zzzzz... huh?

We've been working on the house a LOT, so almost all of my record-keeping / posting energy is going toward that. I'm very excited for it to be, say, Tuesday. We're doing a ton of painting right now and we'll put the floors in this weekend, so I think the house (at least inside) will be nearly unrecognizable by Tuesday. We'll have the rest of the week to move in, which is longer than we've ever had to move... but we have roughly zero boxes packed as of this morning. I like the idea of moving one room at a time and then unpacking it there, but I'm not sure that will work out - we at least need to move the big stuff all at once.

Joe got be a surprise, and it's sitting in the back seat of our car with a blanket over it. He said he got it on craigslist, so my best guess was these incredibly cute baby geese. But it didn't move or make any noise and Joe didn't crack the windows. (interesting note: the post said "Very pretty geese; great for weed control, looks, meat" meat?!? These guys are too cute to mention that!) So I have no idea what it is. I like surprises! :)

home and garden blog

For a long time I've wanted to have a blog where I post things about my garden, mostly because I don't want people to stop reading this one because all I do is post pictures of plants. Still, I'd love to have a record of the garden I keep. Moving to a new house soon will mean a new garden, so I figured now is a good time to start. Before we do outside work, we need to finish off the inside of the house. Many people from our church family and my biological family have offered to help, so I thought it would be good to share the home improvement journey online. That way you can see your contributions as well as others' and how it's coming together!

So here's the new blog: http://homeandgarden.joeandkathryn.us/

I'm going to try to keep both blogs up and running, but this one may have fewer posts as we're busy with the house.

New House & Advertising to Nerds

We closed on our house this morning! I think in my dreams it involved less signing papers and more us standing in front of a big sign with balloons getting pictures taken as the sellers handed over the keys. If I owned a title company, that's what I'd do. They did have a candy bowl, which was a move in the right direction. I'm only a little sad that we didn't have a "handing over the keys" moment (yes, I actually brought my camera hoping for one, even if there weren't balloons). Oh well... we're now homeowners!

As a little tidbit, I'd like to share what happens when advertisers are asked to market to scientists. I'm actually embarrassed that I'm in the target audience, and can totally relate to times when my hand hurts from too much pipetting.



I'll let you know next time a boy-band bursts into our lab and takes us away to a beach. Maybe next week.

High School Reunion

Saturday the 12th we went to Joe's 10 year high school reunion (Deer Park High School in Houston). While I could strongly recommend NEVER USING CLASS ACT to organize your reunion, it was still good for other reasons. There was one guy that Joe graduated with that later sang in a group with for a few years here in College Station, so we knew we'd see him and his wife. Though there were some old friends that didn't come, there were a few there he had hoped to see. Several people Joe hadn't thought about surprised Joe by coming over and saying they were excited to see him, which is fun. One of Joe's old friends had a wife who was particularly nice in a down-to-earth / I'm-a-policewoman way, so I had someone good to talk to when things got slow.

While in Pasadena we also got to see Joe's family. Joe's sister is also buying a home, but hers is completely new! We got to go inside (it's only lacking appliances and a different front door), and it's very nice.

We close on our home TOMORROW MORNING!!! I feel a little bad because this seems to be overshadowing everything. Maybe Joe will comment with more on his reunion so we can remember it better, but at least I got something written down!

Family Reunion

Time flies - the birds at work are all flying now and hardly ever in the nest (though I caught them there Tuesday).We had our 57th annual Jasper Family reunion the weekend of July 4th-6th. The first few years the reunion was around Thanksgiving or Christmas, but Great-grandpa Jasper's birthday was July 2nd, so his four daughters (my grandmother is the youngest) started getting together every year around the 4th of July. It's a big deal and very important for everyone to make it. With a few people as exceptions, health reasons are pretty much the only thing that keep some people from coming.

my immediate family

I really, really wish I had time to write about a LOT going on lately, and particularly about the reunion, and it's also important to Joe and I to keep a record of things happening, even in the busy times... but I just don't know how to do that. Maybe if I had a tape recorder and record while traveling on the road lately, then I could do podcasts. Oh well. So I'll pick one thing to say about the reunion.

My favorite part about the reunion is the lack of personal space for an entire 3-day weekend. First, we stayed in a cabin with my parents, sister (L), and brother-in-law (K). We were all sharing one bathroom and Joe and I shared a room with Lauren and Kevin while my parents slept in the living room. We ate most meals with the whole big group (almost 50 this year - actually less than normal). Three of the four original sisters had lot of kids and grandkids and great-grandkids, so those three families take turns hosting (including a LOT of cooking). So we're on a three year rotation. The year you host is a lot of work and you don't have near as much time to visit, but it's worthwhile. Anyway, so you eat with everyone. In line and at the tables, it seems like people are often sitting closer than is normally appropriate. If you ask what someone is drinking, they will hand it to you for you to try it (I would say drinking after someone else is a different level of intimacy that you don't share with the majority of people you interact with). (I'm just reminded of how nice blogs are - I'm just going to leave that "with" dangling at the end of the sentence and no one can make me fix it!) Anyway, I love how my space feels so invaded by people who love me for three days every year!

my cousin Laura (who will always be Laurabeth to me) is pregnant!

We have a church camp every year that is similar in a lot of ways (though never as much work while you're there since others cook - but I have to admit, the food's not as good). But there are a few differences...

(1) At church camp there are unfortunately not as many older people (something we're praying changes soon) but there are more little kids.

