The phone call…

Just like that, out of the blue this morning I received a call from a friend…

Friend: Did you say a while back that you wanted a kitten?

Me: Well not really me…but N would love one. She has been pestering us for a while now. She really wants a kitten.

Friend: The thing is that H. has a kitten and she is looking for a good home for it.

Me: Don’t know what to say…

Friend: Why don’t you talk directly to H and see what you wanna do…?

And the rest is history as they say. In less than 10 minutes I knew that it was our maktub, she was written for us (not sure is a ’she’…but the semi experts have said so).

She arrived just after 4 and we all fell in love with her instantly. Even dh who will not admit it but his face says a different story

I guess showing you her pics is best right now. Voila…

Oh no, the camera’s battery is flat. I’ve got to charge it before I can download the pics. Tomorrow, inshallah, you can see the pics. Or I guess I’ll save this post and wait till I’ve sorted the pics.

Alhamdulilah I have the pictures ready. Without further delay…here is the new addition to the family, Mia….

 

She is adorable, mashallah. We are not sure what we’re doing just yet but we all love her and she seems to like it with us

Salaams y Hasta pronto

Ines

P.S First week of weight watchers….4.5 lbs lighter!!!!

 

 

 

 

Loving the changes…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m always so ready for the new season. Subhanallah, there is so much beauty in all of them.

The pictures were taken yesterday in Queen’s Park. It was our view from where my friend and I sat. We sat and talked and talked and talked some more. Well, I did all the talking and she did all the listening. She is great like that. She knows me inside out and does not mince her words when it comes to giving advice. Her nasiha (advice) is much appreciated by me even though to begin with I resist it. The thing is , she is happy to tell me what I don’t want to hear…She says it like it is.Reality check as its best

So yeah Ines. Stop moaning. Say Alhamdulilah for everything that you have. Look around and think of all those people who are worse off than you. Have patience. Don’t forget that what we want is not always what is best for us. Remember Allah constantly and He will remember you…ShukraAllah, Subhanallah, Alhamdulilah, Allahu Akbar…

Talking about changes…remember I was telling you guys about the weight watchers diet ( read it here). I did go for the first weighing and it wasn’t as bad as I anticipated but still quite a lot to do on that front. 2 stones to shift to be precise.

So the diet has changed. Welcome healthy , nutritious and natural foods. Bye junky, fast and yummy disgusting foods. Hello soups, salads and mediterranean diet. Get out of my life biscuits, cakes and oily foods.  I know I don’t sound to convincing but I am determined for this change to take place so I’ll keep you updated.

And if I’m hungry for food I’m even hungrier inside, spiritually. I have taken steps to build up and strengthen my iman.  Reading and listening to tafsir of Quran is helping me inmensely at the moment, alhamdulilah.

In a little while I’m off to the hairdressers to change my look. I did say it was an inside out change I was going to go through… Please my friends pray for me that I change for the best thus becoming closer to Allah, our creator.

Salaams y Hasta pronto,

Ines

 

Success…

I can’t remember where or when I read …. “Knowledge  is taqwah and success is jannah” but ever since I read the quote often I have pondered…
No doubt I want both, taqwah and jannah who wouldn’t… The thing is that it is such a struggle to achieve, to keep up the good work, to sustain the pace…
Iman is required to achieve anything of the sort but unfortunatelly it is not something you get by clicking your fingers. Right now, sadly, my iman is all over the place…Up one day , down the next…I’m quite tired of this state of going through the motions on automatic, astaghfirullah.
I know the first thing I need to do is get on the prayer mat and work on my salah, strenghen the link between myself and my creator. Make a move to disconnect from the dunya…
Inshallah next week is half term for me but not for the girls and it should be an opportunity to charge batteries, to reconnect spiritually.
I am going to take things easy and look after myself inside out inshallah.Also in a little while I’m off to weight watchers. Time to do something about my out of control weight gain… No, I won’t be reporting back on how much I weighed but I will be posting on progress as a way to keep myself motivated.

Things at work are great but I’ll tell you about it in the next post. Now is time to get ready to face the music… wish me luck and if you could remember me in your du’as … much appreciated Jazakhallah

Salaams and Hasta pronto,

Ines

 

All things red…

It all started with this

One of the biggest paintings my dad is done for me and right from the start I fell in love with the red colour.

As some of you may know , we moved into our new place in the month of June (or was it late May?) and only now things are starting to take shape.

I wasn’t sure how I wanted to decorate the house so I decided to take things slowly and go with the flow ,so to speak. My energy and money were going to be spent on the open plan ground floor, where we spend most of  our time. Still not sure what I was doing but slowly,slowly  I ended up with all the big pieces, i.e. sofas, dining table…

And then one day it hit me… it was all wrong, it was looking too conservative, too neutral, too creamy… and that is not me. Can’t remember who said it but she was right, it was like a chocolate box with a few white ones…

But then something happened…kind of accidently. Ok, if I have to be honest the £6 tag attached to it influenced my choice but it turned out to be the beginning of my love affair with all things red

oh how I wish now I had chosen red for my dh new radio...

 So , suddenly the room was not all brown and cream anymore. The lamp base in red added a bit of what should I say…colour? interest to the room? Exactly that, so I made a conscious decision of accessorizing ( you can tell I’ve been watching too many of those decorating programmes )using warm tones of red.

