Again, can't believe it's been so long again!

We're now in Texas. Sold our home in Jones Creek in only 5 weeks & had to close in 3 weeks. We were in Katy, so by time we got home, we had about two weeks to leave. The day before the last container was packed, Robyn called from Cancun to let us know that the house on the corner and across the street from her was on the market. It was a foreclosure, we put our offer in. The next day she called to tell us that another offer was in and it was going to be the best and final offer - a little bit later she called back and told us we had it.

It was very exciting, until I actually saw the house. It's a lot smaller than our other house and is two stories. We had to gut the house and are constantly finding something new that has to be done. Today it was more black mold, but it's just on the sheet rock and is easy to clean and cut out the sheet rock! The house is going to be stunning when it's finished. The kitchen has custom built cabinets and will be a cook's dream. Our master bedroom has a lovely little bay window area where we plan on putting a couple of easy chairs. We have a custom marble tie shower with a ceiling shower head. Nothing's finished yet, Deb and Ian are in there, but the fumes and dust from construction is too much for me. We should be in by the end of this week. Can't wait. 
We did find termite and termite damage, broken window, mold, broken toilets, one a/c for two floors and it was the wrong size, the list is long. We had to replace all the flooring, repaint every surface and replace all the cabinets. That said, it is totally ours and I can't wait to move in there.

While we were getting the house ready to sell in Johns Creek, our beloved puppy, Sadie suddenly passed away. She will never be replaced, but our two new puppies, part lab like Sadie are adding to our lives. They are five months old and litter mates, little sisters - Chili and Pepper. They are great escape artists!
I think I'll be getting a custom built sewing table/cabinet. My sewing room will be in what was the living room. Debby has taken the 4th bedroom adjoining her bedroom to be used as her potters studio. Her kiln will be in the garage. Ian has his own bedroom, bathroom and loft/tv game room. And Bob has a brand new Yamaha golf cart to ride to the golf course, our subdivision's entrance is a half a block or so from our house, and to go back and forth to Robyn's when he doesn't want to walk!!!
Will fill you all on more later. 

Now it's five months!!!!!!!!

Hi all - just a quick, quick message. Well sort of quick. The move to Texas is so slow. We've been packing, organizing, etc. The house looks like a bomb hit it!
We're spending a lot on the landscaping. It's finally getting there. Not quite there, but our neighbors seem to like it. Had to grade the back yard and have dirt brought in, so Bob could plant grass. Have to get pine straw for the back and more mulch for the front. Already put down about 40 or 45 bags of mulch.
Today, boxes are being moved to one of the basement storage rooms and furniture being moved to different rooms. The electrician was here on Saturday and he hung a small chandelier in the dining room, which had been a "reading" room. Had to replace about five light fixtures. The painters are coming tomorrow and will start with pressure washing the outside. The entire interior needs repainting from ceiling to trim. Also all the tile needs regrouting and plumbing fixtures need replacing. There's still more, but this is a start. Hope to have the house staged and ready to list in a couple of weeks.
No sewing to show you. Haven't had a chance to sew in two months. I am miserable.
We had five garage sales. The last two were a bust - our city of Johns Creek, GA removed all the signs, so no one could find us. Got a warning letter from the city and were told that next time it would be a citation and a court appearance. Ridiculous.
Several charities have made out with all our donations. I donated at least half of my huge stash to my good friend Wendy Jones. Wendy will be making dump bags and "diddy" bags for our military. She also makes pillow cases for children at a local children's hospital.
Friends and family are getting furniture and other things. Our four great nieces in Baltimore are getting items from their great grandmother Syd Roseman and from their grandmother Allyn Karshmer. There are pictures including Allyn's wedding picture. Doing the same for my nephew David and his wife Meri. Passing on items from my mother and her father. I have cousins that I am sending pictures. Hopefully, our life will be simplified with less things! No basement for storage. There are items that I can't part with, neither can Debby. Only a few things that Bob wants to hold on to - he's not very sentimental. We are keeping all his Air Force things, including all his medals.
No pictures this time, just words. This will be my 28th move in nearly 51 years - not that many cities, but that many apartments, trailers, Quonset huts, duplexes, house! Hopefully Katy will be the last move. I'm sure though, we'll have to rent for awhile before we find a permanent house.
Wish us luck everyone!
Until next time.

NOT AGAIN! IT'S BEEN THREE MONTHS!!!!!!!!

