Who needs IKEA?!

Today we started our renovations in full force. A kindly neighbor came along first thing this morning and asked, "What shall I do?" and we kept him busy all day. It's SO nice to have handy people around! The first task I asked him to do was to make a closet for me. Between a bookshelf that I scavenged from the old store room and some scrap wood that was lying around, I have a complete built in closet set up! I'm pretty impressed with it, thanks to my Mennonite neighbor Rob. Who needs Ikea when we have someone like Rob around?

We did lots of painting, and Jackie and I took a trip over to Victor's store. The guys in there treated me like I was their long lost sister - handshakes all around! I don't think they get too many white women in there looking for hardware! We got some funky stretchy string to put up some curtains with, some more paint, a mirror and some other bits and pieces. Things are really starting to shape up in there! We repainted the bathroom, as well as the kitchen cabinets. Here's the bilingual education coordinator hard at work. I think we found the only shower curtain in town, and it just happens to be blue, to match the blue paint that they sell for bathrooms! Like I said, they don't have much choice in color, but at least they bring in the shower curtains to match the only color of paint that they have :)
I also painted a wall in my room, which is a very odd wall, but it sure does look nice now. I also have a bit of a splash of color, as I painted another odd bit of wood in my room the same blue of the bookshelf, which is also the same blue as the bathroom! At least everything is co-ordinated! Wes looked at me like I was nuts when I started painting this big blue rectangle on my wall... but Jackie and I think it's quite artistic, actually.

We also got some curtains hung - we have yet to go to the market to get the cloth that I want - for the time being we're just using the cast-off curtains from the guesthouse. They fit perfectly, and will do until we're able to go to the market and borrow a sewing machine. But I'm sure it will be easy to find fabric to match the blue.

It was really quite a lot of fun getting everything all scrubbed and painted and looking pretty. I'm really looking forward to getting our stuff and getting moved in. We still haven't seen the truck that's coming up with our stuff... we expected it yesterday or today... but it's nearing 10:30pm, so I doubt it will come today. Knowing our luck with the delivery of stuff, it will come just as we're sitting down in the compound for our church service tomorrow evening... oh well, at least that means we might have a few extra hands to unload!

I just turned off the generator, and all of the little bugs are now very attracted to my computer screen... which means it's time to shut it down and snuggle under my sheet... except without any fan, it's going to be a bit of a warm night. There's not a breath of air moving!