Compost!

So life has been so full of adventure blogging hasn't been a big priority!

A few weekends ago it was time to work on the garden and prepare for winter. It was time to take down the compost pile and rebuild it. I hoped there was some good stuff in the bottom and there were some big holes between layers of bigger stuff.

As I took it apart, I started to be sad that I didn't have something that looked like beautiful compost that you see from Martha Stewart or other gardening guru. Then I realized, that I was messing with dirt that was not identifiable beyond dirt.

Really, how cool is it that we throw carrot peels, potato peels, pepper innards, apple cores, cantaloupes rinds and other fruit and vegetable scraps in the garden every few days. Then, on an October day I dump out the pile and almost nothing is recognizable except some egg shells and avocado pits. So, my compost is not perfect looking, but I do have something to amend my soil with! I transported at least 15 gallons of stuff to other parts of the garden. That's 15 gallons of stuff that I didn't have to buy!

As a kid my mom composted and I thought it was pretty silly, but I do appreciate it so much more now. My husband is always looking for some type of gadget to make compost faster but I tend to be pretty content with my round mesh bin and dumping it in the spring and fall to get the good stuff from the bottom. The automatic composter died and was taken apart the same day that I pulled the compost bin apart.

As an aside, I found lots of little pieces of concrete in my compost pile. I was perplexed about where those came from...we finally determined that they were from fireworks. We burned all of the cardboard from our 4th of July fireworks and put the ashes in the compost. I guess they put some small plugs in fireworks to keep them weighted so the bases stay put!

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Starting School Tomorrow

Tomorrow morning, we are starting school for the year! I still need to figure out exactly what we are going to do tomorrow, but we are going to make a start :)

I will be placing an order for curriculum tonight. I've known what we were planning to use for awhile, but just haven't placed an order yet. I have quite a few of the books already so I needed to go through those and we did that last week.

Our school rule for this year: Boys have to be out of bed by 7:15 and ready for school at 8:30. To be ready for school, they need to get dressed, pick up their room, eat breakfast, clean-up breakfast and brush teeth!

I think we'll start with prayer and writing a grandparent letter tomorrow and we'll see what else we can muster up to get us going!

Spring Update!

No pictures, but the peas are coming up nicely! I did get some radishes and lettuce and black beans in the ground on Sunday afternoon. The gladiolas are coming up! I'm excited about that since it's the first time that I've tried to dig those up in the fall and plant in the spring. Tomorrow I think we'll get some flowers and other vegetable plants! The phlox on the front walk looks beautiful! The stone edging looks really great! The Grape Hyacinth looks very pretty with it's border too! Daffodils are done, but the iris are coming up lovely! We have a little bit of lilac blooming...I need to bring some of that in the house tomorrow! Yea spring!

How Big of Bargain is it really?

It's fun to come home from a store with a big bag full of stuff and tout how little you paid for it. As I read blogs about people who are always out for the deal, I'm challenged to follow the money or lack there of and think about how I would like to keep my country afloat and have jobs created for people here and not sent overseas. If I go to the grocery store and pick out $100 worth of items from the shelf and in the end my total goes down to $50 because of coupons and deals, what has just happened? What would be the affect if I somehow got the total down under $5? Are the prices higher so the store can still make money on people like me who use coupons? Are those who don't use coupons then paying even more to cover my cost? The store will get reimbursed for the coupons, but how long do they have to float the money before they see reimbursement? What does that do to their bottom line? If I get the total down so low, who is actually paying for the food? Who is paying for the transportation costs? Who is paying for the laborer who harvested the food or butchered the animal? Is it more important for me to temporarily get a "great deal" where the money doesn't go out of my pocket right now? or is better for me to support local business and actually use my money wisely so living wages can be paid to everyone involved in the food chain and keep as many jobs in our country as possible?

I can't believe it's April!

Yes, it's April. I do have peas planted in my garden, but no lettuce and radish. I have the seeds, they just aren't in the ground. I did get my gladiolus bulbs in the ground too that I faithfully dug up in the fall. Hmmm, I wonder if they have sprouted, I need to look.

We've had a fabulous winter! I'm so thankful that we've had the opportunities that we've had so far n 2011 and it's just the beginning of April.

Here's a run down...

January - spent 10 days in Washington, D.C. area. So blessed that our friends came down to visit for the weekend because we miss them so much! The boys and I had a blast visiting all of the sites around Washington, D.C. when there weren't any lines. Breakfast and pool were still probably their favorites! (My husband had to work.)

Came home for a week and then headed to Texas for 11 days. We were able to see old friends in Dallas which was so great. Then to Houston area for my husband to take a class. The rest of the family hung out in the hotel quite a bit and once again visited with some friends and let our kids play together! At the end of the trip, we headed to Dallas to celebrate a grandmother's 90th birthday!

We drove home thankful for the radar on our phones to watch the winter storm a-brewing. School was closed for the rest of the week I think because it was pretty slick and REALLY cold.

During the great snow, I get a phone call asking if I was available to do some Cerner work. So, by the end of February four of us flew to Seattle and headed to Vancouver for me to work for three weeks. Wow, how blessed I was that the opportunity worked out as it did. I couldn't have planned it, I know that the Lord was so involved. After a brief half day delay at the border, we spent most of the next three weeks in the lovely city of Vancouver. My husband was able join us for the last week!

We spent a week of March at home and then got on another airplane and headed to Tampa! This trip was planned way before the Vancouver opportunity arose. We enjoyed some sun and relaxation there!

Now it's April and I really haven't been home much. I did extend my contract beyond the three weeks that were in Vancouver. I have promised that my primary responsibilities are still to be a wife and mother! I'm grateful that my memory served me well that I remember all this great Cerner stuff and the client was happy with my skills to let me set my parameters!

Now, on with spring!

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