What do you wear with a monochrome dress?
Red of course!
And your favourite shoes.
Pretty in pink
Hope everyone had a lovely day insh'Allah.
Wednesday, 31 August 2011
Eid ul-Fitr 2011/1432 - Treats, Bling and Henna
Hope everyone had a lovely day insh'Allah.
Tuesday, 30 August 2011
Eid ul-Fitr 2011/1432 - Eid Night Preparations
Despite various attempts to put her off till tomorrow, little lady followed me around all evening insisting I henna her hands. She finally managed to nail me hours past her bedtime with "When are you going to do my henna?"
Oh, there was also one more cleanup after the kids had gone to bed, a few hours in the kitchen and a great pile-up of ironing, but that wasn't glamorous enough to warrant a picture.
Can't wait to see the kids reactions in the morning to the balloons and decorations insh'Allah or for my extended family to visit.
My local masjid has announced Eid whereas unfortunately my Dad's local masjid which is ten minutes further away have decided not to celebrate Eid tomorrow, which means I will have to wait a day to go and see my mum and sisters (although I have asked them to come to dinner tomorrow - they can't say their Eid hasn't started yet then!). Little Lady is rather cross that her beloved grandparents won't be celebrating in the morning with her - Idecided to refrain from explaining moonsightings and theological differences to her and told her to ask her granddad (not passing the buck or anything...).
Oh, there was also one more cleanup after the kids had gone to bed, a few hours in the kitchen and a great pile-up of ironing, but that wasn't glamorous enough to warrant a picture.
Can't wait to see the kids reactions in the morning to the balloons and decorations insh'Allah or for my extended family to visit.
My local masjid has announced Eid whereas unfortunately my Dad's local masjid which is ten minutes further away have decided not to celebrate Eid tomorrow, which means I will have to wait a day to go and see my mum and sisters (although I have asked them to come to dinner tomorrow - they can't say their Eid hasn't started yet then!). Little Lady is rather cross that her beloved grandparents won't be celebrating in the morning with her - Idecided to refrain from explaining moonsightings and theological differences to her and told her to ask her granddad (not passing the buck or anything...).
EID MUBARAK EVERYONE!!
Monday, 29 August 2011
Eid ul-Fitr 2011/1432 - Eid Banners
I managed to sneak in some time today between grocery shopping, freezing kebabs and marinating chicken legs to make some Eid banners/bunting.
The hardest bit is always getting the triangles for the banners right. It took me a few attempts and lots of wrong pencil lines to figure it out.
Little Lady helped to choose colours and decorations for the lettering. The lettering is usually a bit of work, but I found some good-sized glittery letters at Poundland this year. The card used for the triangles is from DCWV's Blossoms & Butterflies Paperstack. T e embellishments were whaterver the two of us could lay our hands on: gem body tattoos, craft gems, chipboard pieces and die-cut shapes (apologies to non-crafters, this must sound like another language).
Right, I'm off to prepare our last iftaar before I get a head-start on the Eid meal for tomorrow - Hubby called and said Eid would be tomorrow, much to the kids jubilation - and mine. Hopefully hubby will get a moment to whisk me off outside to celebrate chand raaat (explanation of chand raat here). It is absolutely crazy outside on the main road nera our house with shoppers packing the streets, henna stalls and jewellery stalls along the road and everything expected to be open to the early hours tonight.
The hardest bit is always getting the triangles for the banners right. It took me a few attempts and lots of wrong pencil lines to figure it out.
Little Lady helped to choose colours and decorations for the lettering. The lettering is usually a bit of work, but I found some good-sized glittery letters at Poundland this year. The card used for the triangles is from DCWV's Blossoms & Butterflies Paperstack. T e embellishments were whaterver the two of us could lay our hands on: gem body tattoos, craft gems, chipboard pieces and die-cut shapes (apologies to non-crafters, this must sound like another language).
Right, I'm off to prepare our last iftaar before I get a head-start on the Eid meal for tomorrow - Hubby called and said Eid would be tomorrow, much to the kids jubilation - and mine. Hopefully hubby will get a moment to whisk me off outside to celebrate chand raaat (explanation of chand raat here). It is absolutely crazy outside on the main road nera our house with shoppers packing the streets, henna stalls and jewellery stalls along the road and everything expected to be open to the early hours tonight.
