Amigurumi Chick

Amigu-what? Well, after seeing a friend make a doll that was just too cool for words I asked for the pattern. They called the style of the doll AMIGURUMI. And like a good internet geek I googled it to find out what it means. Apparently it is a style of doll made by crocheting in spirals and adding felt features leaving you with a slightly anime looking character. Soooo, of course I had to make one! The chick above took me maybe 1 1/2 hours and is the height of my cell phone. Awwww!!! I'm hooked (pardon the pun)!

Go check it out:
Amigurumi Kingdom
Ana's Amigurumi Patterns

Now see the fun things you find yourself doing when you get rid of the TV???? Not to mention that I have read three books thus far... More than I read in the entire before!

Basics of my Ramadan craft this year, edited 9/27/07 (photos added)

The basic idea that I was going for was simple. Kindness builds the community. My first thought was a masjid building block set that the kids would get a piece of every time they did a good deed during the month of Ramadan. But, that didn't work out because they were on backorder and I have not been able to get one. So, I did a fabric wall-hanging instead.

I took a .coloring book picture of a masjid and copied it onto fabric, and they will get a piece to iron onto the main scene every time they do a good deed. I made envelopes with the ideas for charity/kindness and in each one there is a new piece of the masjid.


You will need fabric, bonding paper, good scissors, and a pencil to draw the outlines with.


To make the whole thing I took a yard of my main fabric (sky and stars in my case) and then I ironed on a fabric bonding paper (you can find it at craft stores) onto 1/4 yard of a few other colors and 1/2 a yard for the main color of the masjid.



Then, you go to town making the pieces of the mosque by drawing onto the paper backing and then cutting it out. When you are ready to put a piece onto the wall hanging all you do is peel off the paper backing and iron it onto your main fabric.


Here is the basics of what it will look like with all the pieces just laid out over the top where they will be ironed on in the end.

Now, the rub with this one is that it can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be. You can use felt and glue rather than the iron on stuff if you want. Or, you can do what I am doing. I have a matching yard for the backing and a piece of batting so I can make it into a quilt in the end. Sooo, after the kids place the piece and we iron it on I will be sewing around the edges of each piece. Then, at the end of the month I will stick the three pieces together with some spray adhesive (saves pinning) and quilt around the design.

Does that make sense at all??? Insha'Allah

The Evolution of Ramadan

I was thinking (as I often do in the quiet time I have eating suhoor in a home with the children all sleeping and my husband at work) how Ramadan has changed for me over the years. I converted a decade ago… And it seems like I am so far from the place I started I wouldn’t even recognize my old self if I bumped into her on the street!

My first Ramadan I was teaching kindergarten at Crescent View Academy in Denver, CO. It was a great time for me, and I was really into the deen and it surrounded me in all aspects of my life. My work, my friends, and my free time were all tied to Islam. I will never forget making little paper lanterns with my class and filling the ceiling of the room with them. And going to work very early… Even eating my suhoor at my desk and praying fajr in the little musullah in the school so I could turn in all my paperwork by the end of the school day and have time for iftar with friends or tarawih at the masjid... It was a blessing to be in such an environment for my first Ramadan, alhamdulilah.

Then, I married my husband. It was during Ramadan, and people told us we were crazy… We told them it was a blessing. People broke their fast at our meager wedding party in December and we all prayed magrib and ate iftar together. And, that was my last Ramadan in a large community. I moved from Denver to a small town in Wyoming.

I would like to tell you now about Ramadan as a young married couple that was still getting to know each other… But I had our first daughter before the next Ramadan, alhamdulilah. We were new parents during that time, and I can’t say that I remember much about it… Other than my husband taking the baby with him when he got up for suhoor and me grabbing much needed minute of sleep while he prepared the food.