Wow - another three months - I need to keep on top of this! Reached my 70th birthday. Got my present from Bob in April - my new
sewing machine. The girls gave me a Sony E-Reader. Love it, love it, love it!

In October we found out what homecoming means in Texas! Can't believe that homecoming is such a major high school event in Texas.
Got to see three of grandson's freshman football games and saw him and his girlfriend all dressed up for their first high school homecoming game.
Spent hours and hours and more hours making the mum and the garter (that's a Texas thing). I embroidered a lot of ribbons for the mum and garter and made the patches for her overalls.They looked so wonderful dressed for the dance! Proud grandma thinks they were the best looking couple at the game and the dance!

We went back to Katy for Thanksgiving.We had a delicious dinner, but the big "event" was the day after Thanksgiving when we saw our older daughter's best friend from their American high school in England! The girls saw each other at a high school reunion 20 years ago. I haven't seen her or her family since the girls graduated high school 31 years ago. It was really a wonderful evening.

Yes, I have been sewing and here are some of the things I have done recently. A lacy doily for my sister-in-law's birthday, some chemo hats for a friend of my daughter, tote bags, tissue holders and little bags. I also made some small bookmarks for the Sarcoma Cancer Support group at Winship Cancer Institute, Emory Hospital, Atlanta.

Has it really been 3 months?

Can't believe that's it's been 3 months since I last blogged. Oh well, that's just the way it goes sometimes.

In August we went to Isle of Palms with our family for our 50th anniversary. It was so much fun. We stopped in my hometown Columbia, SC first. The girls surprised me by having two dear friends meet us for lunch at the hotel. Wow, was I shocked. Woody and I have been e-mailing and talking to each other for about 3 years now. I haven't seen him since we graduated high school 52 years ago. Met his lovely wife, Kiki who is a very gracious southern lady. He and his wife are wonderful people. The other surprise was my lifelong friend, Allen. We've kept in touch, but haven't seen each other for 25 years at my mother's funeral in Columbia. Allen got polio when he was 8 and we were in 3rd grade together. I used to love to go play at his house. He couldn't attend school, but had a visiting teacher teach him at home. Allen was paralyzed and still is. It's amazing, that this has not stopped him from meeting all his goals. Although, retired now, he still teaches in the computer department at the University of South Carolina. He was instrumental in helping to pass the American with Disabilities Act. It was an amazing day for me.
On Saturday we drove around Columbia so I could show the kids some of the places that were special to me.
At the beach we did the first annual "Roseman Jones Iron Chef Event". What fun! We did four nights, since we had four teams of three, plus Jesse. Jesse's the four year old son of our good friends, Bonnie and Andre (from L.A.). Each team got aprons that I made that had to be worn the night they were cooking. Each team planned their meal, shopped for ingredients and cooked and cleaned up. Debby made score cards and we had both winners and loosers for different parts of the meals. We also had two surprise ingredients thrown in at the last minute. Had some interesting results -- grape koolaid ice cream and cherry jello chocolate sauce! Yummo!!!
We spent one day in Charleston sightseeing in a horse and carriage. Had to climb into using a ladder! Me climbing into the wagon was not very pretty:) Another afternoon we visited all the places we had lived. Even went back to Bob's childhood home and the resident of the unit where he lived let us in to see it. It still had the same tile floor and fixtures in the bathroom!
Bob and Alvin golfed every day. Bob met Alvin at the airport in Charleston on Saturday and then played golf at Charleston AFB. Bob was stationed there right after pilot training.
It was an amazing trip and so much fun.

MY SUMMER SEWING 2009

My Favorite Project This Summer

a matching pocket tissue holder & eyeglass case



Greeting Cards

Pocket Tissue Holders

Towels & Magnets

hand towels for us

Bob's new golf towel


fruit magnets

50 Years and 14 Days!

Our Golden Anniversary has come and gone. My next big day is my 70th birthday.
Between now and then we have Father's Day, Robyn and Alvin's third anniversary, three birthdays, 4th of July, Labor Day and then Halloween, my birthday. I probably have missed something, but I'll count that as a senior moment.

