New Dress

Asalaam Alaikum/Hi all!

Pic from BHS website

Just had to share this dress my sister got munchkin as I love it! We went out shopping as my sister needed to get some things. She was in a slight bad mood but that generally works in our favour as munchkin ends up being bought things. Now before anyone thinks I am taking advantage I promise I am not. I always try to stop her buying things but does anyone listen to me?? NO! So frankly I have given up.  

She is similar to me as when I get stressed I SPEND! Not always a good idea. Recently I was stressed and went out and got a new car. Then came home and thought 'ooooops!'  Now I avoid going out if I feel I need some retail therapy! But then you have online shopping! I just can't escape. HELP!!!!!!!!

Anyway now the melodramatics are over, back to the dress. This we found in BHS. They had 'Buy one, get one half price' offer. I am a sucker for these deals, in particular 'buy one, get one free'. The retailers make these offers with shoppers like me in mind as we get sucked in! My hubby is always taking the mick. 

My sister first got our niece some clothes so then she got this to take advantage of the half price offer.

I don't usually go for strappy kind of dresses as I prefer her to be covered, but I was immediately drawn to this one. As my sister said I could always put a white T-shirt under it or a cardigan/shrug over it. I just love the butterfly design at the top and pink is munchkins favourite colour. 

Silent Sunday

Madrasah or not?

Asalaam Alaikum/Hi all

Apologies for not posting recently but have been busy with work on a 2 day course in London and then on top of it all I have had a cold. I am not quite sure how I managed to get through the course but had to be done! I am off work today and should be in bed but got sick and tired of just lying there and it's a bit lonely without hubby and munchkin. Normally I would be grateful for some time to myself but today I am just feeling a bit sorry for myself.

Anyway I have been asking myself a question for a number of weeks and I still haven't decided. That is whether to send munchkin to a local madrasah which is just 5 mins away on the car. For my non muslim followers the word 'madrasah' basically means a place of learning and studying.

By the time I was 7 years old I had been taught by my mum to recite the Quran and I had completed it. I had no idea what I had read, nor did I understand what I was reading, but it appeared to have been an achievement to simply have got through it.

Munckin will be 5 in a week and the madrasah will take children from that age. So it seems she could start in September. My parents seem to think it will be better for her and I doubt she will learn from my mum as they are too soft on her and I am not confident in teaching her.

So the madrasah seems ideal. However the timing is worrying me. Madrasah would start at 4.45 pm to 7pm. So this would be her typical day Monday to Friday.

8.45am ~ School starts
3.15 pm ~ School finishes
3.30 pm to 4.30 pm ~ has something to eat at my parents house (She is a SLOW eater)
4.45pm ~ Madrasah starts
7.00 pm ~ Madrasah finishes


Muchkin can go to bed anytime between 8pm and 9pm. On the odd occasion she has said she is tired at 7.30pm and asks to go to bed. Basically she goes to sleep when she is tired.

So that would typically leave 1 hour (potentially 2) before bed to do any homework, have something light to eat and have a bath.

Listing it like this is making me think it is too much for a 5 year old?

Silent Sunday

Sorry munchkin!!

Asalaam Alaikum/Hi All

I know munchkin can't read this but I think she deserves a public apology!

Now one of my budgies seems to be extra intelligent. Recently he has been found out of the cage with all the doors shut. This week it happened when munchkin was by the cage. So I made the assumption she was opening the door and letting him out. I quizzed her about it and didn't believe her when she said she didn't do it. It seemed impossible that he could get out on his own! Mission impossible in fact!! She realised I wasn't believing her so she got a bit upset.

Now on Friday I came home early from work and he was out. So I assumed that she had let him out in the morning.  I put him back in the cage when I went to pick munchkin from school. I came back and got to the cage before her and he was out. So it wasn't her who was letting him out. While I was telling him off he squeezed himself through the bars, sat on his perch and looked at me innocently.

'SEE I TOLD YOU IT WASN'T ME!'

Oh dear.

To my darling munckin,
I am soooo sorry I did not believe you when you said you were not letting out the budgie. But it did seem impossible that he could squeeze himself through the bars. However I should have realised he is one smart cookie seeing as he does things none of my other budgies have done. He hangs upside down from the top of the cage, he gets in my peg bag and throws all the clothes pegs on the floor and looks at them, but as soon as I go in the kitchen he stops doing it, he manages to sit on the curtain poles, on the lights etc etc. So I should have realised he was no ordinary budgie.
I promise in future I will believe you and not automatically assume you are lying to me because you think you may get into trouble.
Love Mum! xxx

Top 50 Muslim Mom Blogs

Asalaam Alaikum/Hi all


I checked my email today before I went to work and had a pleasant surprise!


I have made it into a list of Top 50 Muslim Mom Blog's!

I must admit I was slightly in shock. I never thought I would get into a top 50 list seeing all the wonderful blogs by muslim sisters that are out there on the world wide web mashAllah!

JazakAllah Khair to American Muslim Mom for taking the time and effort to create the list!

You can read about how the list was created here.

The full list of the Top 50 can be found here.