From the birth of our daughter on, I have missed many months of fasting due to pregnancy, or having a young nursling. So, Ramadan changed for me. It became about decorating the house, cooking, and trying to get the kids involved in the month. And I started to feel more and more isolated here in the Midwest. And every year I felt Ramadan slipping from my grasp. I felt the spirituality of it just sneaking away from me… All I thought of is what to cook for my fasting husband, and what activity to plan for the children that evening. Many nights I left my husband watching Al-Jazera while I went to tarawih with the kids and concentrated more on the grumpy old people in the masjid being annoyed by my children than the prayer. I came home from an Eid gathering crying one year..

This Ramadan my littlest is 15 months old, and with no other babies in the plans for the next few years I have started to fast again. So, I was excited for Ramadan to begin. But, I knew this year it was up to me to help it have some meaning in our home. I wanted to get the spirit back by force if I had to. So I went all out. I threw the TV into a storage shed and pulled out all sorts of games and crafts for the kids. And I put copies of the Quran in strategic places in the living room and our bedroom, so we can read it when we are relaxing or feeling a little tired. I have also decided that tarawih will be a family affair. We are praying tarawih here, where I don’t have to wonder what the kids are doing or who sees them doing it. And we are planning a vacation for Eid. And you know what? I feel more connected this year than I have in a long time. I feel the joy of preparing food for my fasting husband, I have achieved a calm and even state when dealing with the children… I feel like things are back in order.

It’s like those little geometric puzzles… You have to work with the pieces you have to make the shape you want, and there is no one shape that is right. I was looking for the pieces to fit together in the old way… But I have added so much to my life over the years that I had to make a new picture with my pieces.

I guess what I am saying is that I am doing my best to help myself evolve and adapt with my life. I have realized that I have been missing what I experienced my first Ramadan and it’s holding me back. I have to accept that as my life changes the experience of the ritual of Ramadan will change with it. There are new blessings, new opportunities and new joy… It is up to me to find it, and make every Ramadan the spiritually uplifting experience it should be.

(cross posted on Ramadanish)

Get ready, get set, Craft!!!!!!!

This years Ramadan craft will be posted late tonight,insha'Allah. I am in the final stages of working the photos into a tutorial instructions kinda thing. So stay tuned!

If you haven't seen them, here are the last two years:
Ramadan 2006
Ramadan 2005

And from other sources, here are some great ideas:
Farhana's cool ark suprise box
and her Masjid surprise box
Ramadan Craft Book PDF
Cookie sharing project @ Ramadan Joy
Surviving's no-sew gift bags
Farhana's gift bag tutorial

***Update on 9/16/07- Still working on the photo tutorial. I didn't manage to get it all finished before Ramadan, and now it's going slowly... Insha'Allah, soon!

Cool Blog

Just a quick post to tell you check out Ramadan Joy. Full of wonderful ideas! Masha'Allah.

Fall is here!

Go celebrate fall! I feel it in the air here in WY. And I love fall... You know how everyone has their season? Mine is definitely fall. So, time to get out the jackets and some seasonal foods... Here's one of my favs: Oh, and if you have never baked a pumpkin, get a little pie pumpkin and give it a shot. You will have enough puree for a few different things once you are done!

This pumpkin cookie recipe includes directions for making your own pumpkin purée.
INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
1 cup pumpkin purée, canned or homemade*
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup milk
sifted confectioners' sugar, for dusting
PREPARATION:
In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in molasses and egg. Stir in the pumpkin purée. In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

Stir flour mixture into the creamed mixture along with the milk. Blend thoroughly but do not over beat.

Drop cookie dough by rounded teaspoonfuls onto greased baking sheets. Bake at 375° for about 12 minutes, until set. Cool for a minute; remove to racks and continue to cool. Dust pumpkin cookies with sifted confectioners' sugar.


*To make pumpkin purée, cut pumpkin in half, crosswise. Remove seeds and membranes. Place on a greased baking sheet, cut side down, and bake at 325° for 1 hour, or until tender. Cool for 10 minutes. Remove pulp and place in blender or processor. Purée or process until smooth. Place in a cheesecloth-lined mesh strainer or sieve and let drain into a bowl for about an hour. When dripping has stopped, put purée into a container, cover, and refrigerate if not using right away.
Makes about 3 dozen pumpkin cookies.

