Milk Bag Mats

My mother has asked me to save up milk bags so that people at her church can crochet them into mats for the poor. We go through a lot of milk so I'm a good candidate to save up bags that's for sure. I'm wondering though how comfortable it would be to sleep on plastic mats though. I've started to save up the bags but feel kind of odd about it. I'm asking myself would I like to sleep on these? I guess people would say its better than nothing. But I just feel we could do better. What's your take?

Rice Dispenser

Wow! I never even knew these existed. Never even knew people kept their rice in anything besides the bag! This is a great idea. I never even saw Malaysians using these when I lived there. I haven't seen them for sale either here at the asian store. I should ask or maybe look for one in China Town. I've never seen Tupperware offer them either. I bet its just Tupperware Malaysia.

Green Deen

I've just come across this very promising book to be released in October 2010 insha Allah. As muslims we are vice-regents of this earth and hence automatically environmentalists. This will be a good reminder to the muslims who have forgotten this and a great source of dawah and education for non-muslims. When you say muslim do you think environmentalist? I would say most non-muslims would never make that connection. Let's start changing that today!

My new bathing suit

You've probably noticed the ad for an islamic bathing suit on the left side of my blog. Well, I ordered the exact one recently. I wasn't able to test it in a pool or a lake yet but I went outside with the kids to try it out as the kids and I sprayed each other to cool off. May in Ontario has been so warm lately. I was amazed by the material. The water just rolls off the suit. It just beads up. It reminded me of the treatment dh gave to the windows to repel rain. Check out my old post to see how the bathing suit repels water. Why not get one too? Save 10% by putting in the shoe10 discount at the site. Happy Summer!

The Faith Club - Let's talk

Looks like only one person has read this book besides me. My daughter started but didn't care for it. So let's get the conversation rolling.

What did you think of the book? Of the authors? What surprised you? What did you learn? Was this book helpful in understanding the 3 abrahamic religions? Would you recommend it?

Aboretum Pics again.

More Aboretum Pics

Aboretum

Friday was a day filled with out of town activities including a visit to an aboretum. The place was huge and we didn't get to see everything by a long shot because we had to go for jumuah prayer. We started off in the lilac area and then went down the duck trail. There were many trails and I wish we could have gone on all of them. Two of my sons took off on a divergent trail and they got to see a huge clearing with a bunny rabbit. Our trail started out with a walkway going through a swampland. It was so restful to go through this quiet relaxed place filled with old growth forest. Sometimes the walkway got muddy though and seemed dislocated in some spots. The kids were so happy to be in nature. I didn't see any critters though which made it surreal. When the trail ended we saw a lot of open spaces with benches where you could quietly contemplate the world or read a book. I wished I could have stayed there all day and soaked in the serenity.

Top Ten - Canada and Malaysia

This article states that Canada and Malaysia are in the top ten economically competive list worldwide. I knew that Canada was doing pretty good but Malaysia? The dollar there keeps going down so I'm not sure how they measure these things. Any economic gurus here? Just thought I'd share this interesting news with you though. So now we've proved it; Canada Can and Malaysia Boleh!

Our Family Cookbook

We have a family project on the go; a family cookbook.  This way we will all have access to each others recipes. Maybe you wiil enjoy them too.

June Book Club Pick

Insha Allah everyone is enjoying or not May's book club choice. I will blog about it at the end of the month and we can all discuss it. Have a feeling we will have a lively discussion. For June I have chosen another book that I found at my library (hope you have it).  Its called Unimagined a Muslim boy meets the West by Imran Ahmed. Its about a pakistani boy growing up in London, England.

Spring Cookies

Yesterday we went to visit my friend to return her book (the 8th Scroll). My 3rd daughter made these lovely cookies for her. We had a great time there. I really loved how she decorated her rec room like an arab living room. I was transported to another world. The kids thought that the pillows and bolsters made great building materials and my friend didn't mind a bit.