I would recommend you check out all the blogs if you have time. I am already a follower of some of them and plan to check out the rest.

Mabrook (congratulations) to all who made it into the Top 50!

Smashed Pot!!

Asalaam Alaikum/Hi All!

I am soooooo not happy! I came home from work and found my pot that was outside my front door smashed to bits and my poor plant just lying there.

I was so angry!

If someone did it on purpose then I wish I could give them a smack.

If it was the postman who accidently knocked it over then the least he could have done was write an apology. Is that really too much to ask?!

Looking after parents in their old age

Asalaam Alaikum/Hi all

There is a lady I know through work who I really feel sorry for and it has prompted this blog post. Some of you may not agree with some of the comments that are about to follow, but they are my opinion and everyone is entitled to an opinion are they not?

This lady's benefits are a complete and utter mess. She is originally from Pakistan and her spoken English is very bad. Yes I know some of you will be thinking that if she is in the country she should have learnt how to speak English. However, this lady does not have much of an education as it is so how on earth is she going to learn a new language at her age?? It is easy for us to sit here and say well it is their fault for not learning English. No offence but how many British born people cannot read/write and their English is beyond understandable with all the slang that seems to have cropped up. My mind boggles sometimes when I read comments on facebook and twitter and I sit there trying to decipher the meaning. (Or is that my old age showing?)

Anyway, this lady was widowed at a relatively young age and since then she has been struggling to manage and was almost evicted from her home.

I have managed to sort out her benefit problems for now but my heart went out to her when she complained about her 3 sons. One is currently in custody for assaulting someone and she is very stressed about it; stressed about a son who appears not to care for her. At the end of the day, no matter what, he is her son.

She has got into this mess as her sons did not assist her. She says that they are aggressive to her and she was in tears because she has had hospital appointments to check her health as she gets chest pains and all 3 have refused to take her.

This led me to think generally about looking after our parents in their old age. A lot of people will look down on the Pakistani community. I have seen many a blog post against them and have seen people make ignorant comments on forums. One thing I will say in favour of the Pakistani is the fact that they (or rather used to) ensure the elderly were cared for. There was never this nonsense of sending them to old peoples homes. They took the opinion that they cared for us as babies so it is our responsibility to care for them in their old age.

Unfortunately things are changing and old peoples homes are common there now too. In Pakistani culture the sons look after their parents which means their wives do. Nowadays there is a lot of  'This is not Islam, this is culture' or 'where in Islam does it say that I have to look after your parents?' Or 'In Islam I have the right to have my own home'.

So what if it doesn't say specifically in the Quran that you have to live with your parents in law and look after them? So what if it is classed as culture? It is not as though you are being asked to do something that goes against Islam, infact you are taught to look after your parents. You would cook and clean in your parents home so whats the difference in your in-laws home?

I have the utmost respect for my mother in law. She hasn't spoken to her husband since my hubby was born. However she looked after HER mother in law as if she was her own mother right up until her death which was only 2 years ago. Cleaning her when she couldn't go to the toilet. Hand washing her soiled clothes and never complaining about it. May Allah subhana wa taala reward her greatly for it. Ameen.

I currently do not live with my mother in law so you may think it is easy for me to say this. But if tomorrow I got a phone call to say she is not coping then I will do everything in my power to get her to the UK to look after her. If that was not possible I would move to Pakistan to look after her. After all she is my husbands mother and as a result MY mother. I would never dream of letting my own mother suffer and struggle when I could help her so why would I let my husbands mother suffer?

Jealousy and envy

Asalaam Alaikum/Hi all!!

Some of you may remember I did a blog post about this a while ago. You may want to read it here first as its a continuation.

Well I got a newish car a few weeks ago. It is just under a year old. I opted to get a ford focus which is slightly bigger. I had wanted to buy a brand new fiesta because I could have got a new fiesta for the price I got the focus for. However, this persons wife had been going on and on about getting a new fiesta (I had told her I had test driven one a few months ago). So I decided not to get one of those. I could have got another make of car and kept it small but I prefer Ford's and have always had a Ford.

Well today she made me M.A.D. And I mean MAD!! I almost bit my tongue off in the effort of keeping my mouth shut. She could not find fault in the car so she picked on the colour:

'Well at least mine is bright, not like yours................... GREY!'

EXCUSE ME??? It is in fact SEA grey. I would rather have a grey car that doesn't attract attention instead of a freaky green car that is recognised from miles away.

THEN she went on to say the newer focus's are so much nicer.

If she goes out and buys a new focus I will scream!!! Not because she will have a newer car.... but because of the copying and the competition!!!!  Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

I think she needs to be reminded of this:

“Keep away from jealousy for as fire burns wood, so jealousy consumes good actions.” (Abu Dawud)    

At the moment I am having to remind myself of these hadiths! 

“He is not strong who throws down another, but he is who controls his anger.” (al – Bukahri, Muslim)                                                                                                     “If anger rouses anyone, he should sit down and if that does not help, he should lie down.” (at-Tirmidhi)

Time off During Term Time

Asalaam Alaikum/Hi All

Bit of a rant today! Having a rough week as it is and then I got a letter from munchkin's school saying they are not authorising 10 days holiday at the end of October and beginning of November.

