I bought myself a juicer at the end of last year and have been making myself some interesting concoctions. After trying various ingredients (apples, pears, celery, spinach, kale, blackberries, pomegranate, blueberries, cranberries), and enduring two days of nasty cramps in the beginning, I have settled on apples, celery and carrots. At some point I will […]

Harlequin Sister was encouraging Shutterbug Sister and I to use Instagram stories with the explanation that I was always in the middle of something so I would have lots to share.  I thought I would give it a try and just snap life and whatever caught my eye. I’ve been adding things to my stories […]

My mum and dad are in Pakistan at the moment and I am missing them a lot.  They have been travelling around between our village in Jhelum, Lahore and Rawalpindi.  My in-laws hosted them for a few day’s, and they enjoyed their stay. I am so grateful for WhatsApp and being able to check in […]

I was feeling a bit harried this morning (with my various to-do lists getting scrumpled up in the bottom of my bag), when I saw the first internet link below in an e-mail from one of my sisters. I was moved by the beauty of the photo’s and the poignancy of those taken in Palestine. […]

Now that I am starting to get a little older (or just old as a colleague at work likes to tease me), I am starting to see the first signs of ageing. I look younger at the start of the day than at the end, the extra weight is a little harder to shift that […]

It has been quite some time since I found a good thrifty haul (like this, this, this or this amazing craft haul), especially as the boot fairs I enjoy so much don’t start until near the end of March. So instead I made do with a trip to my local charity shop to hang out […]

I know things are getting me down when I get through a whole pack of chocolate button and didn’t manage to enjoy one of them.  Instead I feel sick and the feeling of dread and anxiety hasn’t shifted all morning. You hear these sayings all the time, but you don’t really appreciate the grain of […]

I had a challenging evening this week.  Too much to do and the day going by in a flash.  Study and homework for my Arabic course, visiting the new baby in the family, housework, and kids were enough to handle without one of the boys blocking the toilet and creating a whole lot more work […]

I forgot all about Ramadan decorations this year, I was too busy being a headless chicken.  Luckily Little Lady reminded me and I encouraged her to take the lead on designing them. I picked colour schemes and she vetoed or approved them.  I cut the pennants for the banner and spray painted the letters and […]

Late last year we visited the Isle of Wight, but I never quite got around to posting about it. I thought it might be worth sharing my experience and what we found to do there as other families might be thinking about where they could visit during this Easter break or the half term holidays […]

I recently attended a talk by Hakim Archuletta (1 and 2) at my local Islamic Centre that was very enlightening. What followed the talk was a demonstration of Islamic Martial Arts by Brother Abdur Rahman of Silat Martial Arts UK which I didn’t expect to be as useful, but from which I took away a […]

As a Muslimah who is recognisably one – all be-hijabed and abaya-ed up, I often find that people treat me better because I am a Muslimah – holding doors, being careful not to touch me, not swearing around me, avoiding crude talk around me. But sometimes, you do think that it would be nice for […]

I am recovering from the night before at the moment – not a hang-over but exhuastion. Better half called me at work yesterday to say guests were coming that evening. He would have tried to re-schedule for the week-end, but the are going back to Pakistan next week. So I gave him the shopping list […]

We visited Audley End House and Gardens earlier this week which had some lovely grounds.  I found this spot to pray under an enormous tree whose branches leaned over to touch the ground. Despite the hot day, it felt like being in a cool room with the dappled sunlight coming through – a little bit […]