Backyard Bunnies

On Saturday hubby was mowing the backyard when suddenly baby bunnies started jumping out of the grass! My third son collected them, to get them out of the way. They eventually all ran away. I warned the kids not to touch them, as thier scent would confuse the mother and make her reject them. We never did see the mother appear though. Insha Allah they are all ok and healthy.

Beautification Day Number 1

Today we met by the river and planted honeysuckle and diablo ninepark plants in various flower beds along the walkway. We also had the joy of weeding the weeds that took over some flower beds. I much prefer to plant than weed. Four of my kids were supposed to come with me but two took so long getting ready that they were left behind. It was such a beautiful sunny day for planting though and it just felt good for the soul. A lot of volunteers came and most of them were women. We had to leave early because of Tae Kwon Do (can my poor body take this much exercise in one day?!!) but I left behind my second daughter to continue weeding. They don't have any set plans for the next project but I'm looking forward to it and I'll be rounding up more kids this time, ready or not!

Hajj Journey Board Game

I just saw this game in my daughter's shop. She's always up to something! I just love this game! Check out the arabic number die. How cool is that? The playing pieces are cute too. Funny story; when I was a kid growing up my parents always called the playing pieces "bonhomme(s)". I grew up thinking that was the proper word until one day I went to my english friend's home and said "which bonhomme are you going to pick" and she asked what on earth I was talking about. I pointed to the playing pieces and she told me no one calls them bonhomme(s). Sigh...sometimes its so funny to grow up with french parents who only teach you random french words that make you look like a weirdo later on.

Book Cookies

Last night I went to my real life library book club meeting. The book that was chosen for it was The White Tiger. I wasn't able to finish it in time since I was so hooked on my virtual book club pick; The Faith Club. So far though the book is really good and I called my Indian friend to verify if the facts in this book are correct.According to her everything is spot on. But why go and make cookies? Well usually our meeting includes cookies (store bought) and coffee and water. Last time I went there was nothing served and the librarian said she was just too busy. So I made a note to myself to make sure to bring something for the next time. Since my 3rd daughter loves to bake she made these cookies as well as the icing. I helped to decorate them (I know you are thinking who is the mom and who is the child here?) My club was very happy with the cookies and I served some to the librarians up front too. How about we all make The Faith Club cookies for the end of the month and then post the pics since we can't eat each other cookies?

Pine River Cheese

The other day a muslim woman I know said what's the name of the cheese with no rennet you were telling me about. My mind went blank for a moment but then suddenly I remembered. Its Pine River Cheese. Lately I was buying any old cheese because they no longer listed they had rennet or pepsin in them. I thought they finally got the message that we didn't want these ingredients. But then I found out that microbial enzymes could possibly be a code word for the same thing. I even found out that Kraft dinner is not halal. Pine River Cheese is a little hard to find but its safe to eat for muslims except the old cheddar. I know this because I just finished talking to the company.  My town doesn't have this brand but I will travel to the next city to get this because its worth it. Say Cheese!

