Two for One

Written August 7 while our internet was being dumb:

Hey people. Hope the last... month was fun. I've just been keeping busy working and living life. Grandma Blackburn came up a couple of weeks ago to visit and stay through our family reunion. She's still hanging out here. Last week we had our biannual Blackburn reunion up here in North Idaho. Usually it's in Utah, so it was fun to have the cousins all come up here. We went up to the St. Joe wilderness where our family camps for Memorial and Labor Day. The weather was great and everyone had a lot of fun. We took one day to drive over to the Clark Fork River for a day of rafting. The water was pretty low so we only did one loooong run down the river. But the day was beautiful and a good time was had by all.

I head back to school in a couple weeks. I have some Jerusalem friends getting married in Utah on the 29th and so we are all planning on making it a reunion. I just hope my sister has her baby by then so I don't feel guilty for missing out on it. I've actually had a lot of Jru friends get married this summer. Some got engaged before our semester, some got engaged to their significant others right after getting home, and then a few couples within the student body are marrying each other! Three couples to be specific, despite the rules on no dating during the semester. Two of the couples did fraternize a bit throughout the semester, but one of the couples didn't date till they got home. They got 'er done pretty quickly and they get married tomorrow, the first of the intra-Jru couples. The other two couples both get married on the 29th. I've heard that they have changed the rules since our semester. Spring term the rule was "light dating". By summer term it was simply "no PDA". I guess they figured that if the kids weren't going to keep the rule, it was easier to change the rule than change the behavior!

Health update:
I think this summer is the winner for most random and frequent ailments ever. To add to my list, I broke out in a mysterious rash during the reunion that still hasn't cleared up and I had migraine for two days this week. With all the pain meds and antibiotics I've taken this summer, you'd think I'd be sterile and numb by now.

August 13:

Today was my nephew Rusty's birthday. He's 4 years old. Luke and his boys are still here but leave tomorrow to start the drive home to Denver. Rusty got plenty of superhero paraphernalia and had a little pool party with some cousins at Aunt Jean's pool earlier. I had to work this evening so I missed cake, but I made sure somebody saved me some! I always remember Rusty's birthday because he was born on Friday the 13. Makes it convenient.

Finally got to watch some Olympics for the first time this games tonight! I saw a little of the men's all around for gymnastics and some swimming. I also caught part of a table tennis match. Dang, they sure get serious in that sport! It was pretty intense. I've been working in the evenings and when I'm home I forget about the Olympics. Our house has been topsy-turvey though because we had to clear out the old kitchen so they could gut it. The remodeling on it began yesterday and lots of progress has already been made. Actually, I don't think the cable has been set up for a few days, so I couldn't have watched anything anyway. The old kitchen will be a new laundry room and a nice front room. It's amazing how much faster it goes when they don't have to start from scratch.

The fair starts next week already. Feels like we just closed up that booth! Monday we opened it up and got it cleaned out and set up. Elephant Ear time is fun because I get to see a lot of family and friends I don't see often, and I get all the ears I want! But the fair will forever always be a little scarring for me too. I was working at the fair when I found out my brother Scott had cancer two years ago. Needless to say that fair week was not fun.

Health update:
Ready for this? Nosebleeds. Yup, bleeds. I've had 5 or 6 in the last week. And some of mine don't just bleed, they gush. Today was the first day since Saturday I haven't had any bleeding from my nose, I think. I've got a good story about one episode I'll tell later. I've lost so much blood that I can't stand up too fast or even sit up too fast or I black out. Oh, and headaches still. I had another bad one this week plus one not-as-bad-but-still-not-fun yesterday. You can make stuff like this up, but who'd want to?

On the bright side, I have no sprained joints like the ones that plagued me last summer. I've had no sunburns, and my skin is actually quite blemish-free for once. I can still dance, run, walk, talk, eat, and work just fine so life is still good.