'The more you play the piano, the better you will get. If you practice less, it's still O.K., just not as good as it could be.' This is true for piano playing but I don't think the analogy holds for compost. You can get excellent compost by putting in huge amounts of work. You can also get excellent compost by putting in almost no work at all. I also disagree with the statement, "You need to work quickly with a turn around of no more then 6 months." You can do it that way if you like but you don't need to. This is why we get newbies thinking they are doing something 'wrong', that they have somehow made 'a mess' of their compost. In its extreme form some newbies are so frightened by the mystique put out by interventionist composters that they believe they can actually 'spoil' compost and have to throw it away. It's enough to put someone right off even starting a heap. I agree with lazygardens - if you have a supply of 3 year old leaves composting them seems pretty pointless. I'd just get them straight out onto the garden and start composting with all the new stuff being generated daily in garden and home.

Ah, here's another good use for an electric skillet. I don't care for white chocolate but I do melt milk or dark chocolates in small heat-proof bowls (those Pyrex custard cups work well) set in the skillet on lowest setting and leave uncovered. After about 20-30 minutes, stir and check the progress. When nearly melted, stir until the chocolate is completely smooth. This isn't the fastest method but you don't have to baby sit the chocolate while it melts... just leave it and forget it for a while. I shop at a candy-making store and this is how they melt the chocolate -- small Pyrex cups with various chocolates, left alone to melt. When ready, they just remove a bowl and spread or drizzle on the goodies, then put it back in the skillet to keep it warm and melted until ready for the next batch.

The English buy the peas in tins, usually. But, dried would be this : http://m.tesco.com/h5/groceries/r/www.tesco.com/groceries/product/details/?id=276415352 They are usually eaten with : fish and chips where you buy them from the chippie, or with pies but I think only really in London. Could be wrong, but where I come from (Oxford), we don't eat them. It's a more northern thing.

I love the house color with the stone. I do agree that the shutters can go, maybe just “beef” up the trim a little so the windows look finished. The white trim isn’t awful but I would live in the house for a year and then decide..black trim could look nice with the other colors you have. Front door colors are a matter of taste. If you have a lot of green landscaping you may want to pull a shade of that to your door. If you have a particular color landscape, flowering shrubs and plants in a color you love,, you could pick a shade of the flowering plants to put on your door. I built my house a year ago. I have HardyPlank siding in Deep ocean blue, black trim , black standing seam metal roof and a chartreuse front door. I like to use plants (in planters and pots) around the front of the house that pick up the front door color. I get a lot of compliments on the color combinations and especially on the front door color. You are still looking at a building lot. Things will look much different when you have some landscaping, even if it’s just some bushes the builder puts in. Look at landscaping designs on Houzz, in magazines and Pinterest . You will see things much differently after living in you house for awhile. Take your time making decisions, your perfect home will come in time.