Reviving the Islamic Spirit

This is a shout out to all the attendees at RIS this year. May Allah increase you in ilm and taqwah. Today is the first day of the conference there are still two days after that too so its not too late to change your mind and join everyone else. I'm not going this year but I will be there in spirit! I'm happy to know that Barakah Life will be there this year as well as Soundvision. This conference is really growing. I wish I would have went though when Raihan had come to perform. Here are some tips from a former attendee: put your bracelet on really tight or you will lose it and have to buy another one and bring a backpack or bag for all your belongings and keep it close. Also bring a notebook to jot down anything inspirational and bring a list of books you've spotted on my blog (hehe) that you would like to buy. Remember to give salaams, give charity and make new friends/contacts. Use this opportunity to gain great barakah. Have fun too! Read an article about the first day here.

Food Inc.

I watched Food Inc. last night and although it was no surprise because this information has been 'out' for awhile it still made me upset all over again. What can we do to make a difference? The movie says vote with your dollars. What bothers me the most is the lack of organic zabihah meat. I'm already driving over an hour to get zabihah meat but to get organic zabihah meat it would be a drive of 3 hours. For those of you in the GTA then you can go here. I think this store should really be called M & M's meats; Mennonite and Muslim. The Mennonites raise their animals organically and the Muslims slaughter them Islamically. I don't know of any muslims though raising their animals organically in Canada though. But then again all the muslims are engineers and doctors right? I think we need some muslim farmers!

The Kindness of Strangers

My kids inspired by their older sister wanted to make a house too. So we went to the furniture store to get big boxes and they told us they had just thrown some out so the kids did some dumpster diving and got 3 large boxes to take home. The next day I brought them to the decorating store to get those old wallpaper books they always throw out when they get new styles. Apparently they had already gotten rid of all of theirs but they took our name for next time. So I went to another store to see if they had any and this was my last resort; remember I live in a small town. They told me they don't sell wallpaper anymore but asked me how much I needed. I told them just a little bit so the kids could decorate their little box house. So she said follow me home and I'll give you some old rolls we don't need. Can you imagine? Talk about customer service er helping out a moocher. So I follow her and she gives me 3 rolls of wallpaper for my kids project. She said so you have 4 kids? I told her no 10 and she said oh I'm the oldest of 15! and I raised 6! We were like kindred spririts and the world was good :)

Need Advice?

Canadians can now get fatwa advice by going to this website by Ahmad Khutty. If you need personal advice as a muslim you can call Naseeha. They've been around for awhile now and are a great resource. Americans even call in as they have no such resource apparently. Something troubling you? Then reach out.

I Spy Bag giveaway Winner!!!!

The I spy bag giveaway winner according to random.org is number 9 ; the Soap Corner. Congratulations! Handmade Beginnings will be contacting you to send out your choice of I Spy Bag. Thank you to everyone for participating and all your lovely answers.

Another Canadian Muslim Clothing site

I've heard of this store before but forgot about them and came across their site today. I see they have a lovely satin baby friendly number. The hijabs are very lovely but not my style. One is on sale for only $3! Check it out here.

Mamma mia itsa pizza cake!

My two favourite foods are pizza and cake. Looks like Cake boss might feel the same way. Check out this episode where he makes not only a pizza cake but an actual pizza to compete against his father-in-law. If and when I ever take the Wilton fondant course I'm gonna see if the teacher will let me make a pizza cake insha Allah. Talk about the best of both worlds! Bellisimo.

Lenticular technology -kids books

My 4th daughter found an amazing 'moving' book from the library. You move the book and the pictures changes; seems to be moving. I remember gettting these kinds of things in the popcorn; little cards and the picture would change when you moved them. These pictures don't change into a different item but change positions. My daughter just loves these books, so far they only seemed to have produced two in the series. If your kids are getting bored of the same old-same old then get your hands on these.

Do Muslims read?

I'm not asking if muslims are literate that's a whole other topic but for the ones who are do they read and what? From my experience the raised muslims who were raised overseas mainly read schoolbooks and of course that's because they have to. They don't seemed inclined to read otherwise unless its the Quran. I could be generalizing here but its been my personal observation. When visiting homes I noticed that the only book to be seen was the Quran and nothing else. As for raised muslims living here in Canada I noticed that the religious ones do have a lot of islamic books while the rest tend to be the Harry Potter type. What about converts? Good question. I think I don't know enough to really tell. I do know that a lot of converts have started writing books and magazines though which inspires hope. I myself was raised to love books;bedtime stories, trips to the library etc So do you read and what? Non-fiction? Regular fiction? Islamic fiction? Muslim fiction (fiction by muslims with no Islamic content), newspapers, islamic newspapers, magazines, islamic magazines. I know you're reading blogs that's for sure! And if you are reading then where do you buy your material? Bookstores? Bookfairs? Online?

Growing Up X

Growing up X is a book written by Malcolm X's daughter, Ilyasah Shabazz. I will be adding this to my must read list insha Allah. She will also be talking to Islam Online on December 20th. She is certainly following in her parents footsteps. I remember it took forever for the movie theatre in our city to get the Malcolm X movie and in the meantime I read the biography from the library. Although the movie is great as usual the book was even better.

Kid Creations

The kids are at it again; creating all sorts of things. My 3rd son has taken up weaving with a loom I got him from the dollar store. He keeps making me pot holders and wants to go into business too! My 3rd daughter has been making brownies (find the recipe on the back of the Fry's Cocoa Can), painting and making drums from old cans. My 4th son is busy designing a boat made from old cardboard boxes.

New December Book Club Pick - Zeitoun

bSo after abandoning Rice Mother I wasn't sure which book to go with since my top picks hadn't come in yet. But today I picked up Zeitoun finally from the library. It looks brand new, I think they bought it because I requested it, masha Allah. So grab it if you can and start reading along with me insha Allah and we can discuss it before January's pick. Thanks for your patience.