While in Texas I broke my foot, didn't go to the doctor thinking that it was probably a sprain. Walked around on it for five days. During that time we drove 16 hours home from Katy, TX and I drove about six of those hours. Thank goodness, it was my left foot, so I could drive. Broke it by catching my sandal on the edge of a tile that was on Robyn's unfinished kitchen floor. Hit my head, hands, knees and both feet. Not a pretty site! Tank, the bulldog got on top of me and started licking me. Must have been his way of soothing me! I think I knew right away it was broken, but kept hoping it was sprained. Saw the orthopedist when we got home. It's broken in two places. I have to wear a walking boot with a rocker bottom. It weights a ton. Have to wear it for 6 to 8 weeks. No water aerobics for 4 months. He said it would take about a year to completely heal since it was a major fracture. Oh well, at least I didn't break my head!

Robyn's new house is gorgeous and one story. The kitchen is gutted now, but when it's finished it will be spectacular. They have repainted the entire house and replaced all the flooring with traventine marble tile and dark wood. They are on the 17th hole of Willow Fork Country Club. Bob got to golf quite a bit while in Katy. There's a pretty little "lake" on the course behind Robyn's house.


Our grandson Brandon graduated from high school and is headed for the Universary of Southern California this fall. I missed the ceremony because that was the day I fell. There were nearly 700 graduating and there was no way I could have gone. We now have an 8th grader, a high school freshman and a college freshman.

Here are some pics of my sewing projects. First a pocket tissue holder I made for myself.The baby pillow is for a colleague of Deb's. The remainder are greeting cards.

Almost 59 Years

Can't believe in ten days Bob and I will be married 50 years! Amazing. We'll be in Katy, TX next week celebrating our anniversary with our daughters, son-in-law and grandsons. We're also celebrating two grandsons' 14th birthdays, three days apart and the third grandson graduating high school. Will be a very busy and hectic ten day trip.
Been trying to get lots of sewing done. Still not anywhere close to catching up! Here's some photos of Mother's Day cards and magnets I did for the girls and for my sister-in-law Sara. The framed picture was for Debby and was embroidered on dupioni silk. Unfortunately I got the reflection of the ceiling fan in the glass, so at some point I'll probably take another picture.
It's been awhile since I last posted and there's lots of news, but this will be short. I have to finish packing, folding laundry, and just getting organized for our trip. Debby hired someone to doggie sit, since Sadie doesn't do well at a kennel. Our cleaning lady's daughter will take Debby's cat. We already picked up the rental minivan. Ours is too old to make the trip to Texas.

I'm Happy, Sew Happy!

Debby and Ian got home last night. It's great having them back. It was very quiet here without them. I really missed them.
We survived Friday night's storms. Spent some time in the basement. When the weatherman says, "If you're in Johns Creek, go to your basement and take cover immediately", if you're smart, that's exactly what you do. We had the usual - lightning, thunder, hail, wind and heavy rain. Bob seldom goes to the basement during tornado watches or even warnings, but he decided it was the prudent thing to do. His wanting to "take cover downstairs" made me more nervous than the storm!
Here's a couple more of my favorite old family photos. Debby and Bob are engaged in a favorite Roseman past time - photography. Bob and I were in the San Diego desert photographing the magnificent spring flowers. Debby was only four, but was at our maid's daughter's house on Terceira, Azores back









in the sixties. Of course, I am the unseen photographer who was photographing the photographers. The black and white photo is of Bob as a baby and his mom. He was adorable and his mom was so pretty. Debby looked a lot like Bob when she was a baby. I'm having so much fun looking at all the old photos.
I had a wonderful surprise today! Bob bought me the top of the line sewing/embroidery machine this morning. I certainly didn't expect to get this very early birthday/anniversary present. The store had a great deal going and of course, we couldn't pass it up. I am so happy. I know Bob will be asking for new golf clubs soon. I've said for years, there's always a guilt factor built in!
I've been trying to clear some space for the new machine. I've got to get some bins to throw stuff into, so there's room for the new huge sewing machine. In case you're interested here's the link - http://www.babylock.com/sewing/ellisimo/
Can't wait to get the machine out of the box. I never expected this model, but it was just a little more than the next one down was in January. After seeing this one demonstrated, it was a no brainer!
I can have two machines embroidering at once and be serging on my serger at the same time. I doubt if that will really happen, but I can dream. I have a sewing class next month to learn how to use the new machine. Played with it some at the store today and it's absolutely amazing. I can hook it directly to my computer and drag the designs over that way. I think Bob will be playing with it too.
Here's some recent projects that I've done. I love the quill and scroll bookmark. The heart is a magnet with one of my favorite sayings on it. It's something we should all try to do every day. Bob certainly did a big one today! I never expected to get a sewing machine today and definitely not this one!
Take care everybody and have a wonderful week.