Busyness

Hi friends,

Sorry to be a bit silent here. Though I have been visiting many of your blogs I haven't posted anything "new" for awhile. I've just been consumed with communications with Kenyan friends who have been through so much in the aftermath of the killings that took place in the small coastal town of Mpeketoni.
I mentioned before that the government promised to help the bereaved families to bury their loved ones.  But so far we haven't had success in tracking down the help.

My friend's laid their loved one to rest on Saturday in the Rift Valley far away from the hot and humid coast.  In Mpeketoni which is a small place near Lamu (a popular tourist destination), the mortuary is very small and can only accomodate 3 people at a time. When 48 people were killed in the first attack and another 9-15 in the 2nd attack (I read different numbers), you can imagine that the small town was not able to accomodate the need.  Bodies were piled one on top of the other and unrefrigerated as the community. I have photos but they are too graphic to post. The hospital staff and others left behind were doing their best to cope with the tragedy but many government officials were immediately fired after the tragedy occurred and there didn't seem to be enough outside help for the first few days.

I wish all people were as innocent as these children at Lk. Elementaita

The papers reported that some government officials handed out funds on Thursday at the hospital though there was a discrepancy in the amounts provided to the bereaved. My friends had returned to the Rift Valley in the wee hours of that morning with their loved one.  Also several news reports stated that about 38 families had not yet claimed the bodies of their loved ones.

Many of the people who died had families in far away places. The cost of travelling, accomodation, eating, and transporting their loved ones, and making funeral arrangements was just too prohibitive for most people. They would have to wait for some kind of help from government or well wishes. In the meantime, the bodies were/are decomposing in the humidity and I read that the stench near the hospital was overpowering. These are very sad times for all affected. Then on top of it all, I read that just yesterday 5 more people were killed in the same general area after official statements that the area had been secured. It really makes you wonder what is going on.  The insecurity in the area is why I wanted to get my friends out of there as quickly as possible as their lives are not too secure when there is no one to protect them from harm and danger. At least at home they will have their kith and kin and know the lay of the land.  For the locals who remained behind, many of them moved into the bush.

I know some people don't believe that prayer will help the circumstances but I do. I pray for the country as a whole and for the many people I know.  I also pray for all those people who I do not know who need help. I ask any like minded people to pray with me.

Once my friends got home and laid their loved ones to rest, one of the sisters of the deceased had a heart attack and ended up in the hospital.  Her blood sugar reading was very high no doubt due to the terrible stress that she and all of her extended family had been under given the circumstances of her brother's tragic passing and their lack of funds. I'm happy to report that she is now she is stabilized and I believe has been able to return home.

In my own life things here at home I've had a lot to keep me busy as well.

I've been back to the eye specialist where the surgeon pronounced the eye surgery and recovery as "excellent". I told him I had been seeing a black dot in my left eye whenever I was fatigued. He dismissed it as a floater. I didn't bother to say more. I have had floaters before and they were a lot different than this one I have been seeing recently. I also notice that as long as I am keeping rested and don't over strain my eyes, the black dot doesn't pay a visit. So I will just try not to overly strain my eyes. I go for another eye check up in a year.

Before the weekend came around I went for a quick trip to see my mother.  We had only a few hours together but it was good to see her again.  We were also able to get in a lot of visiting and organizing (of her space).  I was very tired when I got home and haven't been able to do much around the house since then. I brought back a lot of mending for my mom so that is "staring at me",  lol.  I've also started putting together the next care package for her because I'll be going back to see her in a few weeks.  I need to accompany her to an appointment with a specialist.  Before I get to that I've got 5 parcels I need to organize and send off in the post.

On the road again

One of my cousin's who had her own very close call with death in February (prayer pulled her through a horrendous time) lives very far from me.  She is visiting her sister who lives just over an hour away from me. She contacted me and we will be getting together this weekend.  It will be so nice to see her as it is a true miracle that she is still on this earth.  She will also make a special visit to my mom also on the weekend.  This had been in her plans before she landed in hospital fighting for her own life.

