The Slow Death

So as not to make ourselves crazy this last week in India, we have been intentional to pace ourselves with the packing.  Because it's more than just packing up every item in our home.  We are so grateful that our company will pay for us to ship a container of furniture and personal items home, it is such a blessing.  But we are restricted to the amount of space we can fill up!  We have more stuff than is allowed, so we're shedding.  Some of our stuff is being donated, others sold.  So the house is dying a slow death.

Last week, we had a "garage sale."  Maybe it was the first one ever in Jaipur. : )


The kids made strawberry Lemonade and plain lemonade and sold it to the guests! :)  


We laid out all our unwanted items on table cloths on our terrace for others to come and take home.  It was a lot of work, but a lot of things left that day.  We are blessed to have sold all our larger items, furniture, and appliances very quickly and easily.  They are all getting moved out slowly, one or two things at a time.  Each day, our house "dies" a little more.


Meanwhile, I have been shopping. :)  I love to shop in Jaipur.  There are so many beautiful handicrafts in Rajasthan, and they are so affordable here, that when I go shop, I can usually actually buy some things!  It's so easy to change the table cloth, or bed covers and curtains, because it may cost me $30 to do a bedroom makeover!  I'm definitely going to miss that, so I've been going around collecting special things.

I had my rugs cleaned and repaired, and did a little shopping while I was there.  Most of these rugs are less than $100! I got a small 3x6 entry or hall way rug for about $10.

This man is carving my custom designed block!

One of my favorite things about Jaipur is the block printing.  It's amazing to see block carvers actually making the wooden blocks, and even more amazing to see those block turn into beautiful patterns and prints on paper and fabric.  Last year, I was privileged to work with a block maker for our stationery.  Since I had the relationship, I had this vision one day of him making me a giant letter "P" with henna designs inside, as a display keepsake from Rajasthan.  Well, I did it, and I LOVE how it turned out! 

I've really enjoyed my last rounds of shopping in Jaipur.  That's going to be one of the things I miss the most.  India has changed me in a lot of ways... I always hated shopping in the US, but I have grown to LOVE shopping here, and will just miss my shopping days in Jaipur so much!

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