It's a bird! It's a plane! No...it's Super-Obama to the rescue!

Hallelujah! Our economy is saved. We are on the road to recovery according to our illustrious and all-powerful president. The story released today by completely unbiased (cough, cough) msnbc.com quotes the president that our nation is well on its way to economic recovery. The president says, "that the economy had stabilized and was beginning a slow recovery, telling NBC News in an exclusive interview that it was now his job to 'make sure that ordinary people have some relief.'"

I am so thankful to have been told that we're all okay by the president. From everything I have seen we were still in a deep rut of recession, and by all normal logic spending more money that the nation doesn't have or plan to make anytime soon sends us directly into a depression. But, the president has spoken, and as it has been spoken so shall it be done. (Insert your own magical noise here - suggestions include the tinkling when Samantha twitches her nose, or the Alacazam! by the Genie.)

I'm just saddened that my children don't have any voice in the matter and their futures are being flushed down the drain by the "leadership" of this country. We have talked for so many years about individuals starting out in a disadvantaged situation, and now every child is equal...that is to say that every single American will start out disadvantaged and have to fight their way up just to get to even footing. That just makes my job a little harder, to set up a good enough life for them before the country changes too much and it's no longer possible, and to fight all along the way for myself and for them to prevent those changes from happening. I'm just thankful that we can all do this together.

What are they getting into this time?

I'm sure everyone's kids can do crazy things, but we usually see the best side of families out in public and all of the craziness typically goes on within the confines of the home. Sometimes, however, my children just baffle me. I suppose I can understand when they do something ridiculous if it can hold any kind of logic, like burning ants with a magnifying glass or climbing on top of the entertainment center to jump off onto the sofa, but some things just defy logic, even in the mind of a child.

Take today for instance. We had small holes in the walls of both the kids' bedrooms from the doors opening too hard, and I hadn't previously had a chance to run to the store for plaster to fix them. The unfortunate thing is that they happen to be at the same spot in both rooms so that there's a nice little peep hole to look from one room to the other. Well, somehow they decided it would be fun to put a blanket through the hole and play tug-of-war, and now instead of two small holes we have two gaping crevices that can almost fit their heads...which, in fact, they tried today with the Nisha's head. Thankfully it didn't quite fit.

The youngest, Nisha, also thought it would be fun to pour liquid laundry detergent all over one of their giant teddy bears. You know, one of those that's too big to fit inside of the washing machine, so we're going to have to figure out some other way to clean it. Maybe it'll rain again soon and we'll just put it outside. It's not in the forecast, but if I wash my car it'll be bound to happen. Maybe we'll wash both cars just to be safe. Well, if we wash the cars at a car wash then maybe I can just use the power washer to wash the bear. I'll figure out something.

Then the two girls though it would be funny to stuff another smaller teddy bear in the training toilet. Thankfully they haven't used it in a few months, but being a germaphobe I can't stand even the thought of it.

And to top it off, Nisha has some odd obsession with the toilet. She loves playing with toilet paper, and is singly responsible for clogging the toilets numerous times with all sorts of various non-flushable items. Today she seemed to think it would be interesting to use a cup to get water out of the toilet and dump it on the floor in her bedroom. My germaphobia was in overload over that one, and I can still feel the germs on my feet from walking through the toilet water-soaked carpeting at the entrance of her room.

I was a rambunctious young child, but I can't ever remember doing such outrageously destructive things. I hope they grow out of it soon, or it'll be less expensive to bulldoze the house and build anew rather than repair this one. I'll be happy if they can at least hold off for another year or so until we move into a bigger house with a new canvass for their motley ways.

Nevertheless, I love them and love every second I get to spend with them, even if they are making my hair grow prematurely gray. It's good that we can look back on days like today and still love our kids more than ever. I have to remember that I'm much more fortunate than most dads as I get to spend all day with them because of our business, and I'm thankfully often reminded how lucky our family is.

The prayers of children are truly answered...

So our older cat, Platinum, named for his silvery, platinumy color, got out the front door sometime last Monday. We didn't realize it until just before Nancy and I went to bed because our two cats usually hide somewhere in our bedroom to sleep through the afternoon. When we discovered he was gone we figured it was from one of the kids accidentally leaving the door open, and as late as it was we did only a cursory search outside. He had gotten out once before one morning, and by the evening he was meowing in our backyard, so I held out hope that he might just find his own way back home. I don't know if we spread our scent around when the five of us all went on a walk around the neighborhood, as I've heard cats have an incredible sense of smell. That entire day the kids all asked Heavenly Father to bless Platinum to come home, and lo and behold that night he did. This time was no different, as the kids asked for Platinum to be safe from harm and danger and to find his way home every single chance they had.

Well, a few days went by, and I took the girls on walks around the neighborhood with the girls calling out "Platinum!" You haven't heard cute until you've head our youngest, Nisha, say Platinum's name. It was more sad that the kids missed him, and as well because he is my frequent companion when everyone else goes to bed late at night. From day one we left our back door open a nudge, hoping the scent of out home would draw him back to us. He is quite vocal, so it would've been easy to hear him, and in fact, the first time I was in our master bath and heard him just outside our open window. Well, it didn't work after a week or so. I even tried leaving his litter box by the open back door for an entire evening. No luck, however.

It's been a week and two days now. We've made a trip to the shelter every couple of days to check if he had been brought in, but to no avail. Living in the far west part of town, and having abundant desert land around us, and especially since I've seen coyotes very often within a half mile of our home, I didn't have much hope any more, being a small docile cat. But, even today Nancy said she spoke with a shelter and they said not to lose hope since some animals return weeks to even months after being gone.

The prayers of our little ones are truly answered by our Father in Heaven. This evening Nancy was going out to the car to get something, and as soon as she opened the door a little brown field mouse came running inside, to which she called my name. Then she yelled me to come wuickly and darted out the door saying she saw Platinum. That blimey cat had chased a mouse and trapped him in the alcove of OUR front door!

I grabbed my shoes and followed as Nancy tried to corral him Platinum, though as soon as she got within arms length he would scamper off. I tried to catch up as they made their way into the neighbor's yard, and then across the street to an alley, then around the house into their front yard. He wasn't about to let us get close enough to catch him, so I asked Nancy to run back to the house and get his wet cat food, which has a pop top that's like catnip to our two cats the second they hear it open. That did the trick. As soon as she opened it he came up to her, and she picked him up. He scratched trying to get away, and when I took him from her hands I got a few gouges out of my arm, but all well worth it.

Platinum is safely back in our home, although Diamond is acting like an angry diva after having the house to herself for so long, and hisses at him and everyone else now that she has to share a food bowl and everything else again. We've had a good lesson about closing the door after going in or out, and I hope that it sticks with the kids this time. Oh well, on to the next adventure...