A few days after my cousin leaves, another friend and I will get together for a barbeque at my home.  She is a new friend from Peru who absolutely loves it here in Vancouver.  We've met a few times and now I've invited her for dinner.  I'm looking forward to relaxing on the patio with her.  A few days after that I have a family visitor who will stay for a  week or more.  I have much to get organized before then and I need to get rested so I can enjoy my time with my niece. I always look forward to spending time with her.

Until I see you or read you next, take care and hug a loved one.

Updates on Prayer Request

The President of Kenya made a public announcement about the attacks on Kenyans in Mpeketoni, saying that they were politically motivated attacks; not Somalie terrorist activity as had been reported by media outlets.  For a multitude of reasons, many Kenyans were outraged by this statement.  Al-Quada had taken ownership of the attack and have made other attacks on Kenyans due to Kenya having sent it's army into Somalia in retaliation for pirate attacks on Kenyan tourists.  Some people say this is not the time to be playing politics and heightening tensions in the country between political factions.

From my perspective it matters not so much who instigated the attacks but whether the government is on top of the security issues and can protect it's people as well as it's visitors.   Ordinary Kenyans are frightened and tourists on which Kenyan's economy is quite dependent will stay away from the country if their security cannot be assured. I know these are trying times for the Government of Kenya and for the people of Kenya, so our prayers and support of the people are still very much needed.

The second aspect of the President's public statement was that the funeral arrangements would be taken care of by the government so that those who died could be laid to rest with dignity. At first blush this sounded like a God send.  However it has not been possible to ascertain where and when the promised help is going to be available.

Government officials in Mpeketoni seem to have been fired, the place is/was in chaos as far as police and government presence.  Funeral homes in the vicinity are over run with the business of burying the dead and they have no information for anyone needing to access Government assistance with final disposition of their loved ones remains.

I can't do much from afar but I even tried writing to larger funeral homes in Nairobi and tweeted questions on Twitter to try and learn how the bereaved could avail themselves of Government help.  One funeral home quoted me some astronomical fees ($ 2662.00 - $ 3636.00 Canadian just for the transfer of the body from the coast to the highlands. A lot more funds required for washing, embalming and coffin). I wrote them back and thanked them but said the cost was simply too high and out of reach for your average villager, and this foreigner.  They said that the high cost is based in part on being based in Nairobi.

My friends enquired of several other funeral homes by telephone and the fees for service were all prohibitive for me, let alone most Kenyans.  There was no response to my Twitter inquiries.

In the meantime my friends have been doing the best they can in Mpeketoni, going on faith and very little money.  It is hot and humid on the coast and so they have moved the body of their loved one to a mortuary where there is ice.  The remains need to be properly care for while they try to find out how to transfer the deceased back to their home community which is non-stop drive of 12 hours, from the coast to the highlands.

We are working on other solutions and my hope is that my friends will depart Mpeketoni today (Thursday) for the long journey home with their loved one. I'm hoping that later my friends can still receive the government assistance once the government agencies have a chance to get organized.  I read today that the government was now providing food and blankets to those affected by the tragedy in Mpeketoni.  New police officers had been installed to replace those that were fired for being derelict in their duties (the government's charge, not mine).

Your prayers are much appreciated and I thank whole heartedly all those who have already prayed and continue to pray. They are a true encouragement to the faithful. God bless you much and may God bless and keep Kenya.

Saturday ~ My friend's loved one was laid to rest today. At last the family can breathe a sigh of relief after the long saga endured since the terrorist attacks on the coast a week ago.  Please continue to pray for this family. The father of the deceased lost his wife not so very long ago also.  It is so much for one person to endure and he is reeling from his losses.

Please Pray

 Ephesians 6:18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints.

Dear friends,

Tragedy has struck in Kenya and touched the lives of my friends.

Some of you know that Somalian terrorist group Al-Shabab attacked upscale Westgate mall in Kenya  on September 21, 2013. Many were killed and more terrorized.

Then Sunday night Kenyan time, 48 people were killed in Mpeketoni near Lamu off the coast of Kenya.  One of those killed was my friend Jonah's cousin. Jonah is there now with family members to recover the body of the deceased and bring him home to Kericho for interrment.

