Jump! Jump! Jump!

We finally did it! We bought a jumping hazard. It looks more like a large spaceship has landed in our backyard and it took us all weekend to set it up, but we finally have a trampoline. There are plenty available on Craiglist, but of course those weren't good enough. When I started looking into them, I couldn't stand the thought of the kids jumping without a net. Plus, we will have it for a long time so I wanted it to be a good one and to last. And when I saw the spring-free trampoline at Costco, I knew it was THE ONE. So I've been selling stuff via Craigslist and I've earned half of it but they were $150 off last week so I went ahead and bought it. I have to keep selling stuff, which is a pain, but it is so nice to have it gone. And the kids love it and it will be great for this summer, even if it does take up a large part of the yard.

So I listened to Elder Ballard's talk, really I did. I just haven't figured out how to apply it to my life yet apparently. I admit to being a bit confused as to how I am supposed to not do too many fun activities like book club and scrapbooking (which I would like to do more of) and then how I am supposed to pick one or two things I enjoy and do those (cause really that's more than I do right now anyway). I guess for me just having a baby is very overwhelming so I have hardly scrapbooked at all for a year. Heck, I didn't even get Christmas cards out. I end up dropping everything but what is most important, which I guess would be taking care of the kids and I do like to travel. But if I could drop one thing, it would definitely be the insane amounts of homework, and since that really isn't an option, I end up living an insane life. Anyway, I heard the talk and yet somehow I found myself waltzing into the Booster Club (PTA) meeting Thursday night (OK, so maybe it was more of a hobble because it involved getting out of Lael's T-ball game and meeting Erik at a Pump It Up birthday party to drop off the kids while fending off a cough and sore throat) and volunteering to single-handedly do the school's web site. Oh, and throwing my hat into the ring for president next year. It's a small ring. Only the principal, president, one board member and one teacher were at the meeting. There are a handful of moms who have been running everything and most of their kids are moving up to middle school next year and the ones left are burned out. I guess I just couldn't resist the power void. I would like to see big changes, which I will have to blog about at a future time. But it needs to start with parent involvement. And that can only happen if there is communication, which isn't happening right now - hence the web site. I would like to get parents to commit to being involved in one activity a year and to volunteer to donate 5 hours a year to it. And it would be great if they could sign up online. And if the summaries of the meetings and reminders of upcoming events were sent out by email. I plan to set up a google group. There is a yahoo group currently, but there are only 17 members, which just isn't doing it. So, I've obviously got my work cut out for me. But it isn't lost on me that Erik is employed at Adobe, because I'm using the Adobe Dreamweaver software to get the job done. So right now I'm knee-deep in the user guide, since I really have no idea what I'm doing but since there's no one else to do it, I'm going to have to. I did do one html web page in college when the Internet was becoming mainstream but sadly that is the extent of my experience. So I'll be burning the midnight oil to get this project done.

When it rains it pours, I guess. I haven't had to do much for my compassionate service calling the past couple months and this week I get to arrange meals for a surgery, a funeral and a baby all at once. Woohoo. Also today, I have been trying to get the info to get our property value reassessed since we are paying taxes on about $50,000 more than we could get for the house if we did sell it (and our taxes are $6,000 a year, so it will make a significant difference). Tonight after Family Home Evnening Erik has to finish our income taxes. He's got a release coming up so he had to work Saturday and he will be working a lot for the next month. The only reason I'm even blogging right now is because Lael's T-ball practice just got cancelled (Thank you! But it's because her coach, who is a college student, has a paper due. Hmmm. Doubt she'd accept that excuse from me but whatever! I'm not complaining). Well, I'd better get back to Dreamweaver: The Lost Guide. Oh ya, and the kids. And then there's dinner ...