Confused about Compost!

This is a post directed at all of you composters out there! I just finished chopping up a ton of veggies for our dinner tonight. I was also left with a ton of scraps. As I dumped them into the sink to be put into the garbage disposal, it dawned on me that I've been doing that a lot lately! Since we have been fasting 7 days a week, we've upped our vegetable and fruit intake and have produced a lot of waste!

I have been interested in composting for a while, but don't know where to start. I am going to start a small raised-bed garden this spring, and I know the compost would benefit our Tennessee clay-ridden soil!

So help me out! I don't have a very large yard, so I won't have that much space for the pile. What do I need? How do I maintain it?

Any help is appreciated!

Cheesefare Meals

Last Sunday was our farewell to meat. My family celebrated our annual "Meat Fare Meat Fest" with some friends on Sunday evening. Now that we've said goodbye to meat, I'm gearing up for Cheesefare! I typically try to do a weekly rotating menu during Lent, mostly so that I can have one less thing to think about, and we can concentrate on getting to the weekly services. I'll share our Lenten weekly menu next week, but I thought I'd share one of our favorite Cheesefare week meals. Besides this meal, we also try to do grilled vegetables with goat cheese one night, and this Saturday we're going to eat at the Che*secake Factory for lunch! Now, here's the recipe for our favorite cheesy meal. (I love it because it gets my kids to eat some veggies without complaining!)

Cauliflower-Feta Pasta Bake

1 head cauliflower, cut into small florets
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
1 pound ziti pasta
One 14.5-ounce can fire-roasted crushed tomatoes
8 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
2 cups pitted kalamata olives, drained and chopped
3/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
1/2 cup breadcrumbs

1. Preheat the oven to 425. On a rimmed baking sheet, toss the cauliflower with 1/4 cup olive and season with salt and pepper. Roast, stirring halfway through until browned, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from oven. Lower temp. to 350.
2. Meanwhile, in a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook ziti until al dente. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup of the cooking water. Return pasta and cooking water to pot and stir in crushed tomatoes, feta, olives, and remaining 1/4 cup of olive oil and half each of the parsley and breadcrumbs.
3. Pour the mixture into a 2-quart baking dish; top with the roasted cauliflower and remaining breadcrumbs. Bake until heated through, about 10 minutes. Sprinkle the remaining parsley on top.

Orthodox Pen Pals

If you have a child who would like to have a fellow Orthodox child as a pen pal, visit Sylvia over at Adventures of an Orthodox Mom. You can get the details and sign up here. Sign up by February 21st.

Don't Forget Our Founding Fathers' Words

I don't usually write political posts, but these quotes seemed almost prophetic! Take from them what you will...

When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe .Thomas Jefferson

The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not. Thomas Jefferson

It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world. Thomas Jefferson

I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them. Thomas Jefferson

My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government. Thomas Jefferson

No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms. Thomas Jefferson

The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government. Thomas Jefferson

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. Thomas Jefferson

To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical. Thomas Jefferson (Very Interesting Quote)

Training Up a Child

Bishop THOMAS of the Antiochian Archdiocese just wrote a wonderful article on the education of our children. You can read his thoughts here. Enjoy!

Of all holy works, the education of children is the most holy - St. Theophan the Recluse

Win an Orthodox Icon Bracelet!

Sylvia, over at Adventures of an Orthodox Mom, is giving away a beautiful icon bracelet. Click on the link to enter to win it!

Life is Getting Back to Normal, and Resolutions (or lack thereof)

Finally, I can say hello! I have been trying to find the time to post over the past few weeks, but life has been hectic! We had a fun Christmas break, with a trip to Disney World the first week of January. We started our first semester of homeschooling on the 5th of January, and my older two both had birthdays in the past week!

So, now that the craziness (or extra craziness) has past, we're getting back to "normal".

Now that I have two blogs, I may not post on both as often. My goal is to keep our home school discussions and issues separate, so you won't see much school talk here. Please visit my sister blog often, though, since I am still a baby home educator!

I'm not really the resolution-type, but I do have a few BIG goals for the new year. My prayer life is still my biggest struggle, and Satan is doing his best to keep it that way. A friend introduced me to A Mother's Rule of Life, and I have been struggling to get through the book for several months. It is not a long read, or even a hard read, but I have been tempted away from it over and over, and every time I pick it up , my mind is bombarded with interruptions, distractions, and even confusion. This tells me I REALLY need to read it. So often our One Thing Needful is the one thing that the evil one tries to keep us from.

My other goal, is the other thing I've been struggling with (my whole life). De-cluttering. My house is pretty straight if you don't look that carefully. Closets and drawers, however, are my nemesis. I've been slowly working on this, but as soon as anything pops up, like holidays, trips, birthdays, or sickness, my closets just fill up!! At this moment, you can barely walk into my bedroom closet. I am hoping that by the spring I will have my closets under control. The trick is when to clear them out, and how to keep them that way. Please comment on any of this if you have things that work, or don't work for you!

There's my day-to-day in a nutshell right now!