***These cookies are also great topped with cream cheese frosting, they are just harder to store that way!LOL

Don't let the dunya rule you...

And I mean that. Of course we all KNOW this but only in an intellectual way. All we have ever experienced is the dunya, hence it is natural to get caught up in it. Well, I for one am working on transcendence. But DH has a rope and is ready to tie me to it if he has to. He is all about money and jobs and planning for the future. Trust me, I think about the future but I have an all too real idea that the future I am planning for might be changed in an instant, I am not in charge. So when something happens, I move on. Lately DH just gets stuck in this circular thinking about how bad things are. So he is obsessing about work and money and investments... And I am planning for Ramadan. Today he told me "Wake up yah Amu! We have real problems!" Yes we do, we have four children who have to learn that Allah decides their fate... And I don't think he's even getting it!

The example that I give, and I'm sure anyone who knows me is sick of hearing it, is my father-in-law. FIL was a supreme court judge in Egypt. And, masha'Allah he was a good one who participated in many extra court sessions on illegal gains and had his contract extended many times beyond his mandatory retirement age. When he finally did retire from the Egyptian legal system he took a job in a gulf country. It paid well, very very well by Egyptian standards. The same year, my SIL was in a car accident and EVERY extra penny that he made went to medical care, lawyers, living expenses and all the other things that came up with her rehabilitation and her decision to live here in the US because of accessibility. Now, did my FIL do the right thing by pursuing an extra income for his family? Of course. Did it mean he left his family with tons of money to spare? Did he secure his kids (as I'm sure he intended)? Did DH have money to get married and live easy for the first years? No, uh-uh, nope.

I guess what I'm driving at is don't look at the outcome of your choices as something that stops here. There is only failure and unfairness if you are limiting your accounting to this life. And it seems to me that satisfaction in this life is a slippery little creature. The more you chase it the faster it runs.

Enjoy the gifts you have been given. Savor the moments of contentment when you find them. Wonder at the beauty of this earth. But keep in mind that we are not here only for this. And this is temporary in comparison what comes after death. So, if you want a long term investment... Don't build your bank account. Build your garden in Jennah, insha'Allah.

Life in cowboy country...

So this picture wouldn't seem like much...



Unless I show you where I took it.




Yes, here at your friendly Wyoming Wal-Mart you can feel free to pasture your horse at the back of our parking lot while you shop! You got to rest your legs from the road... Why shouldn't your horse???

School this year...

Every year we have a heated debate about school. I just don't think my husband and I will EVER see eye-to-eye on the topic of educating our children. He is dead set on having them in some sort of "school" type activity. He doesn't care so much what or where. I care ALOT. I would rather have them home away from all the lovely things cowboy country has to offer anyone whose name isn't Billy Bob Smith. But DH insists that they "need" to get a real taste of the world as it is. HUMPH.

Alhamdulilah, this year they were drawn in a lottery for a spot in the University Lab School. There are a total of about 15-20 kids in each grade and their record for culture, diversity and great science programs is good. The middle schoolers were even part of an archaeological dig in the area last year. So, I am much more pleased with this year's school... But I still am not sure that I am OK with the situation we are in here. I will continue with The Well Trained Mind as a supplemental, but I am still worried about negative socialization.

What's a Muslim in an isolated area to do? I struggle with my own identity as a Muslim here, how can I help my kids feel like they are Muslim under these circumstances? I know that things will work out, and Allah (swt) guides who he will... But I am worried that I need to do more to help my children feel as if they are Muslim first and foremost. UGHHHH! I have made myself a promise that this year I will not let DH trample all over the holidays and the plans I make for the family. I will not let him dissuade me if I find an activity for the kids with other Muslim children. I will drive to Denver if I have to.

I just pray that we have a better situation as far as the deen soon. I am tired. I hate this place. I don't know what we are doing here anymore. Yah Allah!

Book meme from DP

OK, I am stealing a book meme from DP since I think it's a good one!

