Something I have always struggled with is my sense of identity. More amd more I recognise how strongly this affects the way I have lived my life and some of the decisions I have made. I got to thinking about it today during one of my marathon e-mail navel-gazing sessions with my bestest (who is […]

I’ve had a busy week at work, but it’s been made more eventful by the presence of…MICE!I knew that the Town hall I worked in had a mouse problem because every now and again we hear tapping and scratching or find droppings. Mid-week we had our monthly branch meeting and were being exposed to death-by-Power-Point […]

Is anyone else participating in Earth Hour this evening? This is the annual event started by the World Wildlife Fund where lights go off across the world to remind us for the need to take action to combat climate change.As a Muslim I believe that taking care of the world and avoiding being wasteful are […]

Me and my sisters were recently invited to a baby shower for someone very special to us who is expecting their first baby.  The party decor was in a very pleasing mint green and we all helped out with the decor.  I did the banner and all three of the girls found green sweets, Fashionista […]

Usually at some point during spring it gets warm enough for me to venture outside after ignoring the garden for months and months and I find myself getting gardening fever.  This year my trip to the Eden Project (1 and 2) added fervour and inspiration to my annual gardening bug.  So I looked for the […]

I recently changed my blog header (at the top where the title is) into one I painted, but I still wasn’t quite happy with it. I have been looking for an opportunity for a few days, so yesterday I finally got time to crack open the paints and have another go. This is the one […]

Despite my best efforts and aversion to all of the chicken and chips shops that abound locally, I have been finding that every time I walk past one of these establishments the baby screeches “CHEEKAAN CHEEKAAN!!” I admit I have a deep and very hard to shift love for junk food, but I have been […]

I found my two youngest girls playing with their hair bands earlier.  Darling tells me they are playing “make-up fashion girls”.  It reminded me of Little Lady when she was younger, except she was always alone.  These two are lucky to have each other to play and squabble with.  They remind me intensely of my […]

As someone who loves to write and to read, a love of language and words seems to fit naturally. My family is of Punjabi origin, hailing from Jhelum, and therefore speaks a Patwari dialect of Punjabi. Growing up I spoke this with my mother and grandparents, this was the language they scolded us with (dangar!! […]

The latest edition of InCultureParent is out and includes my column “Islam and Child Discipline: Is Hitting Ever Ok?”: “I believe that, to an extent, we are a product of our own parent’s parenting. The way we respond to the world, our emotional reactions and our temperament, are influenced by our upbringing. I love my […]

I was cynical when Little Man came in to tell me he had found chilli’s in the garden, because the baby had trampled most of the plants and I had given up on the peppers and chilli’s. So I was pleasantly surprised when I followed him out and found a handful of chilli’s growing and […]

A funny thing happened to me yesterday…no really it did. I walked into the library at lunchtime and found three of my favourite books staring me in the face: The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty, Lost Souls by Poppy Z Brite and Jinnah, Pakistan and Islamic Identity: the Search for Saladin by Akbar S Ahmed, […]

I had this book in my reading pile although I cannot recall at all where it came from. It’s usually when I have nothing super-exciting on my bedside table to read that I dip into this pile, so after having ignored it for a long time, I decide to give it a go.The book is […]

We recently travelled to Scotland for a weekend away with the family.  We went last year and loved it.  This year we thought we would spend a day at the Lake District on the way which I have heard so much about and always wanted to visit.  We spent thee night at a friends house in York and then set out […]