Sneak Preview
Obviously I had nothing better to do at 5am in the morning and I like making unnecessary work for myself, so I decide to wrap the girls (Kooks, Fashionista Sister, Shutterbug Sister and my Sis-in-law) presents.
We love exchanging presents on Eid and trying to work out what each other might want (a previous years e-mail exchange here, believe me, this years was even more stupid).
Although actually, there's no guarantee these aren't all full of stones. You know I would don't you girls?
We love exchanging presents on Eid and trying to work out what each other might want (a previous years e-mail exchange here, believe me, this years was even more stupid).
Although actually, there's no guarantee these aren't all full of stones. You know I would don't you girls?
Sunday, 28 August 2011
Gratitude Journal 28.06.11 - Little Girls and Eid Prep
Little Lady is not very well at the moment, but that has not stopped us from taking very short trips out to buy her shoes and bangles to go with the lovely Eid outfit her grandmother brought her from Pakistan. A nice little ritual that the two of us share in the run-up to every Eid, usually leaving the boys at home for a chnage.
She must have watched me often enough, because she laid her stuff out and took this picture.
The kids have been asking me for circa two and a half months "how many days to Eid now?", and in the last month they have been asking me every few hours. I have banned them from asking me more than once in a day telling them the answer has not changed in two hours. I love their excitement though mash'Allah.
One or two more days to go till Ramadan ends and as ever I feel I could have done more to make the most of this month (I might have done more if I wasn't moving sand around the garden). Insh'Allah may Allah accept what each Muslim has attempted for His pleasure this month - the hunger and thirst, working as normal through long hot days, the sharing of meals at iftar (fast breaking), the long nights of prayer, the broken sleep, the paying of zakat (alms) and the increase in sadaqah (charity).
How do you explain to someone who is not Muslim, who can only sees the challenges of this month, the sweetness of this month? The sense of brotherhood that increases amongst us and the sense of satisfaction at the end of each day and the benefits the discipline of this month brings in out lives? You would never guess we are sad to be coming to the end of it would you?
"Oh you who believe! Fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you, that you many learn piety and rightousness" (Qur'an, 2:183)
Narrated Abu Huraira(r.a): The Prophet (PBUH) said:"... whoever fasts during Ramadan out of sincere faith and hoping to attain Allah's rewards, then all his past sins will be forgiven." (Sahih Al-Bukhari).
Narrated Abu Huraira(r.a): The Prophet (PBUH) said: "Allah the Majestic and Exalted said: "Every deed of man will receive ten to 700 times reward, except Siyam (fasting), for it is for Me and I shall reward it (as I like). There are two occasions of joy for one who fasts: one when he breaks the fast and the other when he will meet his Lord" (Sahih Al-Muslim).
She must have watched me often enough, because she laid her stuff out and took this picture.
The kids have been asking me for circa two and a half months "how many days to Eid now?", and in the last month they have been asking me every few hours. I have banned them from asking me more than once in a day telling them the answer has not changed in two hours. I love their excitement though mash'Allah.
One or two more days to go till Ramadan ends and as ever I feel I could have done more to make the most of this month (I might have done more if I wasn't moving sand around the garden). Insh'Allah may Allah accept what each Muslim has attempted for His pleasure this month - the hunger and thirst, working as normal through long hot days, the sharing of meals at iftar (fast breaking), the long nights of prayer, the broken sleep, the paying of zakat (alms) and the increase in sadaqah (charity).
How do you explain to someone who is not Muslim, who can only sees the challenges of this month, the sweetness of this month? The sense of brotherhood that increases amongst us and the sense of satisfaction at the end of each day and the benefits the discipline of this month brings in out lives? You would never guess we are sad to be coming to the end of it would you?
"Oh you who believe! Fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you, that you many learn piety and rightousness" (Qur'an, 2:183)
Narrated Abu Huraira(r.a): The Prophet (PBUH) said:"... whoever fasts during Ramadan out of sincere faith and hoping to attain Allah's rewards, then all his past sins will be forgiven." (Sahih Al-Bukhari).
Narrated Abu Huraira(r.a): The Prophet (PBUH) said: "Allah the Majestic and Exalted said: "Every deed of man will receive ten to 700 times reward, except Siyam (fasting), for it is for Me and I shall reward it (as I like). There are two occasions of joy for one who fasts: one when he breaks the fast and the other when he will meet his Lord" (Sahih Al-Muslim).
Sandpits and Timeouts
I do try to be a positive, patient parent, but there are days...
