Guys, it’s been a weekend.

On Saturday I had to take the Early Childhood MTEL (Massachusetts teacher test), which basically tests on every piece of knowledge children are supposed to learn from pre-K through 6th grade. AKA it’s impossible to study for and is just impossible…in general. There were questions like:

What is due process of law?

What did the ancient Egyptians contribute to modern day society?

What is place value?

What is the climate of North Dakota?

WHAT?? Help, please.

If I hadn’t been in a high-stress test setting I *might* have found the questions kind of fun, sort of like trivia. But instead it was more like “IF YOU CHOOSE THE WRONG ANSWER YOUR CAREER IS GOING DOWN IN FLAMES.”

Not really. I’m exaggerating. But it was hard.

Then, immediately after leaving the test, I went to babysit. While I was putting the kids to bed, the family’s dog dug a Ziploc full of popcorn and nuts out of my bag and ate it. All. Just a couple shreds of baggy left behind as evidence.

It goes without saying that I had a mental breakdown and convinced myself that the dog was going to need to be rushed to the ER to get its stomach pumped and have emergency surgery, all because of me and my silly inability to leave the house without snacks.*

THEN I woke up this morning to do my laundry (obviously having waited till the last possible day/pair of underwear/clean outfit combo) only to discover that TWO out of ONLY FOUR washers in our building were broken. Of course this happened AFTER I put my clothes in a broken one that had a fun little giant puddle of water sitting inside. Soooo I lost it, kicked the washing machine fifteen times, threatened to sue our apartment building, and scared away at least three friendly neighbors. I’ve reaaaallllyyy got to learn to stop sweating the small stuff.

It’s been a weekend. So I made banana pancakes.

Whole Wheat Banana Pancakes (adapted from Martha Stewart’s Basic Pancakes)

yield: about 6-8 medium-sized pancakes

Ingredients

• 1 cup white whole wheat flour (or 1/2 cup wheat + 1/2 cup white flour)
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 cup milk (I used almond milk)
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 bananas, sliced
• optional: chocolate chips

Directions

1. In a large bowl, whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside. In a small bowl, add the milk, egg, oil, and vanilla. Whisk to combine. Gently pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, and use a rubber spatula to mix. Be careful not to overmix - some small lumps will remain.
2. Coat a large non-stick skillet with cooking spray. Allow the skillet to warm up over medium heat. Once it is warm, use a measuring cup to pour 1/4-cup of batter onto the skillet. Drop 4-6 banana slices onto the batter, depending on size. Sprinkle with chocolate chips, if desired. Repeat for as many pancakes will fit on the skillet (I did two at a time). Allow the pancakes to cook for about 3 minutes, or until most of the bubbles on top have popped and the sides look done. Flip the pancakes and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes, or until golden brown. Repeat until all of the batter has been used. Serve warm (and with maple syrup!)

*I’m happy to report that the dog is doing juuuuust fine. Lesson learned? Do a better job of hiding snacks.