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Feb. is a busy month. We have had such a warm Winter so far, that everything is at least (2) weeks early. It's time to prune the roses. I took a rose pruning class several years ago and learned the proper way to prune my little beauties. These are my tools. I sharpened my Felco #2's, gathered my leather gauntlet gloves and rubbing alchol to clean my shears between bushes. (Not in the pix, a bottle of waterproof wood glue)

In our Italian garden, we plant an antique shrub rose in between (2) treeform roses. I have planted peonies around the tree roses. I start by pruning out all the dead branches, and than cut back by 1/3rd. I cut out all the oldest canes to let the young and viggerous canes to take over.

I put a dab of wood glue on all the cuts on canes that are bigger than a pencil. All this work will pay off come May. I cant wait.

New babies at Oakton.

Lillie's puppies came (6) days ahead of schedule. I think they came early cause we took her up to the Mtns. with us the weekend before. We drove on a lot of gravel roads. Anyway, she had (4) boys and (3) girls. There were (2) runts. We lost one of the runts on the second night. She died in our hands. Lillie had rejected the (2) little ones. After a trip to the Vet., we had to tube feed every (2) hours and stimulate the bathroom tasks. As those who know me know, I'm very squimish. The remaining little guy started at 160 grams and is now at 208. Lillie is now taking care of the little guy and he has been accepted back into the fold. He has such a will to live. We found him cold and stiff twice in those first couple of days. It was very remeniscent of having a new born.

We raise Border Collies. I always grew up with dogs. All male, no females. When we moved to Oakton(10 years ago this Feb. 13th) we told the kids that we could either go to the beach for Spring break or adopt a puppy. They unamously voted for a puppy. We named her "Spring break Baby of Oakton" She was a black and white ,female, Border Collie. Right after we adopted her, all (3) children got invited to the beach with other families. Will and I were stuck with the new puppy. We had a blast. Baby had (3) litters and was hit and killed in our front yard after her 3rd litter. We were devistated. After a mourning period, we were ready to adopt another female. We found Lillie Belle on puppy finder.com. She will be (6) in Feb. and is pregnant with her 2nd litter. She is due on Feb 14th, Valentines day and our 25th anniversary. I'll keep you posted.

I dont think I've said enough about our "girls". We've had them for over a year now and can't imagine life without them. We are down to (5) now(we started out with (10)) We will get (5) more in the Spring. They are so funny to watch. They all have names, Henny, Shiela, Lucy, Gertrude and Carmelina. We are getting (3-4) eggs every day.

Most of the eggs are brown. Carmelina used to lay blue eggs but stopped. She is very stuborn.

Now that all the Christmas is finally put up for another year, I can focus on winter projects. January and February are the ideal months. The garden is put to bed and the house needs some attention. On the list for this winter...Refinish the heart pine floor in the kitchen. The pine we used was too soft so I plan on stripping it and putting on a penetrating sealer that will make it harder. The stone floor in the kitchen needs to be stripped and re sealed as well. I am also going to patch all the pealing plaster in the front rooms. I have finally decided on fabric for the curtains in the master bdrm. and cant wait to see them up.

I better get off the computer and get to work. I'll keep you updated as I progress.

This past weekend I got a space at Scotts Antique show that I shared with a college buddy from Vidalia Ga. She is a fabulous jewelry designer that sells primarily on etsy under" For  Giving  Works Jewelry" check out her site.
Scotts is a once/month show in two huge bldg's just South of the Atlanta airport. I usually get a booth at least twice/year to unload some of the many treasures I collect at yard sales and estate sales throughout the year.
My Grandparents were Antique dealers in Connecticut and I used to go all over New England with them in the summer.
It's in my blood.

I just love the smells, the bartering, the dickering and the ultimate phrase "I'll take it". I had a great time catching up with my friend and meeting new friends in our booth mates all around.

Now that I've created some room, it's time to start hitting some more sales

Now that I'm takeing down the decorations for another year, I've finally had a chance to show you the finished product of (3) weeks work.

T

Today I'm continuing to take down Christmas. I'm down to the last room, the den/sittin room with the main Christmas tree. I got a little side tracked and cleared out the cabinet above the guest bdrm. bathroom. Let me back up.... Next weekend, I have rented a space at Scotts Antique Market. A once / month show in Atlanta. I have been getting things together to sell. We found some amazing things stored in the space above the bathroom. Life magazines from 1936-1941.The ad's are fantastic. Old chocolate boxes full of old strands of beads, lots of family photos, old check stubs and world war 2 letters. I'm keeping anything personal pertaining to the family and selling the rest. Some of the cool Life magazine issues are.... a 1938 Joe Di Maggio issue, Katherine Hepburn, Brittan enters WW2, a very young Queen Elizabeth, Erol Flynn, Fred Astair and Ginger Rogers, Winston Churchill andWallace Simpson and the Duke of Windsor. What fun. My college buddy is coming from Vidalia, Ga. to share my booth with her amazing jewlery. I cant wait. Tomorrow, off to Athens, Ga. to see my Daughters exibit in an art show.

My 2nd resolution is to treat my body as a temple. I started on Jan. 2nd with a 28 day detox and clense. I got it off the Martha Stewart web site and it made a lot of sense to me. I'm an all or nothing kind of gal, so I cant gradually cut down to eliminate the bad for me stuff. I'm Italian and French so I love my wine and food. I have a terrible sweet tooth on top of all that. I do exercise most everyday(hiking Kennesaw Mtn.,Pilates class twice/week, doing a (4)mile loop around the neighborhood with my buddy and gardening) You would think I'd be a stick. I'm not. My husband loves curves but it's gotten a little out of control.

  So I'm on day (5) of my detox diet and so far so good. Basically I've given up dairy, gluten, caffeine, alcahol,sugar and all processed foods. My goal is to look good for my 25th anniversary coming up this Feb. 14th and beyond. Wish me luck.

Boy did Christmas get away with me. I'm not suprised, it always does. O.K. here it is ...My new years resolution. To spend 1/2 to 1 hour everyday on the web site and to start treating my body as a temple. I thought I would start at the beginning with the Oakton blog.

Oakton has been in my husbands family since 1938. It was purchased by his Grandparents and passed on to his parents in the late 70's. We purchased the house from the estate after his parents passed in 2002. This will be our 10th year.

When we moved into the house our (3) children lived at home. They are now 24, 20 and 19. I started working on the childrens bedrooms and bath upstaires in Oct.2001 and we moved in Feb 2002. I wanted their rooms finished before we moved in so the house wouldnt seem so scairy.
We also remodeled the kitchen to incorporate a big family room and eat-in.
The kitchen took about (6) months with construction workers here most every day. I used the laundry room to fix meals in the microwave or toster oven. What a mess.

After the kitchen was complete we started on the rest of the house. Room by room till it was complete. All the while restoring the historic gardens on the property. My husband is a fabulous Landscape Architect and his office is run out of our barn(a dream come true for him).

As the gardens were restored we started planting. First the apple trees. (2) of the (6) origional boxwood kitchen gardens were planted with (26) heirloom apple trees producing starting in June and ending in Nov.Than came the pears, muscadines, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, figs, veggies and herbs. This became a tremendous amount of work ontop of our paying jobs, so we started selling Oakton produce at the Marietta Square farmers market on Saturdays.

The house and gardens have become an entity on there own. We have developed a simple lifestyle that revolves around the seasons and what is freshest for supper and what is blooming for the table. Times are tough but when they are, people come back to their roots and what worked in the past. This is a grand adventure and I cant wait to share it with you.