Carnage outside Mpeketoni Police Station, Photo Credit: Daily Nation News (Kenya)

On Monday, terrorists killed another 15 people in a 2nd attack on the people of Mpeketoni.

May God protect the police and the innocent and bring additional security.

I ask you to pray with me for Jonah's safe return home and for the means to assist the family in the all costs involved with final resting preparations.

Please also pray for the safety and peace for the people of Kenya and for the Government of Kenya to get on top of the insecurity in the country.

I'm Tired

It's a little like wrestling a gorilla. 

You don't quit when you're tired - you quit when the gorilla is tired.

Robert Strauss

I didn't exactly plan to tidy up and declutter fabrics and craft items today. In fact, I had hoped to continue with the sorting of my papers from a few days ago as currently I've got them spread through the entire front room.

But you might remember that I told you I was given some free fabrics.  As I began washing and sorting the fabric to determine what to give to an elderly friend, I realized I needed to go through my yarns too.  That prompted me to sort through all the yarn I've got and re-arrange things. Then I started sorting through a  lot of my quilting fabrics and re-arranging them in different containers and areas of my home.  After that I sorted through the few crafting books and patterns I have and put them in an accessible wicker container.  I then went through all my crochet cotton and put them in another basket that I can easily access.

Altogether this took virtually all afternoon and evening in between a few phone calls, cooking, dishes, etc.  It poured rain early this morning and again late tonight.  In fact it is pouring heavily as I write this blog post and there were some claps of thunder and bolts of lightening which made me jump.  I'm so tired now  and it is very late but I need to put my feet up for awhile before I go to sleep.

I've got a little shopping buggy.  Like the one in the photo but with a different fabric cover.  I've filled it up with goodies for my friend (fabrics, yarns, pattern books, crochet cotton).  She is going to be getting different people to make things for a bazaar she is organizing to raise funds for her church.  This is my contribution to her cause.  I'm also donating a bunch of crocheted caps I made last winter for her to sell at the bazaar.  I made them to sell myself so I could raise funds for people in Kenya but I never got around to it.  I can always make more later. Right now my goal is to declutter and organize my small space for better efficiency.

In a wardrobe in my bedroom I have 2 more plastic tubs to go through.  These are filled patterns and seed beads.  These belonged to my mom who had a lot of crafting materials. I didn't want to throw them all away when she went into a care home.  Bit by bit I'm sorting through the things I brought home. I keep a few things and give away the rest. I still have a couple tubs of papers that belong to her that I brought to my home about 3 years ago.  I also have more tubs of books, cds, clothes and photos that are still in out-of-town-storage.  Most of the non-personal items will be given away but the photos I will have to go through and decide what to do with them.

But first I have to finish sorting my own things. That takes time.  My next step will be all the papers I have in a big wooden box and in bags currently strewn from end to end in my living area. Once this is done I will have accomplished a major task.  A lot of this paper was already sorted over time but I've got to go through it carefully, save a few pieces and destroy the rest.  Then I still have my file cabinet to go through.  I went through the file cabinet documents about 1 1/2 years ago and now it is mainly filled with this and that so much of it can go.  After this paper stuff is dealt with, the rest will be so much easier to keep on top of.

I can't wait because, my space will look and feel less cluttered and I'll have things more organized for crafting and other hobbies.  I'm hoping that my crafts will ultimately be put to good use and help Kenyan and local missions.

Monday the paperwork continues and perhaps on Tuesday too.  Then I will give myself a break for awhile.  I can only do decluttering for short periods of time.  At the same time, I like to make some real progress and feel like I've accomplished something when I'm doing work around the home.

  When one is tired it is always important to stop and smell the roses. I took these rose photos a few years ago.  I love roses in every colour, don't you?  

This week my way of smelling the roses will be to hopefully get to Spiderman 2 on Tuesday (cheap day) and I hope to get together with one or two friends for a chit chat over coffee.  If the rain let's up, I have some work to do in the garden.

I hope you have a lovely week.

A Frugal Week

Hi friends,

I hope you all had a great week. I have had a busy and productive one. It was a good week.

