"Home Sweet Home"

I came back to Moroto with some goodies to spruce up the place a bit. Oh shoot, forgot to take a picture of my solar outdoor lights. Will do later! Also I never really took pictures of my furniture once it arrived back in January. I have completely caved and hired my cleaning lady to come twice a week. With all the field work we have right now (5 straight weeks) there is just no time to keep the place dust/bug "free", the dishes washed, and groceries from the market. The neighbors let me in on their secret to always having fresh veggies and fruits around--they pay their cleaning lady to go to the market as well! Of course! So, alas, I no longer do a damn thing domestic except cook and boil bathing water :) No complaints from me! So, the place looks pristine b/c Regina had just left.

New red floors greeted me when I returned! Gone is the cement look :) It actually makes a big difference. 

Hakuna Matata batik from Zanzibar, table and living room set from Kampala. Those green chairs actually don't stay there. . . I put them by the big table or outside. You can't see the inverter hidden under the couch, but this was a   "gift" from the military guys up here (ok they had an extra no one was using and so someone snuck it out for me . . . let's hope nobody notices it is missing!!). An inverter is a novel device that reduces the amount of energy from Uganda watts? to US devices.  You can see I don't quite understand the technicalities- but let's put it this way, I can plug in my hair dryer and straightener now!! Enough said! :)

Hot pink striped tablecloth, with purple baskets for jewelry and junk, and the picture wall brought back from home-- for $34 I had photos blown up and laminated. Then I velcro'd those to the wall. Makes me happy seeing these faces. My paint supplies are still in the bag on the floor- but hopefully if I get the energy I can help Saul paint two walls in the house today. That's the goal! 

Soft lighting . . . huge difference! This is my floor lamp from Kampala

And the ceiling light. I need to get a new softer bulb, the current one is blown out. I swear its the third time the landlord replaced it. It gets on my last nerve!!! The bulb next to it is my solar light bulb, which I use nightly now and it's decent- but def. has the glow of a bug lamp.

Water jug planters with hot pink flowers and green leaves  aside my fancy Welcome mat sold by a young boy. Had to go with the red (according to his sales pitch!) :)

Upgraded bed since November. Mattress is about 6 inches short, but it's all good.  Improvised a better hanging ribbon from a care package from a friend. Hopefully this wall will be a nice shade of green or a pinkish color (ok, the choices weren't great!) soon.

Bedroom light- have the same one in the kitchen. Again, you get the idea- solar on right, town power with lamp.

Really not feeling the investment in more furniture! Maybe a bed side table, but for now, my stuff sacks and the clothes on hangars works OK. I mean, I detest it, but not enough to divert funds from my savings plan :) So, for now, The suitcase holds underwear, socks, bras, PJs, workout clothes and long sleeve shirts- and everything else is on the wall or in a stuff sack!

For the kitchen! I swore I bought 2 of these shower curtains,  mom- have you seen one around? Or rach- did I leave one in FL? Anyways, the one works great- turns out is the perfect height and matches the red floors that I returned to! It makes things quite a lot darker in the kitchen, but the dust is reduced and the privacy is great. Plus- it's pretty. I wish I had two so it wouldn't be so taut - but overall it does the trick!

Had to have my Anthropologie touch :) I brought back 4 candles from Anthro for people up here, and was not happy to hear from the boy who painted my floors that he accidentally shattered my anthro candle. So, at least I have this :)

Last week was spent dealing with the stove. The hose connecting to the gas tank was catching fire! Scary!!!  The hose doesn't quite fit onto the stove, and it was the driver who helped me set it up back in October. I really hate knowing there are some things I just can't really do on my own- like put the clamp on this hose to make it fit, fix a stapler, or problem solve why my new speakers/and computer charger got fried from one of my wall sockets.  All things I had to admit last week :)

This is the most functional piece of furniture in the house. Brought it back from Kampala. It has a butcher block top. I have covered it with tupperwares! The window has some decorations made by my cleaning gal. I didn't want to offend her and not put them up- at first she had them in the living room, but with the wind it kept blowing down, so I tucked them into this window :)

Getting a bit too full, but again, don't feel like paying for more stuff! When I got back with oodles of food, and then came home to a few care packages, I needed to stock up on more tupperware bins in town. So many bins!! 

My attempt to ward off bugs/mainly ants! Water moat bowls :)

And last but not least, the world's cutest giraffe painting from Zanzibar. I am a sucker for his blue ears and feet :)