Last Day to Vote ! (for me and my daughter)

This is the last day to vote here at Sisters Who Blog. I'm in the General section; just pick Old Muslim Woman in the Shoe and my daughter is in the Motherhood section; just pick Handmade Beginnings. I know I have a hundred readers or more so get your votes in now!

January 2011 Book Club Pick- Green Deen

Green Deen is the pick for January. Have you got your copy yet? I picked up mine from RIS! I think this book is going to be hugely popular. Get your hands on a copy now! Make this year, the year you go Green.Here is the blog.

December Book Club Pick-time's almost up

I've put off reading this book (Healing Body and Soul) in its entirety until now; I was reading bits and pieces only. I'm still in the process of reading it so I can't review it yet. I love how she is mixing modern day knowledge and news stories (SARS, Mad Cow etc) with Islamic advice/knowledge. This is a great reference book so it worth the extra cost. Anyone else reading it now?

2010 Best Blog Award

Sisters Who Blog is having a blog competition. You can vote for the best blogs here. My blog is in the General category and my daughter's is in the Motherhood category. Her blog is Handmade Beginnings.

Great News - Popeyes in London

I've been informed that Popeyes has opened in London. Isn't that great news? I think this is the first Popeye's outside of GTA and Kitchener. Insha Allah I will darken their door soon, afterall Cajun food really belongs to us; Cajun means Acadian.

More Movie Mania-All about Childhood

I watched two more movies that I got from the library, basically documentaries. The first one was Les Voleurs D'Enfance. (Thieves of Innocence) but really enfance means childhood but same thing. This movie is a very disturbing look at the system in Quebec that deals with children in the foster care system and about the lives of children there who have been physically and sexually abused by their own parents and others. In 2004 they said there were 13,000 kids in the foster care system. They are shuffled into Youth Group homes, foster homes, sometimes back to abusive parents and then back into the foster care system to face a new family. At 18 they are thrown out on the street to deal with life on their own although they are damaged and have not been taught any life skills. They end up homeless, jobless, sometimes resorting to prostitution.

Secondly I watched The Last Lecture about a man who is dying from pancreatic cancer and leaving behind his wife and 3 kids. His lecture is about fulfilling your childhood dreams. He is very motivating and upbeat and its hard to believe he is a dying man. Although I was glad that he had reached his goals it was sad to think that perhaps he had never found the true meaning of life which is worshipping God. I still think what he has to say is important though. Finding happiness and joy in this life is something we can all aspire too but we must remember that we should also share that with those around us. Life is meaningless is we are just living for our own selfish ends.

Movie Mania

The kids are off from school so I decided to rent some movies for them. We watched The Spy Next Door which they chose. It stars Jackie Chan and I love the story line. He's engaged to his neighbour; a white woman with 3 kids. Can I relate? Oh yeah! We also watched Shrek number 4 which has a good lesson about appreciating what you have, cough, cough...I needed to hear that! For myself I rented Motherhood which is about a blogging mother. She only has 2 kids and acts like the world is coming to an end..spare me! All her problems were so easy to solve and I didn't relate to her at all except that she missed writing. I couldn't figure out why she was so poor though and living in an apt when she was 44 yrs old and never even had a kid until she was 38! She should have been rolling in the dough after working that many years. I wasn't impressed with this movie. Finally I watched Bananas which is a documentary about what Dole did to its workers regarding the pesticide they were using in Nicaragua. Its a pretty good movie..kids were too bored to watch it though. I hope these things are no longer happening. It makes you feel guilty for eating bananas. I remember eating bananas in Malaysia at my mother-in-law's house..totally organic..no one was harmed in the growing of those bananas.

RIS Trailer

Friday Nasihah -Everything is being recorded.

First of all I would like say sorry if anything I've written in my blog has affected anyone negatively. We are only human and are all trying our best.

Living The Quran
The Record
Ya Sin - Chapter 36: Verse 12

"We shall surely raise the dead to life and We record what they did and the traces of their deeds that they have left behind. We have encompassed that in a Clear Book."
One learns from this that the record of one's deeds consists of the following three types of entries:
1. All that one does, good or bad, is recorded.
2. All the impressions that one leaves on the objects around her or on the organs of her own body are recorded. All these will, at a given time, stand out with utter clarity. As a result, it will be possible to hear the words she spoke in the past in her own voice. It will also be possible to observe a person's ideas, intentions and motives in their fullness for all this will appear as though inscribed on her mind's tablet. Thus it will be possible to have a full picture of a person's good and bad deeds, and of all her movements.
3. The full impact of a person on others, both good and evil: the impact on her own future generations, on her society and on mankind at large, will also be entered in this record.
As long as a person's impact lasts, it will be credited to her account. A complete record of her impact after her demise on subsequent generations, on her own society and on humanity at large, with all its ramifications, will be entered into her record. The good or bad upbringing of her children, the contributions she made to spreading good or evil in her society and among mankind will also be maintained and will be kept as long as her deeds continue to affect human behaviour in the world.
Compiled From:
"Towards Understanding the Quran" - Sayyid Abul Ala Mawdudi, Vol. 9, pp. 245,246

Homeschooling.. a bit of this, a bit of that

As you know I don't really like to homeschool but using different materials keep its interesting for both of us. I like to use this book; Why? Where do Shadows Come From? to teach science facts at her grade 1 level. We used the old baloons from Eid to demonstrate static electricity. Also I read her the book Zaynab and Zakariya Learn to Recyle. One thing I didn't like about the book was that the husband wasn't involved in the recycling at all which I didn't think was a  very  good role model for kids. Men are viceregents too! Dd4 asked how can people know which recycled object is theirs to get it back. I thought that was a pretty good question and told her that anyone could end up with what you had recycled including you. You don't necessarily get to have it back unless of course you are making bags out of t-shirts or something along those lines.  Today its another snow day for the kids so I got ds2 to read her My First Quran  and he chose Prophet Shuaib and the Earthquake.