I woke yesterday morning to peace in the house and immediately thought "What are they all doing?". I found them in the garden, with an impromptu sandpit they had built using a bag of sand their dad had left in a corner of the garden. "We're building sandcastles at the beach" declared Little Man, Gorgeous and my friends little boy who is staying, both in attendance.
My first thought was how cute! What a good idea. My second was, who was going to clear this mess up. I asked them to brush the sand together and put it back in the bag. BAD IDEA. Next time I looked the sand had gone from sitting in a little pile to being spread around the whole garden, in the downstairs bathroom, through the kitchen, the living room and on the living room rug. I was furious.
Not only had they spread the stuff, they had had the bright idea of trying to wash it way (where did they think the water would go?). So the whole garden was full of yellow slush and yellow puddles. They even managed to make a big puddle in the neighbours garden, I'm still waiting for them to come round and complain.
I marched them upstairs, gave them all showers and ordered them to take a nap, muttering threats about cancelling Eid and keeping them in timeout for the rest of the holidays. Sounds mean, but it took me over an hour to try and clean the mess and the garden still looks the same. So I had to lock the garden to stop people bringing more sand in and put my laundry out indoors on a sunny day.
It took another hour to mop the bathroom, kitchen and living room and try to hoover some of the sand off the rug. I have to say, mindless physical labour is excellent for working a temper off.
They were angels for the rest of the day, being given "the look" by me at every opportunity, finishing their dinner and going to bed quietly. I might have a re-think about cancelling Eid, but I might not tell them that yet. This cross-about-the-garden situation, might still have some leverage for a few days.
I woke yesterday morning to peace in the house and immediately thought "What are they all doing?". I found them in the garden, with an impromptu sandpit they had built using a bag of sand their dad had left in a corner of the garden. "We're building sandcastles at the beach" declared Little Man, Gorgeous and my friends little boy who is staying, both in attendance.
My first thought was how cute! What a good idea. My second was, who was going to clear this mess up. I asked them to brush the sand together and put it back in the bag. BAD IDEA. Next time I looked the sand had gone from sitting in a little pile to being spread around the whole garden, in the downstairs bathroom, through the kitchen, the living room and on the living room rug. I was furious.
Not only had they spread the stuff, they had had the bright idea of trying to wash it way (where did they think the water would go?). So the whole garden was full of yellow slush and yellow puddles. They even managed to make a big puddle in the neighbours garden, I'm still waiting for them to come round and complain.
I marched them upstairs, gave them all showers and ordered them to take a nap, muttering threats about cancelling Eid and keeping them in timeout for the rest of the holidays. Sounds mean, but it took me over an hour to try and clean the mess and the garden still looks the same. So I had to lock the garden to stop people bringing more sand in and put my laundry out indoors on a sunny day.
It took another hour to mop the bathroom, kitchen and living room and try to hoover some of the sand off the rug. I have to say, mindless physical labour is excellent for working a temper off.
They were angels for the rest of the day, being given "the look" by me at every opportunity, finishing their dinner and going to bed quietly. I might have a re-think about cancelling Eid, but I might not tell them that yet. This cross-about-the-garden situation, might still have some leverage for a few days.
Friday, 26 August 2011
Gratitude Journal 26.08.11 - A Hearty Breakfast for the Boys
There is one food I crave but don't eat more than two or three times a year - a good old fashioned paratha. A friend has left her little boy with us for a few days and I decided to make the three boys parathas for breakfast. I find a good solid breakfast leads to less whiny, quarrelsome kids (I'm not surprised, a full stomach makes me feel contented too).
These are (were!) sqaure "chakor" or basket paratha's with a layer of ghee between every layer of dough so that the finished paratha is flaky, almost like puff pastry.
These are one of the few foods that I don't mind the kids leaving me leftovers to consume. I think I might indulge and make myself one for suhoor (breakfast before fasting) tomorrow insh'Allah - will certainly keep me going all day.
Little Lady in the meantime is poorly and not eating paratha's. I'm off to drop her at her nans for some tlc, please remember her and her very poorly grandmother (my mum-in-law) in your duas.
Tuesday, 23 August 2011
Eid Cards 2011 and Some Inspiration
I haven't been able to blog as much as I would like to this Ramadan, despite my best intentions to write up some recipes, journal my healthy eating Ramadan journey and post some Ramadan links (although I might just sneak in this kids Ramadan crafts one I really liked).