I started the week with making a baby quilt for my soon to be great-niece or nephew who will be born any day now. It is exciting awaiting the arrival of a new baby. The quilt was sent off in the post and arrived yesterday.  Since I did not purchase any new materials and had all the necessary fabric, thread and batting on hand, this was a very cost-effective gift.

Early in the week I visited a new to me university in the city. It is a small, private American university. I went there to ask questions and gather information for a friend of mine who is contemplating attending there. I was very impressed with what I learned and the fact that the university seems very responsive to real needs of students.  I do think though that the cost of tuition is a bit prohibitive.This little outing was very interesting for me and brought back my own excitement about being a student so long ago.  Other than the cost of the bus ride ($3.50 Canadian) it didn't cost me anything for the outing.

The night before my meeting at the university I received a coupon from  Michael's Craft store for 50% off a regular priced item.  I am adding large balls of yarn to my stash in different colours.  I don't need the yarn right away so I am going to buy 1 large ball of yarn every now and then.  The usual savings I would have on one regular priced item is 40% off.  This time it was 50% so I saved $6. (Canadian) off the total cost.  I also bought  6 small balls of cotton (at a savings of  $3.00). Altogether I saved $9. on yarns.  I'm hoping to make something different with the balls of cotton to be unveiled later if the project is a success. Normally I make cotton dishcloths and I really enjoy making them. Now and then though it is nice to make something different and add to my repertoire.

Yesterday I spent $14.30 (Canadian) on veggies, fruit and a small bag of pita bread (celery, carrots, romaine lettuce, mandarin oranges, bananas, pita bread).  The romaine was about $.50 off and the pita was only $.99 cents.  Though I am now trying to reduce my carb intake (no more bread baking, sigh), I haven't had a sugar spike when I make a veggie/pita (whole wheat) sandwich so now and then I buy the pita at this good price. At the supermarket it is about $2.50 for the same bag.

Today I purchased a few roma tomatoes ($1.49 per pound) and a small head of green cabbage ($.69 per pound) for an additional $5. (and a bit of change) spending on vegetables this week.  I haven't had any mandarin oranges since the winter and so I splurged to have for snacks.  Good thing the oranges are smaller ones.  I've also managed to find small bananas on my last few forays to the produce market. Having smaller oranges and bananas is a good thing because I have to watch the sugar intake.

I do use a lot of veggies and I like to have a variety of them each week. I also like to have a variety of fruits though bananas, oranges, apples, lemons and limes are the staples. It used to be that veggies and fruits were the least expensive things to buy in my neighbourhood.  But these days nothing is inexpensive.  I just try to scale back and buy those items that are not so expensive or are on sale in any given week.

An example of healthy soup made with fresh produce.

Last week in the produce store the zucchini was $1.59 a pound.  Today the same zucchini was $1.79 a pound.  I've noticed that since new owners took over at the neighbourhood produce store, a lot of the prices have increased considerably.  The quality however has gone down. A lot.  The new owner is now charging virtually the same prices as the chain supermarket across the street.  But the supermarket has much better produce.  For example, the small, shrivelled lemons on offer at the produce store were 3 lemons for $2.00 (Canadian).  The supermarket across the street has much bigger, fresher ones and you pay about $.89 each.  You couldn't get 3 for $2. but you can get 2 large and plump ones.

The other day my friend was shopping at the same produce store.  He felt he was overcharged so he got them to re-do the tally and discovered he was overcharged by $10! That is a significant over charge. They blamed it on the new cashier who was just learning the ropes.

Basically, it really pays to shop around.  It also pays to keep your eyes open for changing prices at your favourite stores. Don't be afraid to ask questions of the cashier and to put things back if you find the prices are too high.  At the larger supermarkets I always try to watch the cash register and have saved myself a lot of money this way.  Often the inventory being scanned has not been reduced in the system so if you don't catch it you may be significantly out of pocket.  If you know the prices you can always tell when you are paying too much. I speak up immediately (before I leave the store) and have the problem corrected before I leave.  This saves me a trip back to the store to sort things out later.

