As a rule of thumb, roses are dormant when they have lost all their leaves. This rarely ever happens in the deep south, so we prune sometime during the winter, most commonly in February. I have pruned as early as mid December and as late as late February and it did no harm that I could ever see. Around here, the wisdom is to prune around Valentine's Day. It helps to understand how roses grow. If this is too elementary for you, please forgive me. I'm just trying to be thorough and clear. First, the branches, properly called canes, have joints (nodes) all along them. If you look carefully, you will see slightly swollen to quite prominent bumps (buds) emerging from those nodes. (They tend to be red colored on many of my bushes.) Notice that the bumps occur on all different sides of the branches. These buds are potential branches. They will grow straight out of that bump and keep growing in that same direction. You want to keep the center of your bush somewhat open and free of congested canes. This ensures good air circulation that minimizes disease, and allows sunlight to reach all parts of the plant for good flower production. So, you want to always prune a branch just above (about 1/4 inch) a bud that is facing away from the center of the plant. If there are buds below it that face into the center, you can rub them off with your finger. When you cut, it's a good idea to make an angled cut, so that rainwater will run away from the bud you are encouraging, rather than right onto it. The bottom of the angle should be about 1/4 inch above the bud. If your plant has disease (or even if you are suspicious), it's a good idea to wipe your pruning shears with alcohol or a disinfecting wipe after each and every cut. That way, you won't spread disease to healthy canes. When you cut a healthy rose cane, the cross section of the cut will have 3 layers: the large center is white and clean looking, then it's surrounded by a thin green layer, and then the outer skin ("bark" so to speak). If that center wood is black or brown, the wood is bad. Cut that branch back to healthy wood or remove it entirely. Big, fat healthy canes will produce more blooms and more canes of their kind. Skinny, wimpy canes will produce few, if any, blooms, and more of their kind too. Keep the fatties, remove the skinnies. (Roses, not people. :) So, with these things in mind, here's how to prune shrub roses: 1. Remove all dead branches. If the wood is grey and brittle, it's dead. Cut it off at its beginning point. If the beginning point is dead too, cut that branch back to its source, or to alive wood above an outward facing bud. 2. Remove all skinny, spindly wimpy branches. If they grow off big canes, remove the skinny, keep the fattie. 3. If you see branches that are crossing and rubbing against each other, remove the skinnier one, and keep the fatter one. 4. Clear out the center of the plant so there is plenty of room between the canes you are keeping.(I like to keep a ring of fat canes that are spaced evenly about 4 to 6 inches apart around the center of the plant.) 5. Now, shorten the big healthy canes that are left, again, cutting above an outward facing bud. Typically, you would remove from 1/3 to 1/2 the height of the canes. When I'm finished, I like all the remaining canes to be fairly close to the same height. I have found that alot of antique roses that have been lazy bloomers respond well to really hard pruning. In that case, you can count up from the base of the cane 3 to 5 buds and cut above that point. (Use this hard cutting back with caution on hybrid teas. You don't want to ever cut below the graft, or you'll lose the beautiful flowers you paid for. Leave these canes longer.) cottage girl is right. This is not a life or death thing. Roses are really just weeds that have really pretty flowers. If you cut too hard, or perhaps not perfectly, they will recover quickly and you'll have another chance in short order. You can even do some corrective pruning, following these guidelines, during the season. Just use a lighter hand.

Well, they just called today and I didn't get the job. Boo hoo but just teeny tiny boo hoo because I wasn't really sure I wanted to go back to work. This job this time next year would have been ideal. I had a really good talk with the principal when she called to tell me and the other woman with all the experience got the job. She was really encouraging about applying for future positions which is very reassuring. In the meantime, I can actually have time all to myself for the first time in 8yrs! I just realized when I was contemplating the unruliness of my hair that I can actually make a hair appt without calling 3 different people trying to arrange someone to watch one or both of the kids. OMG, I can sign up for a yoga class! And DH is satisfied because I did actually try to get work. I've got calls out to a couple of teacher friends to see what they recommend for getting some more experience teaching reading (the principal said this would be a good thing to work on). So all in all, I think this will work out for the best. I can still substitute and tutor for extra cash - we won't be getting that new car but that can definately wait. Thanks again everyone for keeping me company during this experience. I really appreciated your good wishes and support.

I had tin tiles in a bathroom in my old house. They were ugly and rusted, but I painted them anyway. Made a HUGE difference and lasted several years! I think we used epoxy paint, but it was a long time ago. I'm sure a paint dealer would sell you the right stuff. It was not hard at all...just like ordinary painting, looked flawless and there were no brushmarks at all...had a high gloss, mirror finish! Easy to keep clean, too. As for wallpaper, I love the stuff. I have it everywhere! I have vinyl type in my kitchen, where I do a LOT of cooking, and it washes easily and well. I have it in my main bathroom, too, and despite all the steam four of us could put it through every day for the past 9 years, it still looks terrific. And those walls were (still are) awful underneath the paper. I think paintable wallpaper is a good suggestion, but why not just use wallpaper and eliminate one process? You will always see the seams on wallpaper, paintable or not, but done correctly, printed wallpaper seams are almost invisible - IMO, they are far less visible on printed than they are on paintable wallpaper. If you didn't notice the bad walls under the old paper, you probably won't be able to see the bad walls under new paper, either. I also think 5 years is not long enough for such an expensive investment as good wallpaper. But, then, I'm not much for change in my house. And whatever paper you use, be sure you size it first!

Thank you all so much! tommorrowisanotherday--I actually have a quart of it from a regional paint dealer, Dunn Edwards (we'll be using their premium paint in eggshell--it's been great for us). We are going to paint a larger swatch on the wall just to make sure we still love it. We do have a very open concept floor plan. The entry, front all, kitchen, dining area, living room, and upstairs loft areas (all areas except two bedrooms and a bath) are all open to each other. The only rooms that aren't, and will have different colors, are the four bedrooms/three baths and the laundry room. I'm going with one color because it was hard enough to pick that one and I can't imagine picking more for flow. It's frustrating for sure, and pricey to have it painted. We'd do it ourselves, but 20' ceilings are too much for us. I'm afraid of heights. sandyponder--I love your living room--it's so cozy and warm looking! That is the look I'm going for. I never would have guessed that's Pine Grove--it looks so much darker on the strip. We have south, north and east facing windows in our open areas, plus a couple of solar tubes, so we get a fair amount of light throughout the day. I feel much more comfortable with the darker color now. ttodd--I hear you :-)! We're doing it. My neighbor thinks I'm crazy, but she may not be a huge green fan. I am, and so are my husband and daughter. It's going to look like a forest in here when it's done. I'll get pics up asap.