The first few days of Ramadan saw my mood on a bit of a roller-coaster ride, suffering from exhaustion, missing my husband, wondering how I would get through this month and try and use the time as positively and productively as possible and try and gain the most rewards that I could. That changed mid-week […]

Preparations for Fashionista’s wedding later this year are gathering pace in the family. We have sorted out most of the big things now – venues, decor, food (the one thing you CANNOT get wrong at an Asian wedding). Fashionista has found her wedding dress which is absolutely stunning (and nothing like what she originally planned) […]

Homework is often a fraught affair in our home.  I started telling Little Lady to do it on Saturday morning and we are still working on the same page by Sunday evening.  This weekend though we had fun with homework and broke some of the usual rules: Stay off mum’s bed (they never took any […]

Kooky Little Sister recommended this book to me, which usually means that it would be a good read as despite just completing her English degree KLS is not averse to the low-brow and entertaining.When I started the book, I was very unimpressed and put it aside again. KLS asked me a few times if I […]

As Easter holidays start for my children, the complaints about boredom will start up again. I have been complaining quite a bit too lately and I have become quite self-conscious of my attitude. The kids are at home and we have no plans for holidays. Our last holiday was to Scotland in 2013. Since then […]

I’m trying hard to stop buying things for the kids all of the time and just give my time and attention instead, to revel in the ordinary things and and be grateful for the blessings that already exist alhamdulillah.Sometimes it’s the smallest things, like the kids excitement at going through the carwash. Sometimes it’s the […]

Readers of my little sisters two blogs (Harlequin Tea Set and Kapray Shapray) will have noticed she has announced (here and here) that she is getting married later this year. So ensues a flurry of planning, organizing, making lists, budgeting and making ideas and images that pop into our heads reality.  I am trying to […]

I was speaking with a colleague and a good friend this morning about our situation and being satisfied with it and it made me think of a number of things in my past which really impacted on me and my attitude. One happened when I was eighteen and visited Pakistan. I met a girl in […]

Sometimes we are so caught up in the minutiae of life that we lose sight of the important things.  Sometimes we make the little things the most important things in our life.  I think that’s just human nature: not seeing the woods for the trees. I was rushing through my housekeeping and duties today: breakfast, […]

I have been toying with my Word of the Year for 2021 for the last few day and struggling to settle on one word. My word for 2020 was belief – I wrote here about recognising the need to have greater self-belief in myself: “Belief in my good intentions, in my capability, in my competence. […]

I had such a long stressful day of work and schooling yesterday, everything seemed to pile up, there seemed to be a new request or question at work every hour and the girls wanted full attention all of the time. I found myself getting nothing much done and getting short tempered with the girls who […]

Eid framed posters post here. Large Happy Eid banner post here. Small Eid Mubarak post here. I haven’t had a chance to make new ones this year, but can’t wait to put these up with the kids insh’Allah.

For the theme of “throwback” I knew it would be a post where we shared iftar at my mum’s house.  It was a toss up between this occasion in 2013 which was my favourite barbecue ever, this one in 2009 which was a lovely balmy summer evening or this one also from 2013 where my in-laws joined […]

Although we will be having a quiet Eid due to my grandfather passing away (dua’s requested please), everyone else is still entitled to celebrate and this is often the only time of year I manage to get in touch with old friends. This being the case, I made same more tasbih’s (prayer beads) to send […]