Definitely not my night!

So hubby headed out to the church at 7:30 this morning to revamp the sound setup. The kids and I have a little tradition: when he's away on a business trip, we have breakfast food for dinner one night. Well when I told the kids that daddy wouldn't be home for dinner, our son immediately asked if we could have pancakes. Sure, no problem!

I've been hitting good sales on Krusteaz, so lately we've been using "just add water" mix, but it's now gone. I decided that I'd go into good mommy mode and mix up a batch with the kids. You know, they get to help me count how many scoops of everything and we'll talk about fractions. I dig out my trusty Betty Crocker cookbook, and we get to work. We whip up the batter, and I pour them onto the griddle and finish setting the table. The first batch finishes cooking, and I take them off, start another round cooking, and then start to cut two up for the kids. As I'm cutting, I take a tiny corner to taste - and practically spit it across the kitchen. EWWWWWWW!!! Evidently my shortening had gone bad (after I pulled it out of the cabinet, I see that it expired in Sept 05; come to think of it, I honestly can't remember the last time I used it). So I dump everything in the garbage and tell the kids that we'll be eating leftover pork chops instead. Tears of sadness from both kiddos, so I decide to make another batch of pancakes. This time I turn to Fannie Farmer for a recipe. Throw the 2 Tb of butter into the microwave to melt, then go break up argument over Legos. What was that loud noise? Oops, guess I pushed a 6 instead of a 3, and got a full minute rather than the 30 seconds I wanted. Do a cursory wipe-down of the microwave, and add it to my mental list of stuff to be cleaned. I add the rest of the ingredients, and empty the flour container I have on the kitchen counter. No problem - quick trip to the pantry for my next bag. No way! I'm completely out!! Totally forgot I used up my reserve when I baked all those muffins last month. I'm not wasting this batter; everything else is already in there (including the last two eggs I had!) so I just need some sort of filler. Ooh, I have oat bran in the cabinet. Nice save! I finish it up and start cooking. They smell great, and I sample a small mostly-cooked bit just to make sure everything is OK. Yum, and bonus points for fiber :)

Kids are chowing down, and I'm cooking the second round. Kids ask for more, so guess they approve. Take the next batch off the stove, and then dump the remaining batter for one large pancake (my dinner). Refill the kids' milks, then back to the stove to flip. Wait, why am I stepping in water? Oh no, the dishwasher is leaking again!! Shut if off, grab towels and clean up the flood. Oh no, my dinner's burning! Oh well, glad there were some smaller ones left over. Reach for the syrup - only to discover that one of the kids had knocked it over, spreading its gooey sweetness all over the table and onto the floor. And of course I don't have another bottle in the house.

I'm eating a peanut butter sandwich - no sharp knives or electrical appliances required.

Hubby called - work at the church still isn't done, but he's left as he'd promised to help a friend out tonight. He's driving straight there and has no idea how long it will take. I'll be happy if I see him by 11:00. I just hope I don't break any windows in the meantime...