But sometimes, you find some inspiration that just gets you going. In my case it was this lovely little card sent by a dear Sister:
It certainly got me going and I put together the easiest, quickest cards I could in the little time I had:
The boys thoroughly enjoyed helping me to pack the cards and gifts for friends and family (anything to keep them busy in this rainy weather!)
But sometimes, you find some inspiration that just gets you going. In my case it was this lovely little card sent by a dear Sister:
It certainly got me going and I put together the easiest, quickest cards I could in the little time I had:
The boys thoroughly enjoyed helping me to pack the cards and gifts for friends and family (anything to keep them busy in this rainy weather!)
Thursday, 18 August 2011
InCulture Parent: Children’s Experience of Ramadan
My latest column for InCulture Parent has now been published: Children’s Experience of Ramadan describes the way children sometimes experience Ramadan and what it means for them:
"In Ramadan, a family and community’s routines are completely changed. Breakfast in the dawn hours becomes a source of mystery to children who wake up to fasting parents. Lunch becomes a children only affair, and the breaking of the fast in the evening is looked forward to with great anticipation by the whole family–whether fasting or not.
Because children are present at the breaking of the fast, often children associate fasting with food and not hunger. When told we were fasting, my youngest exclaimed, “But where’s all of the nice food?”
The idea of fasting is also something that isn’t always grasped straight away. I have often noticed small children treating “the fast” as a physical object, perhaps because of the way we speak about it as a special responsibility. My younger sister, once asked whether she was keeping the fast, replied, “Yes, under my bed.”
Please do take a look and leave a comment, the full article is here.
"In Ramadan, a family and community’s routines are completely changed. Breakfast in the dawn hours becomes a source of mystery to children who wake up to fasting parents. Lunch becomes a children only affair, and the breaking of the fast in the evening is looked forward to with great anticipation by the whole family–whether fasting or not.
Because children are present at the breaking of the fast, often children associate fasting with food and not hunger. When told we were fasting, my youngest exclaimed, “But where’s all of the nice food?”
The idea of fasting is also something that isn’t always grasped straight away. I have often noticed small children treating “the fast” as a physical object, perhaps because of the way we speak about it as a special responsibility. My younger sister, once asked whether she was keeping the fast, replied, “Yes, under my bed.”
Please do take a look and leave a comment, the full article is here.
Sunday, 14 August 2011
Ramadan and Priorities
Subhan’Allah this Ramadan has been a very different one for me. No Ramadan gift baskets, no iftars (the meal to break the fast) for guests (just one for my parents). No Ramadan cards or Eid cards and not much planning ahead. The long hot days of fasting have meant that I have less energy than usual. This Ramadan also has been about identifying priorities and sacrificing other things that give me pleasure. So every time I have a bit of time I have to make a choice about whether I should blog or read the Quran, whether I would like to do some crafting or spend some extra time in the kitchen planning a healthy meal for my family.
The first week of fasting had me aching and exhausted, probably from suddenly losing high doses of sugar and coffee from my diet, and so I have been taking it easy, doing one thing at a time and trying not to feel guilty about not doing as much as I would like to. A weekend and one more week of fasting later I seem to have found my stride and it almost feels as if this is a much healthier way of being than the normal routine of not fasting and eating whatever, whenever.
I am quite grateful for mum-in-law being here. She wakes us in the morning as both I and hubby have been so exhausted that we sleep right through any alarm (she somehow manages to wake without any alarm).
The poor kids have spent most of the school holidays at home, running around the garden and house causing havoc, having picnics in the garden, hauling all sorts of food outside, creating a “girls” club with the neighbours lovely little girls and generally running rings round their gran. My neighbour claimed she was too tired to take her girls anywhere as well. I will take the week after Ramadan off and take them somewhere special I think.
Aside from that we have had an interesting week with the rioting in London (thank you for your concern E!). Work has been shutting offices early so that people can get home in good time and East London saw sporadic looting and vandalism. Jewellers were looted on the main road that I live off and their windows cleared of expensive Indian gold (empty jewellery display cases strewn along the street). My cousin who lives near Green Street described how looters were chased away with sticks and knives by the local shopkeepers. Now we are hearing lots of attempts at an explanation, from cuts in funding for community activities to lack of youth facilities to lack of jobs. All utter crap of course, because these things can lead reasonably to disquiet and protest, but not reasonably to violence, vandalism, arson, theft and assault of innocent people. I believe that when people are so removed from their fitrah (true nature), when they become so disillusioned, so de-sensitised to the pain of others and believe that there is completely no justice in the world or consequence for their actions then they can do absolutely anything. The young and not so young people involved in the rioting obviously operate in a moral vacuum where there is no right or wrong except what suits them. I believe that nothing can fix this broken society in the way Islam could. May Allah (SWT) bring the peace and beauty of this faith into every heart insh’Allah.