New Muslim Convert vs Old Muslim Convert

Seems like a tempest is brewing online on one of my yahoo groups. It got me to thinking about what new muslim converts need vs what old muslim converts need. The group is basically there to let people know about activities going on in the community and to reach out to really new muslims. That's all fine and dandy but where does that leave the old muslim converts? When you've been muslim for more than a decade you really don't need to be learning what the 5 pillars of Islam are anymore. You've reached a stage where you need more in depth information and something else. What do old muslim converts really want? In my opinion it is companionship. No, I don't mean muslim dating dot com. I mean real relationships with other muslims. What most born muslims don't seem to understand is that converts lose most of their contacts when they leave thier respective religions behind. And this is not self-imposed. Once the busyness of learning your new religion has come and gone, one looks around and wonders where did everyone go. Most converts are abandoned after a short while. Some get the superstar treatment especially if they are single (please marry my son,cousin,uncle etc routine) and some only get minimal attention. I was never in the superstar category but I heard that some men never graduate from this position. Many born muslims actually believe that converts have it made. They say this is your country and you have your whole family here and friends. By family they mean our parents,siblings and relatives. This is a joke because most converts are kicked to the curb when they convert. Friends also hightail it when they figure out how boring you've become. Converts of course think that the muslim community will become their family. Not! Most immigrant muslims are too busy socializing with thier own kind to be bothered with the lonely convert in the corner and if you are married with kids what on earth could be your problem anyway. On top of this I think old muslims converts want to talk about more deep pressing issues than what kind of hijab to wear  etc. Old muslim converts want to be proactive; organizing committees, protesting, writing letters. When you are new you are like a sponge but once you've learned the most important things, one asks themselves, how can I as a muslim help the world to be a better place. So socialization serves a purpose. With that said, old muslim converts need to socialize just for the sake of friendship as well. I could be wrong but I think this is one of the main issues. What say you?

Tae Kwon Do Progress

As of last week the 4 older kids (2nd son,3rd son,3rd daughter, 4th son) all got green stripes on their yellow belt. The two smaller kids (4th daughter,5th son) got red stripes on their white belts. We also got to watch one of the students get their red belt. This week I told the master that I will be joining the class and I took home my uniform and as of today I am a white belt (tee hee). I have wanted to join a martial arts class ever since I was a kid and my brother's friend was in the class. His mother enrolled him because he was being bullied at school. I asked my mom to join but she sadly said no. I used to watch the classes through the window as often as I could. Then I watched my kids. Now insha Allah a childhood dream will come true for me and I will learn the way of the foot and fist.

Beautification Team

With all my moaning about the lack of trees in this town I jumped at the chance at putting my environmental dollars where my mouth is. One man has organized a Town Beautification Team. For $5 which goes towards the cost of trees and plants you can join the team and help plant, water etc trees and flowers around the town. With membership came a privilege; a Black Eyed Susan flower. My third daughter and I promptly planted it in the front yard. I'm pumped! Next week we get to plant trees along the river. Won't my mommy be so proud of me?

Tagged

I've been tagged by Heather to answer 5 questions with 5 answers each. This should get my mind turning.

1. Where were you 5 yrs ago.

I was planning my oldest daughter's wedding, the first of my kids to get married.

I was planning my  vacation in Huntsville. Fun, fun, fun!

I had 8 kids.

I was living in a city instead of town in a house that was big enough for us.

I was organizing a neighbourhood watch with my husband.

2. Where would you like to be 5 yrs from now?

In a muslim community, preferably the GTA or at least London,Ontario.

In  a much bigger house, we are so cramped.

Working to pay off my debt.

Being able to read Quran.

Being a better muslim.

3. What was/is on your To-Do list for today?

Good question. Reading my books for my two book clubs (the library's and mine).

4 loads of laundry as usual.

Supper, maybe?

Homeschooling my daughter. Today is spelling dictation day.

 Job searching (for a new job) for dh.

4. What snacks do you enjoy?

Mixed nuts.

Fruit.

Pretzels.

Popcorn.

Chips and dip.

5. What 5 things would you do if you were a billionaire?

Pay off all our debt.

Pay for everyone in our family to go for hajj.

Buy a mansion on the beach in Malaysia.

Give money to the poor.

Give money to organizations like P4E that help muslim converts and to mosques to help converts as well. (no muslim should be turned away like I have and so many others ie they won't teach me how to read quran).

I will now tag the following people.

handmade beginnings

happy muslim mama

river city homeschoolers

muslim homeschooler

days of our lives

Turning the Tide - Book review for April

I'm a little late for this review but lots of things have been happening lately. This book is a combination of surahs, hadith,duas and poems. This book was ok but not really as inspirational as I expected. It goes through the different stages in a woman's life using the forementioned avenues but I was thinking it would have personal stories rather than poems. I guess I was expecting something more along the lines of Life is an Open Secret or Grow Mama Grow.  This book would be good for a reference book for duas perhaps but I can't see myself really going back to it that much but Allahu alim.