What are you reading now?
I tend to have two or three books going at the same time. I choose between them based on mood. One is pure entertainment, one is usually Islamic knowledge stuff, and then one practical one about herbal medicine, parenting, midwifery. So right now in those categories,
Amy Tan: Saving Fish From Drowning
Tariq Ramadan: In the Footsteps of the Prophet
Linda Delgado: A Muslim's Guide to Publishing and Marketing

Do you have any idea what you'll read when you're done with that?
I think I will try to get more Tariq Ramadan... And I will get some other Islamic type stuff in case I finish it (it being Ramadan and all).

What's the worst thing you were ever forced to read?
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin. I am not an Austin fan... Which put me in an interesting position as an English major (since there are people who get entire degrees devoting their study to her work). But I really feel she's like the Daniele Steele of her time. Blah blah, cute boys, blah blah, rich boys, blah blah, "intelligent" woman who can seem to think of nothing but said boys, blah blah.

What's one book you always recommend to just about anyone?
It depends on my mood, and the interests of the person. I don't have a one size fits all recommendation. For pregnant women, Henci Goer: The Thinking Woman's Guide to Birth. For American Muslims (if they haven't read it already) Jeffery Lang: Even Angels Ask. For anyone who thinks they are interested in saving the planet and stuff, Jim Merkel: Radical Simplicity: Small Footprints on a Finite Earth.

Admit it, sadly the librarians at your library know you on a first name basis, don't they?
Probably, but it's just because I come with all four kids and we check out like half the children's book section;)

Is there a book you absolutely love, but for some reason, people never think it sounds interesting, or maybe they read it and don't like it at all?
Hmmmmm... I really liked Faulkner: As I lay Dying. I do think many English majors have a deep hate of Faulkner because you need a flow chart to follow his plots if you are not paying attention... But that's why I LIKE Faulkner. I would sit and read it in one setting and let it flow naturally and it touches you on some weird level because it really is like you are in someones head.

Do you read books while you eat?
I read and eat all the time. I used to sit at the table and read whenever I ate before I had the family. Now, if I am alone at a meal I WILL read... I find myself doing it during suhoor in Ramadan since DH is at work and the kids are too young to eat suhoor really. Actually, I think DH might have married me because the first time we meet for dinner after we got engaged he was an hour late and he found me happily sipping my diet coke a reading the latest installment of Anne Rice. He was impressed that I wasn't mad that he was late (masha'Allah!!! so understanding), so don't tell him it was just because I don't even notice the time when I'm reading Anne Rice, OK?

While you bathe?
Yes, sadly my entertainment reading should be waterproofed. But once again, family and sitting in the bath reading don't mix well... So I don't do it often anymore.

While you watch movies or TV?
While watching TV with the kids or DH I will read if I'm not interested in the show.

While you listen to music?
Yes, but only when reading a book that I have to read for school or something.

While you're on the computer?
Anything more than a few pages I prefer to have my hands on it. So, something too long is not for me.

When you were little did other children tease you about your reading habits?
Well, yeah... I liked to read from a very young age, and I would read every chance I got. I was actually probably the only person in my AP English class that finished all the reading over the summer. I also liked to roll play books... When other first graders were playing Star Wars, I was playing Nancy Drew, or Little House on the Prairie. And DH STILL teases me whenever something that was a book makes it to the big screen because I want to analyze the differences after I see the movie... Oh and I actually have been known to blurt "That never happened in the book!!!" loudly during the movie. Yeah, I know.

What’s the last thing you stayed up half the night reading because it was so good you couldn't put it down?
The Girl With the Pearl Earring. I read it on one sitting late at night. I woke up to soak my legs (leg cramps) and started reading in the bath and never put it down(and actually that relates to 2 other answers, reading in the bath and of course when they made it into a movie I sat ruining the whole experience of seeing it for DH by comparing it to the book).

Happy Birthday!

The 16th was my son's 6th birthday! Happy Birthday to him!!! I made this panda cake with a GF cake mix from Bob's Red Mill. We don't really do more than cake for b-days...

