And I take on one more project

I am sure that this comes as yet another surprise, but I haven’t accomplished much since my last post. I am still taking it a day at a time.

Besides the usual mess which I have hanging over my head, my daughter is bound and determined to drag me into her escapades. As you hopefully know, we went to Africa together the first of May. I came home after a very short two weeks, while Val stayed behind. Her plan had always been to stay in Kenya for three months and start her own NGO (non-government organization).

NGOs are privately-run charitable groups that do all kinds of stuff all over the third world. Here in America we usually think of these groups as non-profit organizations. Non-profits in this country take on a whole wide range of things from helping the needy to supporting the arts to saving the trees.

Val wants her simple little NGO to work with MarafikiCommunity to improve the lives of displaced persons, as well as orphans and widows in Kenya. Anybody anywhere can throw together an NGO. The hassle lies in forming a non-profit in the US, one which has tax-exempt status, so that when these kind-hearted Americans give money they can deduct it off their taxes. I don’t know that the tax deduction is as big a deal as being able to say that we have our act together enough to qualify for that status. You know what I mean? When I donate my time and money to something, I want to know that it is legitimate. And I suppose that is why here in the US, the government makes us jump through all these hoops to prove it. (And I will not say anything more than that about our government. I don’t know who reads my posts and I rather not be put on the no-fly list.) 

So besides all of that mess, here is what else I have to work on:

1)      My novel

2)      My presentation at work on June 14 about my trip to Kenya

3)      Planting my garden

4)      Working my way up to running a 5K. I did run one full mile tonight, with only two small breaks of walking. Yippee! Maybe I can do this. The registration for the run on July 4 is in this week’s paper, I better decide pretty soon.  

5)      My presentation on writing a memoir for a writers conference August 3

6)      My presentation on publishing a book for a writers conference August 19

Hmm? Nothing to it, right?

If anyone has any experience establishing a non-profit

 I would love to hear from you. 

Could I possibly still have jet lag?

Surprise! Here I finally am. I have been home from Africa for a week and just today I started feeling like writing. What a slacker I am.

Here are the goals I still had hanging out there when I last posted.

By April 30           - Have worked up to running a full mile to see if I can do it.

May 5 – 19          - Gone to Africa.

By May 26           - Have gotten the garden ready to plant.

By May 31           - Have run 3 miles to know if I will ever be able to run a 5K.

By June 1             - Have planted the garden.

June 8                   - Attend the concert in Minnesota with my friend Phyllis.

By June 10           - Have made plans for our vacation in September (Wow, that sounds like a long ways away).

July 4                     - If I haven’t run a 5K yet anywhere else, I will run in the one here in town on the Fourth of July.

Hmm? Can’t say that any of these things are taking shape. For starters I am not even close to walking three miles, much less running them. And though my garden is tilled, I haven’t done much except walk past it on occasion. I did however tonight come up with some vacation options to present to my husband.

I don’t see much writing on this list though. I think that I need to get after those goals by mid-week. I’m off tomorrow, so maybe I just plain need to sit down and do that, once I get the house work done.

And please remember to check my other blog for stories of my trip to Kenya. Those posts are as slow in coming as this post has been. 

The plane which took off out of Amsterdam just before ours.