Has anyone else read it? Huda perhaps? Leave your thoughts here.

Giveaway on my daughter's blog!

If you'd like to win a $50 gift certificate to an online store (CSN) then go here. All you have to tell is what you would buy if you won. I have my eye on a couple of things. They have the most beautiful chandeliers for one.

Sunnipath not a sunny path.

This is going to be a whiny post so run now while you can. I just completed the sunnipath arabic 101 course. It teaches you how to read arabic and quranic arabic; its in two parts. After learning online a couple of times with the pakistani teacher that I mentioned in my other post here, I thought this course would be the same. I thought I would have a live teacher teaching me quranic arabic everyday or a few days a week until I became proficient and passed the course. But not so. The course consists of a recorded lessons with a teacher telling you the theory of the tajweed rule for each week. Each week when you get to the quranic arabic you have to learn two new rules per week. The first half of the course teaches you the alphabet and the rules for reading standard arabic. Each week you also have to do the practice work; you click on the word or letter and its read out for you. You can have up to 49 slides like this to learn per week x 2. Once per week you get to meet live with your teacher but not alone but with up to 10 other students for one hour. You do the math. So basically you are lucky to get a live teacher for 10 minutes a week. The suggested amount of studying you should do per week is 5 hours. So basically this course is a teach yourself course except for a couple of minutes per week. During the week there is an hour you are supposed to be able to access the teacher. When I tried to use this service it was to no avail. I was sick for a week and behind so wanted to make up what I missed. The teacher said sure but then never answered my email to meet up with him. For the weekly session I sort of got to make up for this course by reading one or two lines. This course also had lots of glitches with their eluminate program. So many students couldn't log on. I was constantly having mic problems and ended up buying  a new mic. This mic seemed to work only slightly better. However when most of the class disappeared and there was only two of us left by the end of the course then all the problems disappeared as well. I can only guess that maybe there was bandwidth problems. Don't ask me either where the students disappeared to. I have no idea. Perhaps they got fed up. At the end of the course is an exam to see if you can read the quran. In order to pass you need to get 80%. I think that's fair but nearly impossible without an actual constant live teacher. Did I pass? Sadly no. Was this a paid course? Yes. Would I recommend it? Only to someone who thinks they can completely learn on their own or someone who is just brushing up on their previous knowledge or someone who has a teacher on the side. Otherwise save your money. That's my opinion and its not just sour grapes. If I had even passed I know it would have been by the skin of my teeth and that's not what I was aiming for. Can I read better than before? Yes, alhumdullilah. What is needed is a combination of the constant teaching and correcting the pakistanis are doing with the theory and proper arabic pronounciation that Sunnipath offers. I would also like to add that I appreciate the fact that my teacher is operating under guidelines set out by Sunnipath and that he is probably just as frustrated as we are but should work with the administration to change the program and not blame the students. I worked hard on this course and it was a real jihad for a mother of 10 to get through this with so little help. I pray that everyone out there is able to learn the quran and pass it on, for those are the best of people. Amin.

The Visit

This past week my daughter and granddaughter have been visiting after she hurt her hand. However she did manage to do some activities with all the kids, check them out here and here and here.Alhumdullilah we were invited for a visit by my arabic teacher and on the weekend we visited a mutual friend. At her house an old friend dropped by who just happens to live next door and brought over a lovely cake.  In the evening I went to another friend's house where we dined on Popeye's Chicken kindly brought in from the GTA by my wonderful son-in-law. You may be thinking big deal, but I rarely see anyone, so having my daughter visit and visting 3 people in one week is big news in my book! Also on the last visit we bumped into my old halaqua teacher who just happens to live across the street from where my friend moved. Small world eh?