It sounds like relations with your brother aren't so great, either, or else he has a bad conscience about his wife's behavior. For the sake of family peace, I'd be tactful, but I'd be clear and firm: express a willingness to share cuttings and explain how to get them to root, but make it clear that your sister-in-law is not to take cuttings without your permission, so that she doesn't damage rare and vulnerable plants. It might help if you explain that these roses didn't come for the nearest big box store, as lagomorphmom said. If you can work in an implication that she'll have a better garden in the long run if she has you as a friend and gardening ally rather than as an enemy, so much the better, but unfortunately a lot of people don't understand this line of reasoning. Good luck!! Melissa

vegangirl, try typing "antiques shows" and your town or county into Google. You might have to try a few different searches but you will certainly turn up plenty of shows nearby. Also get your hands on trade papers, they will list the shows everywhere in their coverage area and a few beyond. Successful selling requires a few things from you: 1. Knowledge of the things you sell-this does not mean 'what they're worth'. It means what they ARE. When were they made and who made them? What peculiar characteristics do they have? Are they rare? Are they in good condition? 2. Prices within range of the venue. Forget what the books say-you will sell for whatever people care to pay. Period. Know your antiques and have a general idea of what similar items have traded at in your region recently. And if you're taking on an exhibit at a show, have a look around at other dealer's booths and note the prices they ask for objects similar to yours. Since you seem to have a number of objects to sell, the show or a local auction would be a faster way to move them along. Some items may keep you waiting at auction, as the better auction houses group objects into their specialty auctions. That might leave you waiting for months for some objects to cross the block. The nice thing about auctions is if you have a very desirable object, the bidding wars could drive a great hammer. It's a riot to send something off then watch the sale and see it bid to far more than you'd have thought. Best of luck. And, in MY book, if you're trying to sell off stuff you JUST MIGHT get interested in a regular side business in antiques. I love to see new folks come in to the trade.

I associate out-of-season Christmas trees with sadness and tragedy. The first time I heard of people keeping a Christmas tree up year round was in relation to a child who had been kidnapped and the family was vowing to keep the Christmas tree until the child was back. Then I heard about people who keep the tree up expecting the return of family military members in the Spring and wanting them to have Christmas. To me there is nothing festive about a decorated Christmas tree out of season.

kachme7, we have sat down at length with the Sherwin Williams color fan deck and have determined that a very close match to Conestoga's Crystal White is Sherwin Williams SW7002 (Downy White). Ben Moore or other suppliers may have some close matches too, but we have not sat down with their color palette yet. Downy White SW7002 seemed to be almost spot on in most lighting we looked at. Now, it bears mentioning that these are what we (cabinetjoint.com, not Conestoga) determined were close matches. Conestoga will not guarantee their material matches Downy White in any way. I would think it would be very dangerous to put Conestoga finished product on cabinet boxes done with SW's finish as the chemistry (and therefore the aging process) will be very different and you may end up with very different looks after a few months/years as Latex/oil based paints from Sherwin Williams will age and mellow in very different ways than Conestoga's Catalyzed Conversion Varnish. I would suggest perhaps refacing the boxes with Conestoga finished veneers or refacing molding OR buy all your product unfinished and then finish it all yourself to ensure a good match among all the components. Also remember that Conestoga is laying their coatings down with a sprayer whereas you may be considering brush applied materials to use on your boxes? Brush applied finishes will change the sheen and texture vs spray applied and therefore the color can be thrown off, so putting Conestoga finished doors on your home-finished boxes may result in a very different look, even if the colors of the materials are almost spot on. Just some things to be mindful of! Let me know if we can help in any way.