Some like it in the jar 9 hours old!

I finally made the Classic Peanut Butter cookies from This Little Life of Mine's bakealong. When I first tried them at 2pm I thought they were so-so. I was kind of disappointed and was remembering how good my mother's were..she lost the recipe. I ate them again at 11 pm though and the flavours had melded together and the taste was way better! So my advice is make these but don't eat them right away, just remember...

Some like it hot
Some like it cold
Some like it in the jar 9 hours old!

Also check out dd3's cookies...took her all day to make them what with rolling out the dough and all. She swears she'll never make them again. I think they turned out cute though.:)

Friends are rizq -Friday Nasiha

In this article we learn that even friends are rizq (provision) from Allah. I've heard this before but its good for me to contemplate again. If I am alone then it is the qadr of Allah.

Living The Quran
The Provision
Hud - Chapter 11: Verse 6 (partial)

"And there is not a creature treading the earth but that its provision depends upon God."

The provision that one receives is called rizq. Rarely does God use two very similar names that evoke one attribute. When it comes to provision, God is al-Raziq and al-Razzaq, both names referring to Him as the provider. We creatures are known as marzuq, that is, the beneficiaries of God's provision. Some scholars say that provision is anything from which a person derives benefit. Others say it refers to all the material possessions one has. The dominant opinion is the former, as referred to in the verse.

God divides the provision of people into two kinds: inner (batini) and outer (zahiri). The outward provision includes such things as food, shelter, and well-being. Inner provision includes knowledge, good character, contentment, and similar qualities. Even the people in a person's life (friends, teachers, spouse, family, and so on) are considered provision.

Along with the provision that God gives, He also has given the means (asbab) by which one must seek out his provision. There should be no confusion about the means of attaining provision and the provision itself. When one starts to believe that his or her provision is in the hands of another person, this creates a breeding ground for diseases, such as coveting what others have, doing whatever it takes to get it, and becoming angry when one does not receive what he or she expects.

Compiled From:
"Purification of The Heart" - Hamza Yusuf, pp. 79, 80

Heavenly Pattern

You might be wondering what we learn at Tae Kwon Do. Right now I am learning the first pattern so I can get my yellow belt. I already have all my stripes. The first pattern is called the Heaven pattern. My kids are learning their 4th pattern now as they already have their green belts. My pattern has 18 steps and its hard for me to remember all of them. I looked at the higher patterns and some have over 50 steps! This sure is something you should take when you are young and find it easy to memorize things. Just like learning the Quran! Dd4 and ds5 have dropped out although ds5 has come a couple of times. They still have only one red stripe. They seem to be too young to concentrate. Ds3 also has dropped out because he was coming for the social aspect and since there are no kids his age coming anymore he feels bored by it. This is really too bad. So only ds2,ds4 and dd3 are still coming with me.

Winter Break Ideas

Its almost here, the time when kids lollygag around the house and say there's nothing to do. Well you could bring them to RIS or check out this great list of ideas from Soundvision. This is really well thought out but eid is over so I think this is an old article from when eid took place during the winter break. Puppet or fashion show in the basement anyone? Count me in!

Final Cake -Fondant Course

Final Cake

My final cake was completed last night. I made a two layer 8" cake. Then iced it with buttercream. I dyed my fondant to cover the cake with green food colouring. I also brought ready made fondant which is already dyed in 4 colours; red,blue, yellow and green and used it for my waves,turtles and butterflies. I came up with my design kind of last minute although the theme was kind of the same. I originally intended to make a palm tree but all the decorating stores didn't carry the leaf cutters and it takes 2 weeks to order them so I had to come up with a different plan. I still managed to get my waves in. If I had more time I would have made more flowers but I realized that cake decorating is very time consuming and good for people without little kids underfoot. No wonder people say cake decorating is for little old ladies! So basically this is supposed to be an island (green cake) in the ocean (blue fondant covered plate). I made the waves by using the top part of the border tool and turning it upside down. The teacher gave me the idea because I couldn't figure out how to make waves freehand and make them uniform.

What can I say about the course? It costs a lot and there's too much food wastage; fondant covered plate that won't be eaten and too much fondant drying out and being thrown away. I'm glad I took it because I know how to do it but I think this is something one could do only in a blue moon due to time constraints and cost but it would be great to do as a business. Also I wish we could have learned something cool like how to make a purse or shoes instead of just flowers. But you can always learn it on your own but I'll have to wait till old age I guess.

So now I have two Wilton Cake Decorating certificates; this one and the beginners one, alhumdullilah. Just one more to go; another flower one with royal icing and fondant. Dare I go again?

December Book Club Pick- Healing Body and Soul

Anyone joining me this month for the book club choice? I've ordered mine! If you have any suggestions for future book club choices please let me know. If you're in Canada you can get this book from SoundVisionCanada.

What's on your nightstand this month?