I save all bottles and containers that have a recycle fee attached. Whene I have a shopping bag full of bottles and cans, I take them to the supermarket for a refund.  They limit the amount of recyclables they take at any one time but it works for me since I can't have too many piling up in my small kitchen before they need to be returned for the deposit.  Usually the amount I get back for a full bag is around $1.40 Canadian and this week was no exception. I'm given a chit for the refund which I can then cash out when I go to the check out counter.

This week I also made $2. on a scratch ticket sent to me for my birthday.  This is like found money since I didn't have to do anything to get it but scratch the numbers.

I was also able to save several dollars on a donation of airtime to a Kenyan friend. Sending money to foreign countries can be costly, especially when multiplied many times over the course of a year. I never know when there will be a discount off the fees but when they do happen, I try to take advantage of them.

When I went to the pharmacy last night to pick up my medication I did some browsing around the store to see if anything I needed was on sale.   Just before I was going to pay for the items I checked my email and discovered that I could use a coupon that would earn me 16,000 (a  monetary value of about $20.).  I collect points so I can buy staples such as toilet paper, eggs, milk, butter and coffee and whatever else I may need.  What do you think I did?  I mentioned it to the pharmacist that I had points if I waited until Saturday and and she kindly offered to have someone put back everything I had taken off the shelves. I said I would be back Saturday. I did go back and I ended up earning 34,000 (16,000 of them I will get in a few weeks). That is like a dollar value of around $55. and will come in handy for use later.

Have you ever used Freecycle?  You can post offers to get rid of your no longer needed items or you can post want ads.  I usually post things to give away but a few weeks ago I responded to a give away for a bunch of unused fabric. The lady who was giving away the fabric kindly brought it to my home today because she had given me the wrong address when I went to her home just over a week ago. She is moving so she is working hard to declutter.

I'm keeping the larger pieces at the front of the photo. The other two piles will go to my friend.

I was able to sort through all the fabric today and decided I will only keep the largest pieces of muslin. I intend to give the coloured cotton and smaller pieces of unbleached cotton, to a friend of mine.  She's told me she will be organizing a bazaar to be held in the Fall just in time for Christmas gift buying. I told her I would donate a lot of yarn for her other friends to make things to sell and also give her some things I've made. I know she would like to make some quilts too that's why I want to give her the fabric but if she changes her mind I will donate the fabric to the thrift store.

I unearthed these quilt pieces this week while I was sorting a few things.  I should sew them together soon.

Besides sorting through my fabrics and seeing what fabric I could keep of the  new stash, I've been sorting through papers. This is one of my least favourite jobs.  But it saves money for it keeps you home when you could be out spending. It also helps to go through old bills and statements to compare expenses over the past year before you through things out. It helps to see where you can tighten up spending.  A lot of companies now charge a few extra dollars a month to receive a paper bill. I really detest that because I prefer paper bills which I can sit and compare with other paper bills over time. I've just discovered that my telephone provider is increasing fees by $2. a month and another $2. a month for paper bills.  Now I will have to call and make sure I  get invoices by email.  I also need to see where I can shave costs from the communications bundle I already use to save costs on internet, telephone and television. I was overcharged for some television costs so I need to deal with that too and have a few other things to discuss with them. By the time I am done I may find it cheaper to move my telephone service but I try to avoid making service provider changes if I can get some good service from customer service representatives and save a few dollars here and there.

I'm a paper keeper.  I keep all kinds of receipts, statements and documents. Problem is I don't have time to keep it all sorted. Slowly I am getting to that point. I'm working on a system that will work for me and still allow me to get rid of much of the paper I've been keeping for far too long.  It is a long process. Once I'm finished with the paper clutter, there are still many photos, books and crafting items to reduce. For the latter I like to try and use up as much of my craft items as possible and then see what I no longer want or need before donating it. It is also a source of pleasure and relaxation but only to a point. If there is too much clutter it is no longer relaxing and it has been at that point for some time.
 

All in all I had a frugal week. 

Every little bit of savings day after day and week after week does add up.

Whatever I'm able to save helps me to help Elvis (see right side bar) and others in Kenya.

What was your best frugal practice for the week?
What do you do with your savings?