We also had a doctor's appointment in Denver, so we were there for a couple of days this weekend. I got to use my
Splashgear swimsuit for the first time at the hotel. You know it was the first time in a decade that I have been in a pool. The whole family went swimming! Yeah!!!

DH and I also talked on the phone with my SIL's ex and he and I had the whole life as a convert conversation. Then DH and I had a conversation about how he thinks there is no such thing as life a convert... There is just life as a Muslim in America... I beg to differ. What do other converts think? Is there a difference? My argument would be background, family, acceptance from your piers, other Muslims challenging the very idea that you are REALLY Muslim, everyone feeling they have a leg up on you because they were "raised Muslim". So yeah, I think there is something called an American convert's experience of Islam. Just my 2 piasters.

Call Him Marvin....

You remember that book by Dr Seuss, Marvin K Mooney will you please go now? Yeah. This town for us is kinda like that. And DH just keeps insisting on staying here. I think I should just start calling him Marvin.

I went to get the key to my new store the other day only to be told that they are refunding my deposit and will not rent to me. Then, the sign we have up on a property we are working on explaining that it is under development ( you know blah blah, legal obligation to post it, blah, blah, for more info call)... Yeah, stolen. Which means I will not be getting back the $80 deposit I gave the city for it, and I will have to pay another $80 deposit. And of course when we went to the city last time we discovered that everybody already knows it some "Muslim guy and his American wife" developing it... So I have no doubt that the person who did it knows that information.

Hey Marvin, can we go now?

I live in an area of the country that necessitates thinking about Ramadan early. So, I don't know if you are thinking about it but I am. I am thinking of things like the little petit fours pan in the picture... And the fact that I need like a case of foul and another one of dates, and that needs a trip out of town. Not to mention the customary trip to a warehouse store that almost every Muslim American family I know makes pre-Ramadan...

I am also looking into going somewhere for Eid. I don't want to sit here another year, I hate it. I know I should be focusing on the worship aspect of Eid... But I think there is no harm in having fun too... And Eid here leaves me depressed. I would love to go somewhere where there is a larger community that would have some sort of festival and of course a big eid prayer. I like big.

Of course Ramadan means a new Ramadan craft, insha'Allah. And I already have some ideas;)

Camera back on-line!!!

I have been unable to post photos from my camera for quite some time now because I couldn't load them onto the comp. Now I can so get ready to see some!

This is the baby digging into the cake we got for her first birthday in June. I have been wanting to post it but have been having problems with my digital camera... Of course posting this means I finally got them figured out!LOL


These are some cupcakes I made that I thought turned out pretty well. The center is chocolate! YUMMM.

Sufism?

My SIL has become interested in Imam Ghasali (is that how you spell it) and Sufism. DH is flipping, but I have always wanted to know more about it myself. Does anyone have any recommendations for more information on Sufism? Any Sufis out there with thoughts?

IUD update

So, I got the IUD this afternoon as planned. It went well, alhamdulilah. The midwife told me to get ready for a pinch and a big cramp... But I didn't feel anything, masha'Allah.The midwife told me I must have a high threshold of pain, I am thinking I was lucky!LOL Also I think I just feel pain differently than some people. Whenever I feel pain I tend to have stomach problems. Weird, but consistent. I has always happened to me the day before and the first few days of my period and in early labor. Maybe that's my body's version of cramps. OK, I may have just given you more information than you ever wanted to have!LOL

I guess I am saying, so far so good. Masha'Allah. Now I just have to convince the DH that there is nothing to be afraid of since both of my SIL's have been telling him about people getting pregnant with the IUD! GOOD GRIEF!!!!

YUMMMM!

I must confess that I get obsessed about things sometimes... I get an idea and I keep researching and planning and learning more than I really need to know. My latest obsession in jam. I have become interested in the process of making jam and canning in general. I am making strawberry jam this afternoon, insha'Allah. I even made the fresh bread to go with the test batch!LOL

Now, I am making plans to make pickles and can vegetables. Is getting fixated on canning wierd? I hope not.

If you haven't seen him yet....