Now I understand the importance of education, having a law degree behind me, but come on.... is 10 days really going to scar her education for life???? It is not even an exam year!!!

Source

I was initially going to go to Pakistan in the easter holidays this year but hubby couldn't go and the tickets were working out to be over £1400 for just myself and munchkin.

I was then going to go in August during the end of the summer holidays as the tickets were slightly cheaper but my father in law was not happy as he said it is too hot and didn't want his granddaughter getting ill. 

So I looked at the ticket prices for October half term and the price was coming  up at just over £1400 for all 3 of us. So I jumped at that price and booked them. This means I need 10 days holiday from school which is the maximum they allow. 

Yes, yes, before you start saying I should have got permission from the school before I booked the tickets..... I KNOW! I genuinely believed it wouldn't be a problem as it is not an exam year and we hadn't asked for holidays during term time this year.

The reason they gave was that she doesn't have 95% attendance so far. This is because she had chicken pox and a number of colds over winter. Unfortunately both her and I pick up colds very quickly. I haven't purposefully taken her out of school and to be frank it makes life difficult for me when she is ill as it causes problems at work. However I never sent her back to school until she was fully recovered even if it meant I made her take an extra day off to make sure she was fit and well. Clearly I  am now being penalised for that. Next time I will send her to school with a snotty nose so she can infect all the other children. 

I don't want to take her without the schools permission so I am going to have a word with them tomorrow. My plan had been to take her during school time this coming school year and after that try to fit it in the school holidays as I understand they have exams in year 2 and also as she gets older the studying is more intense. At the moment it is just play.

Basically my choice now is to pay £375 to cancel the tickets....... or be fined £100 for taking her on holiday without permission.

No contest really.

Silent Sunday

Moon Sand

Asalaam Alaikum/Hi all!

My followers may remember I went to Toys R Us a while ago to buy some moon sand but came out with moon dough (you can read the review here ).

As I had 2 weeks off work in April we paid another visit to Toys R Us and I decided to get the moon sand for a rainy day. Luckily the weather was absolutely gorgeous during the 2 weeks I was off work but we still had some fun with it.

Munchkin picked the Sweet Delights pack but I think that was more to do with the fact that the packaging attracted her attention because it is pink. She is a bit of a pink freak at the moment, even insisting her bedroom was painted pink!

The pack is suitable for 3+. As she is almost 5, it seemed ideal for her. 

The idea of the Sweet Delights pack is to make shakes and smoothies. It even includes a blender which works. Other accessories include an ice cream scoop, 3 parfait glasses, 2 umbrellas, 1 fruit mold, 1 chocolate mould, 3 spoons, 1 sandbox case and 2 bags of moon sand: 1 yellow and 1 pink. 

My little one had no problem using the moon sand and the blender. She easily managed to make up the smoothies and gave them to her dad to 'drink'. She can struggle with the moulds, but with some practice I am sure she will become a pro!

I must admit I did not think the moulds would work as I had trouble with the moulds for the moon dough. However I was pleasantly surprised when the sand came out of the moulds without any problem and didn't crumble. I personally loved the banana mould and I ended up making lots of bananas. I don't think munchkin was overly impressed that I was taking over her moon sand!!

The idea of the sandbox case is great as you have somewhere to store all the accessories and the moon sand. It can also be used as the play area to keep the moon sand in the box and not over the carpets. However we still managed to get moon sand over her clothes and on the carpet. That really is the downside; the mess it can cause no matter how careful you try to be (and how careful is a 4 year old going to be!!?) On the plus side it is easy to clear up and the hoover leaves no trace behind! 

I think it could be improved by providing more than 2 colours of moon sand. Alternatively, you can easily purchase replacement tubs of moon sand of different colours.

My daughter loves it and even my 11 year old niece quite happily played with it when she came to visit. My sister had a go and I quite happily continue to make bananas and other pieces of fruit with the moulds! 

It is definately a hit in our house (apart from the hoovering afterwards!)

Osama Bin Laden....Dead?

Asalaam Alaikum

Inna lillahi wa inna illayhi rajioon. ['Surely we belong to Allah and to Him shall we return']

There are also so many conspiracy theories going around already. Some say he died years ago. Others say this news is to try to cause problems for Pakistan. Just don't know what to believe any more.

I saw this tweet being re-tweeted on Twitter and it pretty much sums up how I feel: 

"I just can’t find it in me to be glad one more person is dead, even if it is Osama Bin Laden." - Harry Waizer, 9/11 survivor

I didn't support what Osama had done/was doing but I can not join in the celebrations of his death. It is a victory is it? It has taken 10 years and countless of deaths, muslims and non-muslims to find this one man. However the main reason I cannot celebrate is I am now worried about what his loyal supporters will do. As he was killed in Pakistan I fear for the country. Apparently the Taliban have threatened attacks against the Pakistan government. UK and USA are likely to be targets too.

I sincerely hope I am wrong.

There have also been reports that mosques have been graffitied and will muslims now stop being called terrorists? Unlikely.

Celebrate all you want. But this war against terror is far from over.