LJ Idol Prompt 13 — OMAKASE

[flipflop_diva]

At six twenty-two precisely, a ringing sound enters my dreams, starling me awake. I hit the snooze button and close my eyes for five more glorious minutes, but then the ringing is going again, and I am pushing myself out of bed and staggering to my feet and heading to the bathroom.

In another five minutes, the alarm clock in Ellie’s room turns from a dark red to a bright pink and loud, annoyingly cheerful music fills the air. Ellie grumbles, rolls over and pulls the blanket back over her head, and I remind her it’s a school day and she needs to get up and I told her she should have gone to sleep earlier last night and not lain in bed telling me she was too bored to close her eyes. She doesn’t care. She says it’s not fair and it’s so early, and I agree, but I tell her the school made that decision and not me. I switch her light on and usher her out of bed, and here we go.

Another day has officially begun, full of its endless decisions and long to-do lists.

Help Ellie pick out an outfit. Dress or skirt? Pink or purple? Elsa or Rapunzel?

Help Ellie get her breakfast. Waffles or French toast? Banana or pears?

Help Ellie do her hair. Ponytail or pigtails or maybe just down?

Check Ellie’s backpack and her lunch box to make sure everything is in there that should be in there. Figure out where she put her library book. Try to remember if I was supposed to sign something or make something or return something that I’ve forgotten about.

Send Ellie off to school and do the whole breakfast and clothes thing again with Riker.

Stand in the closet and try to decide what I should wear today and whether I need to do laundry this afternoon or if it can wait until tomorrow. Or the next day. But definitely not more than that. This family wears way too many clothes.

Drop Riker off at daycare, and then it’s time for work. Which email to answer first? Which crisis to deal with now and which one can wait till this afternoon? Or maybe even tomorrow. Which project to work on, but oops, it’s been all of five minutes and someone is emailing about something else so never mind this poor, poor project.

Finally break for lunch and look around the kitchen. What’s quick and easy? Do we have leftovers no one else is going to eat but I hate to waste? Why are there so many dishes in the sink and on the counter, and why are there twenty glasses filled with varying levels of water on the table? There are only four humans who live here!

Spend time going over my to-do lists. What absolutely positively needs to get done today? Look over my calendar and oh no. Riker has holiday photos coming up at daycare. Does he have something he can wear or do I need to order him a new outfit? Does he even have any winter clothes that still fit from last year now that it’s (barely) starting to get cooler? Does Ellie? Ellie definitely needs a new jacket since she lost the only one that fits at school a week ago. And Riker needs new shoes. Preferably ones that don’t have holes in them.

And why do so many of their friends have birthdays in October, November and December? Go to Amazon and decide what to order for the little boy with the party this weekend. And while I’m there order presents for my niece because her birthday is coming up too. Which means I need to check on the wrapping paper and ribbon stash and try to figure out where all the tissue paper is going because I swear I bought a huge pack a few months ago and now it’s gone.

Which reminds me I need to check on other things. Like if Riker has enough diapers or we have enough toilet paper and is Alexa’s dog food going to make it through the end of the month and when was the last time she went to the vet and is that coming up again soon?

I pick up my phone to check the time and do some mental calculations. How much longer do I have for work? Will I need to do any tonight? Because Ellie has her dance class on Wednesday and her Girl Scout meeting on Thursday and there’s that playdate on Friday and the birthday party on Saturday and how is everything going to possibly get done?

And that’s not even any of the fun things I hoped to do. Like that fic exchange I want to sign up for and that Idol entry that needs to be written (and oops I probably need to come up with an idea sometime soon) and what was the book I wanted to read next if I ever finish the one I’m reading now? And someone mentioned a show that was good, and isn’t there a movie I wanted to see?

Five o’clock arrives and work ends and the kids are waiting to be picked up. David and I go get them and take them home, and more fun begins. Time to figure out what’s for dinner and what the kids will actually eat. Figure out what to make Ellie for lunch tomorrow at school. Figure out what books to read to the kids before bed and if Ellie needs to do any homework.

Find a show to watch on TV. Find pajamas for the kids to wear. Figure out what lovey they want to sleep with tonight and explain to Riker why he can’t sleep with his little Star Wars figurines because they are small and sharp and not soft and cuddly.

Finally, drop on to the couch next to David. The kids are asleep. The house is quiet. I’m not totally prepared for tomorrow, but I’ve decided it’s good enough.

“I was thinking of going to the store tomorrow,” David says. “What do you want for dinner the rest of the week?”

I turn my head to look at him. My mind is blank. There is absolutely nothing that comes to mind that sounds good.

“Whatever you want,” I say. “You know what I like. Surprise me.”

I expect him to argue, to insist I offer up ideas. Instead, he says, “Okay.”

I smile, give him a kiss and then settle back on the couch to play a mindless game on my phone, the weight of at least one decision lifted from my shoulders.

It feels nice.





Non-Fiction. I was listening to a morning show the other day, and they quoted an article that said the average adult makes between 33,000 and 35,000 decisions each day. Some, of course, are a lot more significant than others!



This was written for therealljidol. If you liked my entry, please consider voting for me! You should also go read the other amazing entries. You can find them here. Voting should be up Monday!

Comments

[halfshellvenus]

I remember those days, and the fun little people our kids were then. I miss those versions of them, even with the tiredness and mayhem that came with them!

[chasing_silver]

Decision fatigue is real! It is in our house, too.

[erulissedances]

I totally understand this life - it's a typical slice and one more reason why I never wanted or had children.

- Erulisse (one L)

[breakfastatholly]

And this is why we call you our Superwoman! <3 On top of all of this you manage to be an amazing mom/wife/friend/sister/aunt/etc. and none of us could imagine life without you in it <3333

[swirlsofpurple]

Oof, that sounds very hectic, glad you at least manage to get a bit of a break at the end of the day.

Re the friends birthdays, as someone who organizes baby clinics as part of the doctors' rotas, there just seem to be a lot more babies born nine months after Valentine's day and nine months after Christmas.

[xeena]

I really feel you on this!

[murielle]

Yup. That's it. Not exactly the same, but that's how we play the day. Well done!

[alycewilson]

It's very smart how you built up to this, how you take us with you on a typical day and show all the decisions you need to make in your life. I liked this very much, both as a mom and as a fellow writer.

[muchtooarrogant]

Wow, that was quite a deluge of decisions, and I liked the frantic feeling you conveyed while writing about each one. It helped put me in that place of breakneck intensity. :) Luckily for me, my kids are older now.

Dan

[inkstainedfingertips]

Oh my. The chaos you convey in this piece is palpable. So many decisions to make. It is very relatable as well. Vivid piece. Well done.

[rayaso]

What a great "morning in the life of me" entry! I remember those days of getting the children up and out to school - and I miss them so much! For a while, I drove our daughter and her friends to high school. They would talk like I wasn't there. I learned so much about her life that she would never tell me. Great times.

[mollywheezy]

We only have two people in my house, but I completely get the thing of having a zillion glasses everywhere, lol. And yes, it is very nice when someone else makes the decisions! :)

[reidharriscooper]

I hope one day to have someone who knows when they are handling a lot and boy are you and knows they can trust me to take the load.