I have been following this brother's videos for quite some time. He makes me laugh, he makes me think. If you haven't seen him yet, check it out.Ummah FilmsThanks for this one brother Aly, you really did remind me.

Say hello to my little friend....

I know that it may be slightly controversial for a Muslim woman to publicly discuss her birth control choices, but I figure if no one ever talks we will all just be in the OB's office starting and that BC chart and thinking, "HUHHHHHH?". So, here I go.

I have been going through the BC thing since my baby was born a year ago in search of an option that actually makes sense for me. See, I got pregnant on the mini-pill and had some mind numbing headaches after the third round of Depo... So it was time for a new option. I have revisited the BC thing after my last three pregnancies and tried something new every time.

When I was not really serious about BC after our first child (we were spacing not really preventing) I used a diaphragm. Now, for those of you who have never even used a tampon or checked your own cervix... A diaphragm might be a little odd for you. But, once you get used to it you can do it pretty quickly. My Dr (family friend) at the time told me I could always teach my DH to put it in and then I wouldn't have to break the mood. "I thought you knew my DH? Maybe I should introduce you sometime... His name is _____!" was my response. But maybe there are people who that would work for. For the rest of us it requires a bathroom break, and a generous application of spermicide (which changes vaginal PH and cause more frequent infections for some women).

Then, I went to the mini-pill. No mood breaking, no interfering with breastfeeding... And I got pregnant with my third child when our son was about 9 months old. To be fair, I wasn't taking it at the same hour every day like I was supposed to... But I was always taking it before bed, so go figure. I don't really promote it because I feel it may not be enough hormone to interrupt the cycle for all women.

Then, now gun-shy, I wouldn't let them send m home from the hospital without a depo-prevara injection. They are a time release hormone and they last about 3 months. I got 3 boosters and then headaches and irregular bleeding forced me to consider other options. We went to spermicides until we were ready to get pregnant again.

This time... Well, I started out with the nuvo-ring. It worked fine (less side effects than the pill) but even after the adjustment period of two months I was suffering from a reduced milk supply. So, I took it out. Now, if I wasn't nursing it would've been fine. But, in the long run I would rather stay away from hormonal BC. So... I talked to my midwife AGAIN who told me that I might want to consider what she has always relied on, a copper IUD. So, we agreed I would just come in next time I had my period (since that is when it is easiest to insert) and that's now. So, Monday I go in and get the IUD placed. I am a little nervous about it, but ready to be done with BC conversations and trial and error with hormones.

So, I know you might be thinking that you don't really care to hear about BC... But if you want an actual woman's perspective on it, here you go. I will post Monday about how the procedure went and whether or not it left me considering celibacy as an option!lol

rant

I have been just trying to keep my head above water these days. We drove to Denver the week of the July 4th only to have our car break down halfway there. Now, when there are 6 people in your family you can't just load into the tow truck. Soooo, we waited an hour and a half for a taxi on the side of the freeway (of course we didn't let the tow truck take the car until we left). So now I have my grandma's old car (a vintage station wagon which unfortunately she smokes in) and DH is fighting daily the 1001 complications that have come up in getting our old car fixed.

Also, I am fighting (literally) my DH's moodiness. I am just about fed up really... I know he has things going on in his life, but he has a family and a wife to think about. He told me in an argument the other day that he was "this close" to running away to Egypt. Yeah, real mature. Then you add into it all this stuff we have going on... It doesn't make for a great environment. You know at these moments you ask yourself "Am I the crazy one?" Sometimes I am confident that he is just a demanding person, other times I wonder if I am really just not as hardworking as other wives. Sheesh. I guess the cold hard truth is that I am giving him lots of leeway because the house money is his. He's the only one making money. If I really do get my own income, I'm sure we would fight more because I would want more control over spending. And I don't know where a Muslim man gets off telling his wife that it's her turn to support him for awhile or she "owes him" for supporting the family anyway. It's odd. Ya Rubb!

OK, I'm just ranting and venting... I hope to be back with a more constructive post soon, insha'Allah.