I got a Compost Bin for Christmas!!

This is exactly what I wanted.  I actually pick out a snap-together, plastic version at Big Lots for $60. (Thanks Mom and Dad!!!!!) Real easy to put together and I did it while Steve was at work - no tools, light weight.

 

Composting is the next phase to my domestic kingdom.  It all started slowly and methodically.

Year One - Summer Garden, water bath canning

Year Two - Spring and Summer Garden, first child born September,

Year Three - Added three apple trees, spring, summer, and fall garden, got a pressure canner

Year Four - Still waiting on my apples, spring, summer, and fall garden and a second child born

Year Five - Still waiting on my apples, spring, summer, and fall garden and now I'm adding my own compost to the mix.  I'm hoping I'll have some ready before the year six summer garden!

Where to place a compost bin:
Somewhere that you will never want to move it.  Full sun so it can "bake."  Far away so you don't smell anything.

What to place in the compost bin:
eggshells, coffee grounds, banana peels, old bread, kitchen scraps, dead garden plants, raked leaves, grass clippings

What NOT to compost:
meat, dairy, other animal based products, weeds

Layer for a Hot Fast Compost:
Create a lasagna alternating between green and brown.  Green (grass, plants, kitchen scraps) and Brown (fallen leaves, twigs, wood chips, shredded paper) layers that you can turn with a pitch fork every other week will result in compost within three to six months.

How to start:
Start with a bottom layer of twigs or stems to allow air to flow up from beneath (I also trimmed back my rose bushes yesterday to start my bottom layer of old twigs). Keep it covered.  This plastic bin from Big Lots has a snapping lid that has slits in it to allow air and rain in but keeps out the raccoons and the neighbor's cat.

And the blessings continue.....

Most people don't know that about two weeks ago, Camilla (3 years-old) threw up in her car seat while we were searching for a parking spot at the YMCA.  I had to pull the car by the front door, yell at two women in the parking lot whom I knew to watch my car, and run into the front desk to announce that the spin class I teach was CANCELED!  Horrible night.

Well, I can now beat it.

This past weekend we loaded up the entire family and drove 3.5 hours to visit Steve's grandmother in Conway, SC (Myrtle Beach area).  We had a wonderful visit.  On Sunday, we pushed the kids all morning till about 1 o'clock with no nap to make for an easy ride home. We were about one hour out of Myrtle Beach when Rex woke up.  (For all of you who know that ride from Myrtle Beach out 501, once you leave the commercial areas, you are now in the sand hills of South Carolina.)

Rex (20 months-old) woke up and started throwing up all over himself.  Recalling the weather on Sunday, December 8th, it was raining, misting, and cold all day.  I can't get Steve to pull over fast enough into the only pull-off area possible - a private drive that leads off to three mobile homes in a field.  There we were, stripping Rex of all his clothes, in the misting, cold weather at someone's private street.  Fortunately since we were traveling, I had extra clothes for him.  But, all I had for cleaning supplies was a small, travel size pack of wipes.  We remove the car seat and use the wipes to "knock" the chunks into the road and wipe down the seat to the best of our ability.  Unfortunately this car seat doesn't have a removable cover (which is going to become a problem later when we try to clean it). We have a beach towel in the trunk to lay over the seat, thread the straps through, and buckle him back into his smelly car seat.  Away we go for another two and a half hours home.

As we are pulling into Kannapolis, Steve and I start putting together a game plan on how to clean and disinfect.  He is going to take the car seat into the driveway and wash while I take Rex straight to the bathroom. "Ready - Break." I stop by the washing machine on my way to the bathroom to strip him again.  Although they WERE clean clothes he has been sitting in vomit for two hours.  We go to the bathroom and start the water.  I make it a bubble bath so he would want to play for a while, getting water in every crack of his body.  As the tub fills, I take his diaper off, and he pees on the floor.  Well, that's nothing at this point!!  I'll clean that up any day!  Into the bubble bath he goes and I clean the floor.  Camilla walks by and sees a huge bubble bath, "Can I get in?"  "Sure."  So, with the two of them playing I move back and forth between the rooms cleaning and starting the laundry when I hear...
     "Here you go mommy," and she hands me a small brown rock.
     "What's this?"
     "Um, poop."
     "Oh really? Where did you get that from."
     "From the water."  I started to push the bubbles away so I could see the water....and yes....it was full of poop floating around.
     "Steve?????? Are you available???"
I grabbed Rex and he grabbed Camilla and we ran them both into our shower to be rewashed, and good ol' Steve who had just finished washing the car seat and placed it by the fire to dry, was now bleaching the shower.  "For life's bleach-able moments...."
Rex officially gave us the Triple Threat Sunday evening all within four hours - puke, pee, and poop.
But, if that is what it means to be blessed with wonderful, healthy children, well then bring on the poop, or pee, but I'd prefer to be done with my puke blessings. 

How Do You Bring It Everyday?

There is always a challenge in each day.  But, for some unknown reason...I wake up and face the challenges of education every morning with a new zeal and a fresh smile.  I BRING IT EVERYDAY!!!!

Why?  How? 
I have a couple of ideas for what works for me:

Drink a whole lot of coffee, read a little Kid President (@iamkidpresident), and listen to a little KLove.

Or maybe its just knowing that at the end of the day I have an employer who is greater than Rowan-Salisbury Schools and that is who I am trying to "work" for.


How do you bring it????


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