(2) I'm still a little more awkward at camp. I shouldn't be, but I often find myself wandering around the grounds trying to figure out where people are or what conversations are less weird to interrupt slightly by joining. We have a lot less space everyone is crammed into for the family reunions, so I bet that accounts for the wandering around. I think at both I'm awkward in trying to spend time talking with people I don't often get a chance to talk to and other people who are more shy (if that's the right word) and don't instigate conversation even though they really want to talk with someone (it seems like I can easily spend the majority of the time with this personality type - maybe because I'm more like them in some ways?)

(3) This one is pretty big in my mind - at church camp it seems like people (naturally, not because we're told to or have separate swim times or something like in junior high) divide along gender lines most of the time. For the most part, I think this is good for protecting marriages, but when I'm at the family reunions I really enjoy being able to sit down and talk with some of the guys... I bet a big part of liking that is because I have a lot more in common with some of them in ways of thinking /education-/ work-wise. I guess at a family reunion you already have a set relationship with a cousin you grew up with and don't actually have to worry about starting an inappropriate relationship. So even though it's not a complaint against church camp (in so many ways a real family to me), I do miss the more relaxed / safe man-woman relationships. Maybe as we get closer friends at our church this will change some... maybe not, it's one of the many life-issues I don't understand! (Hmmm... I promise this point made sense in my head, sorry if it doesn't make sense here!)

(4) I get to play some REAL games at the family reunions! I'm sorry friends, but speed scrabble is for people like Joe who got a letter jacket in high school for UIL spelling. Family reunions are full of spades and 42, both games I enjoy. I beat up on a couple of college guys in a game of spades at church camp last year, so I might have to push for that again. All joking aside, I AM really glad Joe gets to play some games he like (disc golf, too) and is good at - we don't get ton of chances for that sort of thing.

Well, I stayed home from Joe's soccer game to nap, so I better go do that. We just came back from Houston, where we attended Joe's 10 year high school reunion. More on that later, but it did amount to staying up too late last night. Also, if I haven't already posted, I'm pretty sure that our closing date on our new home will be July 22nd - just around the corner!

in two weeks time

A lot can happen in less than two weeks. A new batch of baby birds was born outside of my work. Here was them less than two weeks ago:

Here was them yesterday!They hardly fit! Like the baby birds, a lot has happened these last two weeks....

I actually have a GREAT excuse for not blogging very much lately - Joe and I are buying our first home together! I know that brief bit will leave you wanting more, but if I don't catch up on what we've been up to, I never will. So more about the house later.

Two weekends ago my whole family was in town for my sister's good friend's wedding. I don't want to be long-winded here, but I have a funny story about me being impromptu "wedding coordinator." It was actually pretty stressful leading up to it, but probably just because my mom, sister and I were helping with a lot of last-minute stuff. (Note to future brides: even if it's really, really hard to make decisions, give yourself a cut-off date - you don't need to be buying gifts for the bridal party, changing your veil length, or buying material to make bows the day of your wedding.) It was a beautiful wedding, and thanks to a good DJ (and perhaps an open bar) the reception was a lot of fun. A highlight was dancing with my dad (I know we had a father-daughter dance when I was little, but I can't actually remember it).

my sister looking lovely as a bridesmaid (are they called bridesmatrons if they're married?)

Last Wednesday (just over a week ago) we helped pack up our friends Jenny, Drew and Sam. You may remember me blogging about them before - Jenny was the one who got hit by a car while getting her hair cut at the end of last year. Some friends from church hosted a going away party for them on Friday night. I already miss them, and I know many others do, too. Last night at our small group, Danny (their housemate) kept playing with the two little boys who are close to Sam's age - I can tell he really misses them.

Jenny and Drew

Also last Friday a house went on the market in the neighborhood we like. We looked at it that afternoon, and met with our realtor Saturday morning to put an offer on it! I'd love to share more about how that went, but it's a little weird this being a public blog and all... but feel free to email me and I can send you more details. My parents also came down Saturday late morning to see the place. It's big and in a GREAT neighborhood (North Garden Acres in Bryan behind Frittella and the Metro Center), but needs a lot of finishing - the owners stopped on a remodel and need to move. Several people have asked when the housewarming party will be, and I've been telling them I'm not sure when it'll be done, but we'll have lots of painting parties if you're itching to see the place. ;) We plan to close July 21st, but it could be delayed as late as July 31st. We have to be out of our duplex by August 11th, so we plan to move somewhere in that time. I think I've signed my name more times in the last week than in the previous year - we've had meetings for over an hour everyday (except Sunday) since we saw the place a week ago. I'm not really saying all I want to, but I have no time! Basically, so many things have lined up just right with this place - much better than I could have expected - that it really seems like God is making the way for us to live here. Now, what do we do with a house over twice as big as we live in now? We'll see!

Tonight Joe and I will join family coming from my paternal grandmother and her three sisters -
the annual Jasper Family Reunion (where no one actually has the last name of Jasper). I'm looking forward to seeing all the family - it's usually a good time. Of the three weekends remaining before we probably close on the house, we're at the family reunion this weekend, Joe's high school reunion next weekend, and I'll be here the last one, but Joe will be camping with some guys from church. I usually have trouble getting laundry done when we travel on weekends, we'll see how I manage packing up a house! The good news is that we don't have to move in right after closing.

Okay, gotta run. Have a good holiday weekend!