Next, the big brown table with the brown leather chairs needed tackling and that is exactly what I did. And here is the pic..

By now I was much happier but not quite  there yet. Something had to be done with the wide cream walls. Another visit to TK Maxx for inspiration and this is what caught my attention…

this was definitely love at first sight

And the red theme has reached other parts of the house too! Look at these cute red lamps. Actually I’m only showing you the one on the first landing but there is another identical one in the hallway.

just enough red to add that je ne sais quoi...

The weird thing is that I don’t think of red as my favourite colour at all. When people ask me about my fave colour I always answer green. I never wear red. My jilabas and scarves are always black or dark blue and the same for almost all my clothing. But now that I think about it, my handbag is RED!

What does that say about me? Any ideas? My guess is that…no, better leave it at that, don’t want to over analyze things and scare myself off

And that is all for now … Wishing you all a happy autumn,

Salaams and Hasta pronto,

Ines

 

Eid days mementoes…

I’m exhausted , literally too tired to even string a coherent sentence together so better let the pictures do the talking…

the night before just after Eid had been declared for the following day

 

 

 

El hombre in charge of the food, I couldn't have been any happier

Alhamdulilah the weather was great and ate alfresco

aunty maryam was in charge of the henna and she did a very good job

this more demanding girl wanted a bracelet and aunty rose to the challenge

this other teenage girl decided a while back that she was vegetarian ( subject for a separate post arrrrrrgh) and we rose to the challenge

this other teenage boy was forced/bribed/dragged to my party (imagine that!!) so he had the hump...thanks god he brought his own entertainment

after all the food a game of petanque

cool or what? dd11 is very fashion concious...

and that is all for now folks. A very busy day tomorrow. The girls start school after tomorrow and I still haven’t managed to get their uniform. Talk about last minute dot com…

Salaams and hasta la vista,

Ines

 

The end is here…

like all good things, Ramadan has come to an end too. And now is time to celebrate Eid. May Allah grant you all , my muslim brothers and sisters, a happy Eid day , full of blessings, ameen.

 

It’s contagious…

and currently in the air… the love for gardening in our house, that is. See for yourselves. She is in her element…

and she makes it look so effortless...

 

Ever since we moved into our new home, sometime in June, our garden has been the part of the house most talked about, most looked after and the one that has undergone the most changes.

Unfortunately , in our absence while on holidays in Spain, the herbs all perished   We’re even considering not going on holidays for such long time anymore. Crazy , I know…

W e are looking into starting our own vegetable patch at the back of the garden but I’m not sure is the right move for our family. I’d love to but I think it would be too much considering that both my dh and I spend most of the day out at work.  I might start off with one vegetable, an easy low maintenance one and take it from there. We’ll see..

I leave you with more pics of our garden. Who would have said it, me enjoying gardening…

m;y dad'a ivy, I brought it back from home

 Salaams y Hasta Pronto,

Ines

 

Wishing you all a Happy New Year…

I know , I know…no I haven’t lost the plot but as far as I’m concerned each new year begins in September. Maybe is to do with working in schools and with coming back to work after a long break but I think it is more to do with starting afresh with a completely different group of children. New classroom, new children, new challenges, new colleagues, new activities…

As mentioned in the previous post , this year is somewhat different as we do not start until after the Eid celebrations which mark the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

I hope and pray that this new year is beneficial to me and all those around me in my work place and specially for the little ones in our care. Inshallah, we all learn and grow together. We overcome any challenges and difficulties  with sabr (patience ) and remember Allah constantly.

Salaams y Hasta pronto,

Ines

 

It’s official…

I’m not a kept woman anymore.Actually, I will continue to be a kept woman but only for two months…

Alhamdulilah, two days ago I was offered a teaching position in a primary school. For obvious reasons I am not going to say much about the place except that it is a muslim school, alhamdulilah and that the victims children  in my class will be a little bit younger than the ones last year. This year I will be teaching a year 1 class.

I am really looking forward to a new beginning. I was shown round the school this morning and instantly fell in love with my classroom. I can not wait to get in there tomorrow and start arranging the furniture and adding my own personal touches to the place.

Plenty of time left till the start of term as we don’t start until after Eid, inshallah. What a blessing to work in a muslim environment, mashallah. Alhamdulilah I have always had time off work during the holly month and other important muslim  dates.

And now as customary I leave you with some pics of my holidays in the Basque Country.

The views from my bedroom window, mashallah.

Any idea what grandpa and the little girls are doing? Let me give you a clue…

That’s right, collecting/picking (not sure what the right word is) snails. Nobody in the whole entire world cooks them better than my dad. Yum!

And snails were not the only thing that we picked. On another one of our beautiful and relaxed outings we picked  juicy, sweet berries. Lots and lots of them.

The break was good mashallah but it is also good to be back. Alhamdulilah I feel fully recharged and  stress free. Let’s see how long that lasts…

Ramadan mubarak to all my muslim readers and hasta pronto,

Ines

 

Fasting in the Month of Sha’ban

‘Â’ishah (may Allâh be pleased with her) said:

“The Messenger (peace and blessings of Allâh be upon him) used to fast until we thought he would never break his fast, and not fast until we thought he would never fast. I never saw the Messenger of Allâh fasting for an entire month except in Ramadân, and I never saw him fast more than he did in Sha’bân.”

[Narrated by al-Bukhârî, Muslim]

Salaams and Hasta pronto,
Ines