Oh.. i didn't know they would get big. My mom has a tub a bit bigger than mine and she actually had a few survive last winter.. i do not know how. We have 4 tanks in the house for fish.. one is our recovery tank, although we rarely use it. I was going to put them in that for the winter. The lady at the fish store told me they stayed litte! Thanks for telling me otherwise. How would 2 shabunkins do in there? Or maybe just 3 little comets.. and i'll give the rest to someone else. Also.. how do i winterize the plants? We should be all done tomorrow with everything (hubby has the rest of the week off from work). I'm so excited! Oh, the "crooked house".. my daughters birthday is May 28, so that was me, my hubby and my father's weekend project. We did it in 2 days from scratch. He is a master carpenter (log homes and such.. beautiful work, and lots of spare materials) so we had him a little cockeyed having to build something crooked from plywood lol!

I don't know if I have a particular "God given talent", but the things I enjoy doing, I seem to do well at. I've always had an interest in decorating, and my first project was in Home Ec, decorating my bedroom. I was always moving things around at home, and would tell Mom if I didn't like a lamp, paint color, furniture, or whatever. When I married, and was 'on my own' I was always aware of how my house looked, and not having a lot of money, would put things on layaway. Writing/i'm very descriptive! Flower arranging/this is something I do a lot for others as well as myself. I find it goes hand-in-hand with decorating, and love to 'put something together' when I get the chance. Painting/took lots of lessons, and at least know brush strokes. Haven't painted anything but furniture or walls in years. Singing/I *love* to sing, mainly in the car. I can reach some pretty high notes. I sang in the church choir when I was a kid, but didn't look forward to going to chrch, just singing. LOL Dancing/I can boogie-down with my 3 DD's pretty well! I took ballet lesson with my youngest DD several years ago and still remembered 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th position as well as tour jete, and plie'. I was still fairly light on my feet! DD found it difficult, and we only took 6 weeks of lessons. Sewing/sewed a dress for a beauty pageant oldest DD had entered years ago, and almost all her clothes in seventh grade. About the only thing I sew now are hems, on the machine, but will be attempting slipcovers for slipper chairs soon. Gardening/fairly successful w/Roses and various flowers, especially wild flowers. I don't have too many things die, unless it's lack of water! LOL Cooking & baking/great cook, too lazy to do much baking. I don't uses 'boxed' mixes, only cakes and brownies. I'm a 'from scratch' cook. Fashion/I worked in ladies ready-to-wear for 20+ years, so feel I have a very good sense of fashion, and what works for me and what doesn't. I don't spend as much $$$ as I used to, cause I would rather buy things for the house. Since i'm no longer out there working, I can save a lot! Most of all, I have a real passion for the things I do enjoy, and always put 100%+ into it! I have an antique space at a local antique mall, and find that's become my creative outlet for a lot of things. I get many compliments, which makes me want to do more, so I feel my efforts are not in vain. ;o)

Hi Melissa, when I was still gardening on my 100 square metre rooftop terrace in Rome, containing among other plants about 70 mostly OGRs and some Austins, I used to follow your always interesting posts on the forum of compagniadelgiardinaggio. What you said in this post has so many parallels to my own experience that I just decided to add my little comment. Losing or giving up a garden, even a pot ghetto, is never easy for an appassionate gardener as we all here are supposed to be, but I finally did it, out of concern for the professional perspectives of my two sons who didn't want to leave at first but were convinced by the impossibility to find a decent job as IT engineer and economist. Since 2012 they are building promising careers and are happy, one in my native Germany, the other one on the French Riviera. In the same area and similar climate as Rome, at about 50 km away, I was able to buy a small house with a big garden. Before selling my Rome appartment, I saved at least 30 of my most beloved roses, but some beautiful lemon and olive trees as well as a magnificient Chorysia sadly had to be left behind. The roses are now happily growing and many still blooming in the soil of Provence and 30 new ones have just been planted. My sons took both some plants from their old home too. Maybe this means good hope and continuity for my new garden as well.

To Krystle, and others. Click on Gardenmom's name then click her activity tab. A message box should appear. This is the safe way to exchange addresses. Thanks, and happy gardening.