What's Up in My World

It was a real treat to go to a restaurant on Monday night. I had so many errands to run and I didn't want to make a late dinner so I opted to go to a local Vietnamese restaurant. 

This dinner consists of pork brochette, roll dip, crepes and fried rice and though it was a tad over done it was still very delicious. (Click on each photo to enlarge).

I also made a library run. I picked up these three books which came up early on my hold request. I'm still working on 2 other books. I hope I can finish them all before someone else makes a request for them. That's always the challenge with popular books.

While at the library I took notice of their digital language services. Some day I've got to investigate further and use the service. 

Likewise with these free creative lessons also on digital offer. 

I haven't done anything crafty for awhile so I started this doily.  I love making doilies and have missed doing so. 

I've also been using the Instant Pot for cooking dinner these days. It keeps flavor in and makes cooking so much easier. 

Pot roast, cabbage, carrots, onion and potatoes with gravy.

Chicken (cooked in IP) served with roasted fries topped with chili, green salad.

I think I mentioned before that I try to follow the Fly Lady house cleaning routine system.  I've never been one who liked a lot of structure and routines but I found that with everything I want to get done, I needed more structure to my days.  The daily and weekly routines keep me fairly busy.  At the same time I'm also downsizing, decluttering, redecorating, bringing paperwork up to date, enjoying hobbies, working on Kenyan missions, following through with all the doctors appointments and doing all the things that arise with daily household and family life.

 

I've also started Christmas preparations slowly but surely. Last week I prepared most of my Christmas cards, printed recipes to include with some of the cards, made frequent trips to the post office to pick up parcels and send mail, purchased some artificial flowers for my yet to be made holiday bouquet.  I've also been scouring the on line shops for the last few gifts I want to send to loved ones and friends.  Hopefully I'll be done with all but three cards and gifts by the end of November.

With all these activities I can honestly say I'm never bored. I just wish I could accomplish things a lot more quickly than I seem to do.  But slow progress is better than no progress. 

How about you dear reader?  What is keeping you busy these days? Have you started Christmas preparations? Do you have a lot to do? 

I don't really have a lot to do to get ready for Christmas. I could get by with preparing a simple meal and putting up  minimal decorations. However, I like to reach out to others at Christmas and try to make a bit of an effort at the holiday.  After all they only happen once a year.  This means remembering people with cards and notes and often making hand made gifts if time permits, otherwise I look to buy something suitable.  Some years I give fewer gifts than other years.  A lot of that depends on what my loved ones need or what they may be going through.  Much of the time most of us in the family really don't need more things when we already have so much compared to those in the Kenyan villages where I've seen first hand the suffering and the hardships.  There is a great need for even the most basic of things (food, medicine, education, books, pens and so on).  One year I was fortunate enough to be in Kenya during Christmas month and I enjoyed visiting several villages and taking basic food supplies to many widows and orphans.

 

I would love to do a bit more baking at Christmas but I don't like to bake if I don't have more people to share it with so the past few years I've only made Christmas bark because we always eat chocolate and nuts. Since the pandemic began I have only visited with 5 people:  my nephew and his girlfriend (we visited outside in the park), my brother and his wife (we had dinner at a restaurant) and one friend (we've met for coffee a few times which we usually drink outside the coffee shop).  Of course I've mingled with others at the post office, the pharmacy and the grocery store but my world has become very small and I take all the precautions.  I have been fully vaccinated and all of my contacts have been fully vaccinated too. I'm due for a booster shot early in December.

Last but not least, I want to mention that I've put a new Pay Pal link on the blog for those that are able to donate to Kenyan missions. Perhaps some of you are thinking of a Christmas gift to the missions. It will be a huge blessing to those in Kenya who have no social safety net. You simply need to click the red flower on the side bar and it will take you to the right place. My friend Jo says to tell everyone that "it's dead easy!" Thank so much for your consideration.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American readers 🦃🦃🦃🙏🙏🙏

and 

Happy Season of Christmas preparations to all. 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄

Update on Janet's Business

Hi friends and fellow bloggers,

I said in an earlier post that I would be updating the work we are doing with Janet in Kenya to give a progress update on the business she is trying to establish.

Here is a photo of the shop we rented. There is a shop/store on one side and her home on the other side. 

Janet at her new shop.

So far we have paid 2 months rent, a bit of food, a new, inexpensive telephone with camera and stock for the store. By far the most expensive thing is stock.

For now Janet is selling maize (corn) that she grew on the family farm before her brother chased her away. She was able to gain access to the maize. Other than that she has stocked the shop with all kinds of hair pieces and yarn for hair weaving. My apologies for the quality of the photos but Janet and her daughters never had a phone of their own so they are new to taking smart phone photos.  The phone is also quite inexpensive so the camera quality is not that high.

 

It took awhile to get everything set up because the space had to be readied for display, someone in a larger city had to purchase the stock and send it to her because it cost too much for her to travel there and back.  It takes all day to travel to the supplier and back and one has to pay for transport for 2 people to be able to carry the stock and food and sundries.  It also took awhile to buy the phone, have it shipped to her and time for her to pick up the phone, charge it up and figure out how it functions.

 

This is the supplier in Nakuru, Kenya

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The store needs more stock.  The potential customers are asking for hair products she doesn't have yet. Some of these items are pictured below.  The products like oils and conditioners are more expensive, particularly if she is going to have enough stock on hand for sale. If the funds allow she could also diversify and sell some daily essentials which people need in the village.  Things that won't go bad due to lack of refrigeration.

I will send another month or two of rent by the end of this month.  At end of January I will send another two months rent.  This is so Janet can have some breathing space while she tries to get her business off the ground and save enough to pay rent, food and stock.

If you are touched to help Janet for Christmas, we would appreciate any contributions toward buying more stock so she can accelerate sales. If you have any questions, please let me know. I hope to have related updates in the near future about both Janet and several other Kenyans we are helping.  But this update is priority.  

The Pay Pal link button is located on the right side bar. Simply click on the photo of the flowers or you can scan the QR code if you have the app. I can't actually advise on using the QR code so let me know if you need something specific. My email can be found at my profile page.If you really want to help but you feel your donation is too small please know that even $20 US dollars goes a very long way toward paying a month's rent (half), buying basic food for Janet and her 4 daughters for 2 weeks or helps to fill the store shelves.

Thank you so much for your visit and your consideration.