Summer is upon us

With a very wet spring and late entrance to sunny weather. I have fallen behind with my seasonal chores, namely the spring clean! Although I have been working my way through it room by room and bit by bit. The kitchen is always daunting especially the kitchen cupboards. Once they are done it no longer seemed like a long dragged out chores, it's the pre meditating for weeks and weeks, in this case months ( remember the rainy weather? Spring clean has become summer clean), this has become the pattern over the last 3-4 years. Climate change they call it! I have set myself deadlines that I keep passing I may add and the penalty is stressing about it, I just want it done as the years go on I find this task is getting increasingly harder and I am becoming less able to rise to this challenge. Tomorrow I have enlisted the 'rug wash' as there is predicted sunshine. It's been overcast and humid so far this week and knowing my efforts of spring cleaning it may just rain. I need a good blast of over 25oC to get the rugs dry in a day. [IMG]http://i897.photobucket.com/albums/ac172/csoccerbball/spring-cleaning.jpg[/IMG]

Its been way to long

I keep promising I will come to update month after month after month, until a whole year has elapsed opps!
life is busy alhamduilah ( All praise to Allah)with a newly one year old in tow, life certainly has taken a new dimension.

I miss bloging and sharing with my cyber buddies, so right now , no not another promise of more blog post, but lets just see what happens when it happens inshaAllah.

New craft , jewellery making

This is something I have wanted to do for a long time, recently I decided to give it a go. I have started out with phone charms, bag/key charms and charm bracelets.
I still have pictures to share in my phone and promise to upload soon, her is a little peek.

Random Pictures

A local dolls house shop..I just love dolls houses.

a paper fairy cafe, given to me as a gift.

A new jewellery box

Inside my box of Earl Gray Tea.

My 9 year old work on a project about ancient Egypt throws up this wonderful piece of work mashaAllah, I liked it so much I had it framed.


A trip to town and some nice pictures by the river

Had my bedroom finally decorated before the arrival of Itty Bitty, the paper for the feature wall.

Cross Stitch i purchased a few years ago with the hope to be able to complete but counted cross stitch is not easy. a dear friend is doing it for me now and I cant wait mashaAllah

crafting for baby

I have not been crafting for almost 1 year now :( simple fact I was so unwell with the pregnancy. I have a tradition where I have always crocheted a blanket for each child I gave birth to, a baby blanket......in past years the blankets were not done properly as I could not do increasing stitches, so I just did a pathetic attempt but it worked alhamduilah. now for Itty Bitty I was so ill, this tradition nearly passed by without adhering to it. Instead I forced myself to produce something even if it was a simple effort and here it is,

Back in January 2011....

a rare social gathering with sisters, meeting a certain sister who now lives in Algeria for the first time at her mothers London residence, this is what unfolded. We opted for bring a dish for lunch and tea to share.

world number day

1st March , my teen dd school held a fun day raising money for the maths department, Fancy dress and we made some cakes to sell.The number moulds I got from here I often use this place for my cake moulds, fantastic quality and great service.








Can you see the algebra sum, more to the point can you work it out?

The Aquiqah

In all communities around the world the birth of a child is considered a blessing and ceremonies are held to celebrate this event. Besides being a natural expression of joy, it also serves a special purpose, that is, making it known in a suitable and dignified manner. As soon as your child is born, they are under attack from Satan. The Prophet said,

"When any human being is born, Satan pinches the body with his two fingers, except 'Isa, the son of Maryam, whom Satan tried to pinch but failed, for he touched the placenta instead".
Sahih Bukhari 4:506

This is why the child cries at birth; Satan never leaves his enemy without harming it. To protect the faith and Islam of the newborn baby, who is now under attack by mankind's greatest enemy, the Messenger of Allah taught us about various things that we can do. Some are well known others not so well known.

The following brief points are intended to remind all people of what the Prophet did when a child was born.

Tahneek

When a child was born to one of the families of the Sahaba (the Companions of the Prophet) they would take it to the Prophet so that he would bless it, and apply the pulp of a date, chewed by him, to its palate. This 'tahneek' as it is known in 'Arabic', was to keep the child safe from evil. Therefore, similarly when a child is born into a Muslim family, it should be taken to a virtuous, pious person, so that this person may supplicate for the child and perform the tahneek. Tahneek is among those Sunan whose practice has become rare.

Aisha (RA) narrates that "the people used to bring their newborn children to the Prophet and he would bless them and perform the tahneek"
Sahih Muslim 1:560
Aqeeqah & shaving the head

The Aqeeqah ceremony essentially consists the sacrifice of an animal. An animal is then sacrificed as a mark of celebration and distributed amongst friends, family, the poor and a portion is kept for ones own consumption.

Ali (RA) reported that the Messenger of Allah slaughtered a goat on the occasion of Hasan's birth, the son of Fatimha (RA) and Ali (RA) .
Sahih Sunan at-Tirmithee 2:1226

It is reported by Abdullah bin al-As that the Prophet said, "To whomsoever a child is born and he wants to perform a sacrifice of Aqeeqah on behalf of it, he should sacrifice two goats for a boy and one goat for a girl".
Sunan Abu Dawood 2:2836
we had already sent money to Algeria for the Aquiqah during the week Itty Bitty was born. I always try to do something here at home to mark such ceremonial functions, so that the children can feel part of celebrating and see the celebrations of Islam. I hosted a little tea party, sadly I never got hardly any pictures, just some of the cup cakes and bunting.

There is something so cute ......

about baby feet, don't you think? those tiny chubby feet and hand, so yummy.