Inspired!

I re-discovered that I love drawing and making stuff with my hands. Thanks to my recent blog reading obsession, I came across some inspiring ideas and people.

I surf the blog sphere to research about homeschooling. You know, see how other families are doing it, and if it'll work with this family or not.

The neat thing about homeschooling is that you need to school yourself first, so I am trying to learn different things and crafts. So like the good resourceful( and by good and resourceful I mean going to this website and clicking the purchase button) girl I am went and found this neat book that teaches you how to draw animals from scratch, there's a whole series of it actually. I just got the animal one coz that's what my little( not so little)one is interested in at the moment. We sit together and she directs me to draw a lion, a monkey or a goat (you get the idea) and I happily oblige, but now I happily oblige with style, I can actually draw, how neat is that!

So here is a drawing I drew on a card board box. ( Another obsession I have, I LOVE cardboard! Ah the possibilities, and that awesome brown color..hmm)
Ok Leaving you with the drawing.





Peace

This part is added:

I re-read the post and realized I am inspired by bloggers true! But I failed to mention My biggest inspiration, my beautiful daughters and wonderful husband. The blogs are fun to read and a good source for projects and creative ideas. But the first born is the one who made me go and find this book and read these blogs.
One of these days she'll be using this book too to draw inshaAllah or maybe find other passions but I have a hunch this book will be used a lot! We'll see.

Have a good one!

The Cabaret Mechanical Theatre

We packed up the four of us and all went to a family favorite: The Museum of Science and Industry.

Here are photos of the exhibit that caught my eye the most. Introducing The Cabaret Mechanical Theatre:





This set show you how the cool little miniatures moved when you pressed the button.

Here are some more mechanical miniatures:






Peace.

I am loving:

The little one's sleeping noises and how she holds on to my shirt/hand/hair..whatever comes her way and whenever she gets a chance.

Her big sister's early morning wake up talk which goes something like this " Mama's coming right now! 'ayza (I want) ice cream, come out to play. In this order

How I for my first time in life finished a knitting project.

My sewing class.

My Daughter's new mobile from this awesome Etsy shop

My to be picked up vintage Singer sewing machine and all the possibilities that will come along with it.

My baby sitter

Obama, Obama, Obama. A breath of fresh air. (I know he's still a politician, but I truly want to believe, so let me dream on)

Night time reading of" boy" by Roald Dahl. Read by the bestess boy in my life.

The Evanston public library, a great place all year round but especially in winter!

This book, this blog, and this song( warning: a tear jerker for anyone away from home)

what are you loving right now?

Obama Mama:)

Dear President Obama,

Thank you so much for bringing back hope, happiness and tears of joy for this nation. I am not an American but after listening to your Inauguration speech today I truly wished I was one.
As my refugee Iraqi baby sitter said while watching you take the oath, May you be as true and as good as we all think you are.
God bless you Sir.

Sincerely,
An immigrant mother of two.

A Winter Fairy Land

I open the curtains to find small white glowing fairies roaming about in mid air. I look beyond at the white covered rooftops, and translucent crystals dangling from ledges, sparkling in the light of the day.
The ground has transformed to a giant fluffy cloud, with remnants of mystical creatures footprints(squirrels count as mystical creatures right?)
I live in a fairy land but I dare not tread outside (it's 18 below today!).

Stay warm and cozy everyone!

Winters in the mid-west as seen through the eyes of an urban Egyptian girl.

Peace

Potatoe Chicken Casserole

Potato chicken casserole is a very simple yet delicious dish I grew up with.
I tend to make it often for it's simplicity and full nutritional value, you just need some brown rice and salad to have a full meal.

I made this dish last week for the girls grand uncle and grand aunt when they were visiting and they loved it.
I promised I'd blog about it so here you go.

One thing: while making this dish, make sure the chicken is of good quality. I buy Kosher organic whole chicken and cut it in half,I made this dish once for family members with skinless poor quality chicken(the only halal chicken we could find at the moment!) and it turned out too dry and didn't have much taste to it!

So the secret to the success of this recipe is the chicken quality (you have been warned!).

Ingredients:

1 organic whole chicken with skin cut in half

2 big potatoes sliced thick slices

2 Onions sliced

2 big tomatoes sliced

Olive oil

Cardomon, salt, pepper,and sweet paprika to taste

Preheat oven to 450 degrees (I like to make sure the chicken is thoroughly cooked)
Oil a Pyrex dish with olive oil, layer the onions potatoes tomatoes over one another in that order. Sprinkle some olive oil, salt, pepper, cardamon, and sweet paprika.
Top with the two halves of your chicken, sprinkle it with the same spices and cover with foil. Stick the Casserole in the oven for 45 minutes, then remove the foil and broil for 5 minutes or until the chicken skin turns red and crispy.

Serve with some rice and salad, and TADA!

Peace

Well said!

Syria's first lady expressed exactly how we all mothers feel.



Keep making du'a for our brothers, sisters, sons and daughters in Gaza.

Peace.

My favourite part of the day

I was rushing so my significant other would hold our smallest family member, (before he goes to bed) so I could do my bedtime routine. (He specifically told me to take my time by the way).

So I finished up my bathroom routine, rushed upstairs and jumped in my pj's then my isdal (a very long garment I wear inside the house for praying that covers me from head to toe, leaving only my face and hands out. Also useful for my famous penguin walk!) to pray.

As we all know(maybe not all, but oh well!), the most significant thoughts come along when I'm in the middle of prayer.(something I shouldn't be doing) But this one thought I held on to.

As my head was touching the ground in prostration, my heart slowed down a little and I felt a satisfying calm take over me. I became connected.
Connected to this earth I'm touching with my forehead. Connected with all the people doing the same exact prostration as I am doing right now. Connected to all those generations who did this same exact act and all the generations to come who will be lowering their heads to the ground in complete surrender till the end of time. I felt gratitude for being a part of this full circle, for my daughters, my husband, our families, our brothers and sisters in Islam, and our brothers and sisters in humanity.

"O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of male and female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know and cooperate with one another."

- (Quran 49:13)


My husband and I have this little thing we do every night. We each think of our favorite part of the day and share it. We find that this little game makes us remember all the happy moments that passed by that day. It melts away all the stresses that come along, and makes us focus and remember the good stuff .

My favorite part of the day today was this little stray thought during my end of the day prayer. We forgot to share it so there you go.

So significant other along with everyone whose reading this, what was your favorite part of the day?

Peace.

Oh no!

At sometime around the beginning of last year I discovered the amazing Etsy website.
In case you still haven't heard of it and haven't received my many emails.
Etsy is a website dedicated to handmade items and the like.
I was and still am super excited about the website and about anything handmade in general. The idea of supporting small businesses and stay at home mommies like moi, is wonderful, also I'm not a very big fan of mass produced products, for many obvious reasons.

So here's why I'm blabbing about all this. As I was blog hopping as usual. Just checking a few of my favorite blogs and discovering newer ones. I came across this very angry chicken. Please check her post then return here.

So I don't know if you'll read this in time but today,( it's 10:41 pm right now!) is the last day to leave your comments on this link. I just left a comment right now.
But if you didn't make it , there are online petitions you can participate in through the same post.

I can't imagine not being able to afford the few things I like to buy for loved ones.
Please act.
Peace