Hot, Irritable and Blessed

I'm afraid that I have been letting This Heat wave to negatively affect my attitude.  Everyone is out to irritate me.  I don't feel like cleaning up after my children in this ever-stickier house.  I'm tired of not sleeping well. Whah, whah blessed whah...
Remember how much I love lists?  Well, this morning is obviously the right time to make a "Count Your Blessings, Honour" list.  I recruited my oldest three children to help me and we sat around the kitchen table with the littlest wandering around our legs.  I think the setting may have influenced our list a bit, but here are

25 Blessings

(not listed in order of importance)

1. Food - we have plenty to eat!
2. Shelter - our house
3. Sauder Village membership
4. Piano Lessons - we can learn music
5. Money - we have enough for our needs
6. Jesus - God the Son who paid our sin debt
7. God - who loves us completely
8. Friends
9. Air Conditioner
10. Syrup - to make pancakes & waffles even better!
11. Dishes - we don't have to eat on our bare hands or the bare table
12. Toaster waffles - breakfast can be fast & yummy
13. Family
14. A Kitchen table - that moves around easily for cleaning the floor
15. Cupboards - to hold our dishes & food
16. Babies - to reproduce us (so the human race keeps going on)
17. Refrigerator - to keep our milk cold
18. Pitchers on the ball field
19. Mommy - she gives us food and reproduces
20. Teeth - to eat with
21. Milk - to give us strong bones
22. Daddy - he is fun
23. Fans - to cool us off
24. Books - help us learn
25. Dolly our puppy

Can you tell which person contributed which item? 

 Hint: I don't use the word "reproduce."

Rats and Spiders, Our Childhood Friends

Overhearing a loud fly-buzz in my kitchen this morning, I scanned the room until I found the culprit snagged in a spider web.  I could have taken a fly swatter and demolished both victim and aggressor, but I let the situation follow its natural course.  Either I'm lazy or cheering for team spider.  I guess my childhood influenced by Charlotte's Web explains a lot about my life.  No, not the book, as charming and classic as that is, but the movie.  No, not the beautiful Dakota Fanning version, but its corny, animated predecessor.

I'm sorry, but what's not to love about a rat that sings about gorging himself on trash?

After that edifying little tidbit of cinematic wonder, I'm off to fix my kids' some breakfast.  It will be a veritable smorgasbord orgasbord orgasbord, I'm sure.