I am so excited to be on a break from school right now.

We started the week off right with a birthday celebration.

Unfortunately, I both failed to line the carrot cake pans with parchment and tip them out of their baking pans in a timely manner. I had to chisel the cake out, piece by piece, with a metal spatula.

If you are thinking, “Gee, it seems like I heard about a similar problem to this one last September,” you’re right. It’s me. I’m the problem. It’s me.

But never fear! Because Julia had also asked for a lemon chicken orzo dish that I’d successfully made before. I’d even written about it! I was confident it would turn out fine.

And it did “taste” just fine. Unfortunately, it did not thicken up as expected.

And that, dear reader, is how I ended up serving a large pot of lemon chicken soup with a side of Brussels sprouts.

I had a big bowl of carrot cake chunks and a dish of cream cheese icing for dessert… a kind of “build-your-own cake” situation. Thankfully, Julia was gracious about it.

I was determined Monday would go better. Spoiler alert: it most assuredly did not go better.

See, on Friday we discovered that the washing machine wasn’t draining properly. Zayley had very kindly already removed and wrung out most of the clothes by the time I got home, and I dutifully hand-dipped out all the remaining water that I could reach with a cup and a bucket.

So by the time Monday morning rolled around, I had done a bit of research. I discovered that the error message flashing on the screen indicated a problem with the drain, probably a clog or perhaps something wrong with the pump.

So, I set out to clear the clog.

Long story short, the problem wasn’t a clog. It appears to be a faulty pump. I made this discovery by flooding the laundry room. Twice. (In case you’ve forgotten: I’m the problem. It’s me.)

In the midst of this, Pfeiffer has gotten extremely bored. Apparently, a mother who is drenched in sweat and trying to read the small print on a washing machine manual is poor company.

She also attended a culinary camp this past summer and loved it. She now frequently asks to cook dinner or help with breakfast or make snacks, and I promised her she could do just that when this break rolled around.

Except then I flooded the laundry room. (Well, and the back entryway, but I don’t want to talk about that.)

At any rate, the washing machine pump is on order. I’ll head to the laundromat tomorrow afternoon.

And I told Pfeiffer we would make these pancakes, a recipe we first tried on vacation this year, for lunch tomorrow.

Hopefully, nothing will flood tomorrow morning. But I make no promises. If it does… at least we will have pancakes.

OLD-FASHIONED PANCAKES

(adapted from Allrecipes.com)

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 heaping tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups milk
3 tablespoons melted butter
1 egg
Optional: blueberries, chocolate chips or other mix-ins

Directions:
■ Heat electric griddle to 350 degrees or large skillet over medium heat.
■ Mix dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, sugar and salt) together in mixing bowl. Make a well in the center of these ingredients.
■ Pour milk, melted butter and egg into the well. (Note: If butter is very hot, either give it time to cool or pour it into the well first, followed by milk and then egg, so that the hot butter does not cook the egg.)
■ Mix just until no streaks of flour remain. Some lumps are normal and may be the result of gases in the batter; you do not want to mix all these out because they will make the pancakes light and fluffy.
■ Grease griddle or skillet well with butter. Pour batter by 1/4 cup onto the hot pan. If desired, sprinkle top of pancake with a small handful of berries or chocolate chips.
■ When bubbles form on the top of the pancake and edges of pancake appear dry, carefully flip with a spatula. (Try to flip only once; if you time it right, once is all you need. Adjust heat as needed to make this possible.) The second side generally takes about half the time the first side takes, but you can gently lift the corner of the pancake to check for color.
■ To keep pancakes hot so everyone can eat at the same time, place cakes on a cookie sheet in a 200-degree oven until all are ready. Serve hot with butter and maple syrup.

Amelia Plair is a mom and high school teacher in Starkville. Email reaches her at [email protected].

Amelia Plair is a Starkville resident who writes occasional food columns.