This Eid I wanted to throw an Eid Party and was trying to think of a colour scheme.  I originally thought of a antique-y pastel theme with soft aqua, peach and grey shades – pretty and chic. Realistically my parties are always full of a large number of friends, many with crazy kids and the […]

I have spent all of last week trying to work out whether or not I would be going to my cousin’s nikah (marriage contract ceremony) or not. Bride’s mum has had a tiff with my mum-in-law, mum-in-law refused to go to brides relatives wedding and then decided not to invite them to brother-in-laws wedding. My […]

Every now and again I have a day when I just don’t want to do anything. Usually because I am tired and my body is just telling my brain that enough is enough. My brain responds by getting grumpy and finding excuses to leave the dishes, or laundry or messy bathroom. When I was a […]

A period of time that I have found most blissful is the early mornings. Not so much the hateful beeping of the alarm or slinking out of my warm cosy bed, but the little chink of time we get in the morning when everyone else is still asleep. I have started to use this time […]

I have a funny relationship with my manager. Sometimes she drives me crazy and at other times she is very helpful and offers good advice .The other day, she decided I could do with more advice. She suggested that when you follow a “professional” career your route is set out for you – a doctor, […]

I caught myself recently repeatedly trying to get rid of the children – to the garden, downstairs, upstairs, to their dad, to their gran, to pester their uncles. I stopped to reflect what I was doing that could be so important that I was avoiding their perfectly good-natured chatter and the things they keep bringing […]

For weeks I have wanted to get my beads out, but every time I get a minute Darling is wide awake and ready to help me out.  Yesterday, the urge to play got too much and I got my box of beads out and handed Darling a reel of elastic to play with. I manage […]

I have been a fan of Martha Beck’s writing for many years and like to dip in and out of her writing to give me something to think on. This week, I rediscovered my Feedly app in a moment when I wanted something to read and found her latest blog post: Time to Transform. In […]

I often receive very warm or interesting e-mails from sisters who have read my blog. Yesterday I received this: Asalam ulaikum sister, I am a huge fan of your blog, happy muslim mama. Please write a article on your amazing daughter. You could write about all the times she washed the dishes for you, hauls […]

The inside of the wonderful British museum, one of my favourite places. As I am sure Kooky Little Sister would agree, chocolate fudge cake is a seriously good reason to smile. I always did like these, ever since I flew home from Pakistan when I was eleven and we stopped off at Moscow airport, mum […]

After completely giving up hope of seeing any of the Games or visiting the Olympic Park before it shut down, I was given two tickets to watch Paralympic Swimming.  The Paralympic tickets unlike the Olympic tickets have an added benefit that you can both watch the Game you have a ticket for and tour the […]

There is so much to be grateful for in life, but the one thing I have always remembered to be grateful for is my husband.  Of all the decisions I have made in my life, marrying him was the single best one alhamdulillah. This Ramadan he has been dropping me to and picking me up […]

I finally came down from my manic-active mode this afternoon after a week of being over-busy at work and two or three days of feeling very stressed. I am not very good at recognising when I am stressed except I start to space out (which mostly no one can tell the difference when I am […]

For some reason I had picked up this book a few times and put it down again despite it’s rather dramatic opening. At some point Sister Washi of Crafty Muslimah recommended it and I picked it up again.The book is set in Nazi Germany and opens with the main character, 10-year old Liesel, on a […]