Work is also keeping me super, super busy. The working day starts and is over before I know it. I have been seconded to two very interesting projects, both 2012 Olympics related and I am absolutely loving it. I have been doing performance-related work for two years and had got rather fed up of it before this opportunity came along. I am getting the chance to learn programme and project management skills, about procurement processes, running consultations and undertaking equality assessments, working with a number of firms and consultants and hopefully a university soon. I have been travelling around the borough gathering information for one of the projects which was tough the first (hot!) week of Ramadan, but has been fine since. I also got to visit the Olympic Stadium which was interesting, apart from the bit where we stood in tunnels whilst engineers counted bricks along walls.
I am exhausted again, so am off to bed. I hope everyone is having a blessed Ramadan full of barakah and ibadah (worship) insh’Allah. Ameen.
The first week of fasting had me aching and exhausted, probably from suddenly losing high doses of sugar and coffee from my diet, and so I have been taking it easy, doing one thing at a time and trying not to feel guilty about not doing as much as I would like to. A weekend and one more week of fasting later I seem to have found my stride and it almost feels as if this is a much healthier way of being than the normal routine of not fasting and eating whatever, whenever.
I am quite grateful for mum-in-law being here. She wakes us in the morning as both I and hubby have been so exhausted that we sleep right through any alarm (she somehow manages to wake without any alarm).
The poor kids have spent most of the school holidays at home, running around the garden and house causing havoc, having picnics in the garden, hauling all sorts of food outside, creating a “girls” club with the neighbours lovely little girls and generally running rings round their gran. My neighbour claimed she was too tired to take her girls anywhere as well. I will take the week after Ramadan off and take them somewhere special I think.
Aside from that we have had an interesting week with the rioting in London (thank you for your concern E!). Work has been shutting offices early so that people can get home in good time and East London saw sporadic looting and vandalism. Jewellers were looted on the main road that I live off and their windows cleared of expensive Indian gold (empty jewellery display cases strewn along the street). My cousin who lives near Green Street described how looters were chased away with sticks and knives by the local shopkeepers. Now we are hearing lots of attempts at an explanation, from cuts in funding for community activities to lack of youth facilities to lack of jobs. All utter crap of course, because these things can lead reasonably to disquiet and protest, but not reasonably to violence, vandalism, arson, theft and assault of innocent people. I believe that when people are so removed from their fitrah (true nature), when they become so disillusioned, so de-sensitised to the pain of others and believe that there is completely no justice in the world or consequence for their actions then they can do absolutely anything. The young and not so young people involved in the rioting obviously operate in a moral vacuum where there is no right or wrong except what suits them. I believe that nothing can fix this broken society in the way Islam could. May Allah (SWT) bring the peace and beauty of this faith into every heart insh’Allah.
Work is also keeping me super, super busy. The working day starts and is over before I know it. I have been seconded to two very interesting projects, both 2012 Olympics related and I am absolutely loving it. I have been doing performance-related work for two years and had got rather fed up of it before this opportunity came along. I am getting the chance to learn programme and project management skills, about procurement processes, running consultations and undertaking equality assessments, working with a number of firms and consultants and hopefully a university soon. I have been travelling around the borough gathering information for one of the projects which was tough the first (hot!) week of Ramadan, but has been fine since. I also got to visit the Olympic Stadium which was interesting, apart from the bit where we stood in tunnels whilst engineers counted bricks along walls.
I am exhausted again, so am off to bed. I hope everyone is having a blessed Ramadan full of barakah and ibadah (worship) insh’Allah. Ameen.
Saturday, 6 August 2011
Gratitude Journal 06.08.11 - Serendipity
I just posted about how I like things neat and tidy, when Little Man asked me if we could go to the supermarket. I asked why and he showed me the cupboard where we keep our pasta and biscuits. He had climbed onto the counter and reorganised the whole cupboard. Small things on top and big ones at the bottom. "I've made lots of space for you to put more things" he explained.
I'll have to move it all back later, but he didn't do a bad job considering the cupboard looked full earlier.
We obviously live by the same law...
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