10 is a post where I post 10 pictures from the 10th of every month!

Is this my first 10 on 10 for this year!? It’s quite possible. I remember before the pandemic, I had these big plans to get my blogging game back on … and before I could really implement any of it, we were hit with COVID, quarantine, etc. Yay, fun. In any case, I’m back with my first 10 on 10 in a very long time!

ONE

Do you any of you do this? When I come to the fridge to gather all the things needed for lunches and breakfast, I try to stack as many items as I can to minimize the number of trips I need. Bwahaha, my arms always look like this!

TWO

After dropping the big kids off at their pod, I usually have some coffee and then head to our room for a workout. We have a treadclimber machine that I like to use for cardio and I alternate between that and a strength workout from The Bar Method. Today I opted for Bar and had a little monkey join me.

THREE

Post-workout, I tried out this chia bowl from Daily Harvest. I’ve heard a lot of about this brand but was never interested but then fell down a Youtube rabbit hole the other day and got suckered into trying a box. So far, I’ve liked their Mint + Cacao smoothie and Broccoli Cheez (dairy free) bowl but the rest of the stuff is meh. This Chocolate Banana chia bowl sounded good in theory but … I barely ate and then tossed it.

FOUR

Later in the morning, A had an appointment for a haircut! Everyone was masked up and you had to call from outside to let them know that you were there … and then they took your temperature and asked a bunch of questions. It felt more like a doctor’s appointment than a hair appointment!

FIVE

I have high hopes that A’s preschool will reopen soon so in the meantime, Hubby & I are trying to soak up the alone time we have with her. Today we got some lunch delivered and all sat to eat together. She wanted to pray for lunch, too, which was so sweet to watch.

SIX

HOLY MOLY. I saw these at Trader Joe’s today and had never seen them before/bought them on a whim. THESE ARE AMAZING. Hubby and I both sampled some and were, like, “Woah, they’re dangerous, put them away”. I may or may not have gone back afterwards to sneak a few more handfuls.

SEVEN

With A’s preschool closed, I downloaded this app called Homer on my iPad that will work on preschool skills (colors, shapes, letters, etc) with her. SHE LOVES IT. She asks everyday if she can do Homer and I’m kind of surprised that she can pretty much navigate the little activities in the app by herself. I’ll let her play this for 20-ish minutes a day and sit next to her to supervise but really she doesn’t need my help at all.

EIGHT

I got a new iPad Pro from Hubby as an anniversary present and while I’m still trying to figure out the best way to gain full functionality from it, I love that I can create social stories for E on my own with the Procreate and Goodnotes apps! If you don’t know, social stories are tools that are frequently used with kids on the spectrum. It gives a visual breakdown (and written if they can read) of what behavior is expected in what social settings .. hence, “social story”. We relied HEAVILY on these when E was younger; she had a social story for practically everything (ie, E goes to the potty! or E does not bite at school!). We’ve been noticing some attitude issues lately from her so I’m working on a few social stories that talk about kindness, being flexible, being patient … so I worked on the one about kindness for a bit today.

NINE

It’s kind of shameful that I run a book lovers podcast but I haven’t read at ALL in the last month. I’ve been so tired with school starting that I have no mental energy or desire to read. I did force myself to pick this book up while D was at TaeKwonDo though! It’s pretty good… but not good enough to keep me away from YouTube tonight.

TEN

Hubby is starting a new job next week and we both really wanted him to have a space where he could be “away” at work – like close a door and can’t be disturbed. He did have a really nice “office” in the corner of our playroom but the main problem was … it’s in our playroom haha! The kids were constantly running in and out, and we couldn’t exactly tell them to not be in their own playroom for the ENTIRE day, you know? So we cleared out a little spot in our garage and moved all his office stuff to there. I have a good feeling about the transition but I’ll be honest, I’m a little bit sad that he’s stuck in our UNFINISHED garage. I mean, he’s surrounded by exposed studs! Poor man.

In the meantime, I have big plans for where his desk used to be … I’m envisioning a pseudo she-shed style corner with a couch and blankets .. can’t wait!