The Nuisance Across The Hall

Eleven: Blanket Burritos and Oatmeal

My alarm blared through my room, jolting me awake. I quickly swiped my phone screen to dismiss the noise and made my way to Sophia's room.

Opening the door, I sang, "Rise and shine!" She was wrapped up in her princess comforter and didn't seem like she was going to wake up.

I sighed and made my way to her bed. I began unwrapping her from her burrito like a cocoon while trying to wake her up.

She eventually opened her tired blue eyes, rubbing them with her hand. She sat up and mumbled, "Why do we wake up so early?"

"Because we gotta make it to school on time." I reminded her. "Plus you take forever to get ready." I joked.

Without another word, she began crawling out of bed, still rubbing her eyes. She started pulling out the clothes she planned to wear today as I went to the kitchen to start breakfast.

It was feeling like an instant oatmeal kind of day, so that's what I made. I let Sophia have the last brown sugar flavored packet so I ate the original.

Just as we began finishing up breakfast, Sophia screamed, giving me a mild heart attack.

"What's wrong?" I asked in a panicked voice.

"It's Halloween!" Her high voice yelled in realization. "We get to get candy tonight!"

There was no way it was Halloween already. I went to the kitchen to check the calendar on the wall and sure enough, it was October 31st.

I can't believe I let the days get away from me. I don't even have Sophia a costume put together yet! But I couldn't tell her that. I'll just have to figure something out before I pick her up today. What's one more thing on the to-do list?

"Where are we going trick-or-treating tonight?" Sophia asked, putting her bowl in the sink.

"I'm not sure yet," I admitted. "I'll have to ask around where the good candy is," I told her. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yup!" She said with confidence, standing with her hands on her hips. She was wearing her dark blue jeans and a pink long sleeve shirt with an elephant on it, courtesy of Sky.

"Go brush your teeth while I get dressed," I told her as I went back to my room.

Knowing the stress I'll have today, I went with the comfortable choice: black leggings and a plain grey t-shirt. I threw my hair into a bun and push the flyaways back with a thick black hair band. I quickly brushed my teeth and went to my closet to search for shoes.

Throwing on my old black vans, I grabbed my phone and keys from the side table and made my way to the front door.

Sophia was sitting on the couch with her bookbag already on her back. She kept knocking her shoes together to make them light up.

"Having fun?" I teased.

She nodded her head up and down with a big smile on her face. "They're my favorite shoes now." Sophia declared.

"Glad to hear it," I commented. I had gotten those shoes for her birthday a few months ago. She lit up like her shoes did when she first saw them. "C'mon. It's time to go."

After dropping Sophia off at school, I received an email saying class had been canceled. With the fortunate news, I headed back to the apartment in hopes of finding clothes that looked somewhat similar to Snow White.

I rummaged through Sophia's drawers for at least an hour. You would think, out of all the clothes my daughter has, she would have something close to what Snow White would wear. Of course, that wasn't my luck.