The wen cutter or concave cutter is the only really indispensable tool. You can root prune with old scissors or secateurs. Small nail scissors or cheap sewing cotton cutters will do for tip pruning. Whatever you do, invest in the best concave cutter you can afford. Cheap Chinese ones last no time at all. Don't be tempted by stainless steel either. They don't hold their edge as well as proper forged steel ones. Joshua Roth are a good manufacturer and they have a good range here http://www.joshuaroth.com/catalog/page3.html

victoriandream, My DH is an attorney & banker. He is NOT a handyman although he tries...Bless his heart. We are both gardeners &, if I do say so myself, accomplished gardeners. So, we've done the garden restoration & hired 95% of the home renovations. It took us about 15 minutes with a heat gun to realize that we were never going to be able to strip all that paint off the millwork ourselves. And, if we did we would ruin the woodwork! :) There are times in economic & societal cycles when historic homes ARE a good investment. We are not now nor have we been in that type of cycle for, maybe, the past 8 years thereabouts. Will it again turn in favor of historic homes? Sure, but who knows when? Just like...if one had such a desire...avacado-green carpet is again available. (Ugh!) Everything is cyclical. You should, IMO, never purchase an historic home with the intention of making a bundle. That's not realistic. Facts are that it costs considerably more to restore these homes than it would to bulldoze & build new on the site. Those pesky appraisers & lenders don't share our emotional attachments so they often block our dreams of grandeur. In many cases, they save us from ourselves! Yes, we had kids. The ranged in age from 8 to 13 when we purchased that 1848 colonial. Our son is a pro at stripping wallpaper! During their teen years they had great ghost stories to entertain their friends! They may have suffered from things we did as parents (?); but I don't believe living in a period home did them any lasting damage. LOL You will know your stewardship is over when you hesitate before starting the next project. Or, you'll know when the checkbook is running on fumes because you can't even stay in a period home, much less restore it, without being bankrolled. They suck money like a vacuum from your wallet. Your daughter is precious! And, what a grand lady your home is! Wonderful that you've got old pictures for a guide. Did you have to strip ALL that millwork? OMG! I think you've done a lovely job of maintaining the 'feel' for the kitchen while still bringing to a 21st century functionality. I love the windows. The windows in our 1848 home were narrow & tall. Window treatments were like trying to dress spaghetti! Yes, our East Lake, Brilliant Period Cut Glass, & tapestries would have worked wonderfully in your home. The auction was sorta fun...we've actually done that thing twice (auctioning off our entire household...that's how we've managed to upgrade our collections...buy, sell & then re-purchase fewer but higher quality pieces). I've got a cupboard that would be lovely in your kitchen...it's c. 1865 so very appropriate to your home. Here's its official description: A circa 1860-1870 step-back cupboard having pie shelf beneath shaped apron beneath a top case consisting of pair of paneled doors with tombstone and molded design with applied cornice molding. Top case rests on bottom case; double drawers above conforming paneled doors having recessed tombstone and molded design matching doors in top case; side panels of lower case also with inset tombstone shaped panels; side of bottom case terminates with successful "cupids bow" base cutout; front apron and feet conform to shaping above pie shelf. This cupboard retains desirable original chrome yellow surface with red highlights; faux birds eye decoration. (84-inches tall X 45-inches wide X 19 1/8-inches deep.) That's funny about you wanting to become boaters! We started with a small 21' sport lobster boat & quickly got a bad case of "Two-footitis". That's a common disease amongst boaters & it's contagious. We ended up with this...she's a Nordic Tug outfitted for long-distance cruising...the Bahamas to Maine. Stay away from boat shows. They are dangerous places! rofl I can really understand why you fell in love with your home & I'm sure she's grateful for your efforts. I know this may sound like blasphemy; but, have you considered a B&B? If not your heart, at least your tax returns would thank you. :) Your family will make many wonderful memories living in that house. If it were me, I'd sigh & start on that siding before the season gets away! :) /tricia

Ok, I had a long post almost set and my battery died. And I have to sleep. Here's a reply to a similar question, my appologies it's not 100% tailored to this post. "Ok, first things first. You need to decide roughly how much risk you are willing to take. This would be based on your age/closeness to retirement, what percentage of your savings this money represents, your risk tolerance, etc. Then you have to decide if this is as good time to jump in. You don't have to wait for an ideal time, but if you think we are due for another "adjustment" in the economy in the next year or less, you would want to wait for the adjustment to occur then get in. If you think we are going to continue to head upward, then by all means the sooner the better. Now this is not on a day to day or even week to week basis, but overall trending. Nobody knows the answer to this, this is where even the most conservative investors have to gamble, especially when investing a lump sum. When you buy a little at a time, like paycheck deferral, you get "dollar cost averaging" where you are buying shares regularly as the price goes up and down, so some shares you own you bought a lot cheap and some you paid more for a few. If you just want to toss the money in someplace relatively safe-ish and leave it there, the Vanguard Total Market Index is a great choice. Leave it there for a while while you educate yourself on financial matters. You don't need to agree with them, but listen to Ric Edelman, Bob Brinker, or Dave Ramsey on the radio for a while. Listen to the way they think about things, the lingo, the thought processes. You will pick up a lot. At the very least, you will know enough to ask good questions if you seek professional assistance, what to look for in professional assistance, and much more. If this money is all your savings, I'd keep at least $1k easily accessible in a bank as an emergency fund, for actual emergencies. Then most advocate for 3-6 months living expenses in a safe investment. Then anything left you can take enough risk to grow and invest somewhere based on your risk tolerance." -----the important points here are to not rush into anything. Your not losing ground, so either leave things alone for a little longer or dump the gains into a Vangaurd total market index while you figure something else out. Spend time listening to the people mentioned above. You will pick up a ton of stuff. Maybe enough to pick some funds on your own, but certainly enough to understand most of what an advisor will tell you and ask good questions. And definitely see an independent fee for service advisor. This is a serious chunk of change, and you need to make sure you understand the tax stuff a bit as well as make sure you avoid any hidden penalties, or loopholes, or whatever else might be a problem. Sadly, regular people trying to be smart and save their money get hit with a lot of obstacles.

The idea is to spend your last dollar on your last day of life. Has anyone figured out how to do that (excepting committing suicide, of course)? Unless one wants to leave a little for one's kids - or/and deserving charities. I think that life will be tougher for the youger generation(s) - a lot of computer work is done in India. I heard a while ago that recently a major call centre was established there, as well. Operates in a system similar to ones here - but at about half the cost. Staff using names such as "Kathy", "Linda" etc. They'll have to amend their pronunciation if they want to pass as local when talking to people here. Our middle class is being eroded. If a kid age 15 invests one single dollar ... -and gets 5% rate of return - value at age 65 will be $11.00 plus; -and gets 10% rate of return, value at age 65 will be $117.00 and change, -and gets 15% rate of return, value at age 65 will be $1,070.00 plus. No allowance for the erosion of ongoing income by income tax, or of value of the underlying asset due to inflation. Learning how money works (and the effects of income tax) is an interesting hobby - that pays well. Many people spend more time and energy planning their vacation that how to finance their retirement. Good wishes to you and yours, joyful guy/Ed