I Love June…Cleaver This Is by Conlee Ricketts

Confessions of an older mom: I was pretty set in my self-obsessed, lazy ways before I got pregnant.

Sleeping in, skipping meals, making the laundry wait until I got down to my “emergency underwear”—you know the pair—I called mine my granny pants. I laugh now because my days of sexy undies have been gone for awhile now and they’re all granny pants. What happened to me!?

Note to self: buy some nice underwear for heaven’s sake!

Oh well, one of my silliest fears, as I lumbered around the house one week overdue, was the fact that as a mother I was going to be expected to provide three balanced meals a day! The thought of this sent me bursting into tears. Could I do it? How? Would I lose my mother-of-the-year credibility rating? Believe me when I say I was a constant source of “crazy” for my then husband to watch and chuckle at.

I’m certain I got my ideas about how I had to mother from watching my own mom who stayed at home with her kids until I was in 7th grade. Perhaps she modeled herself after her own mother or June Cleaver even, but my reality was very different. I needed to work. The financial reality of our life was that I only had 6 weeks home with my baby before I had to return to work. How was I ever going to achieve June Cleaver Status?

I didn’t—and that’s OK—my daughter is just fine.

I don’t cook three balanced meals a day—and for this I have had to forgive myself and move on. I’m also an idiot in the kitchen (forgave myself for that too).  I’ve been doing better lately but that is only because I’m working from home now, building my business and writing a book.

One of my strengths is capitalizing on my lazy nature. I’m not really lazy but I know what I love. I love to sleep.  I love to sit and stare. I love sitting with my daughter reading or watching TV the most; consequently having to rush around in the morning before school or in the evening once she gets home is a real buzz kill for me.

Because I want you to spend those morning minutes with your child AND feel like June Cleaver I’m going to share with you how I can make chocolate chip pancakes for my daughter every morning in 5 minutes! Yes! 5 minutes! I timed myself just for you!

On Sunday at some point I mix up the batter:  (I apologize for not having photos here, I am having technical difficulties w/ my pics)

• 2 cups of an all purpose baking mix (I love Aldi’s Baker’s Corner brand, but most people know Bisquick)
• 1 1/3 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 2 Tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

I put this in a sealed container in the fridge. Yes, it keeps for the next 5 days just fine.

From the moment I turn on the stove top, scoop out 3 spoonfuls of batter, plop on the chocolate chips (I don’t add them to the batter; it didn’t work well for me,) wait for the bubbles, flip, press down, flip back, plate, pour a cup of milk, deliver to daughter—5 minutes!

Sure a bowl of cereal is faster, but for some reason my daughter asked me to start making “real breakfasts” before school, so I had to at least try, right?

I use Sunday for a lot of things to make school morning easier on me. We load up 5 baggies of snacks, 5 baggies of chips, and 5 baggies of apples slices being careful to press out all of the air because she won’t touch them if they are at all starting to brown. Doing this makes packing a lunch so much easier. I’d like to say that my daughter reaches in, chooses, and packs her own lunch, but she doesn’t. Since I’m home with her for now and not busy getting ready to head to work myself, I enjoy making her lunch. I feel more like June. Sadly, the math teacher in me realized when she was 10 that my “time” with her—as mommy—is half over. She will have plenty of time to pack her own lunches and make her own breakfasts when she’s 20.

Tags: chocolate chip pancakes, mother over 40, older mom, pancakes, quick and easy mornings, quick breakfast, save time, single parent