My New Blog Address

Salutations, Greetings, Salaams,

I've have finally caught up with the rest of the world and transferred to Word Press :-D

The new address there is;

Kat's Ramblings (http://www.katelders61.wordpress.com/

Eid 2011

The whole day was almost a bust for me, lol.

I got up, got all of my clothes ironed, changed my jewelry over to the gold because I couldn't find a silver scarf to go with the intended clothes for that day so that I could wear my silver "everything".  I wear silver, not gold, as I am the purchaser of my jewelry and that's what I can afford and I have actually come to prefer it.

I guess I'm still a little obsessed with my weight since this picture of me really is upsetting.  I'm only 5'4" @ 135lbs and I look HUGE!  Ok, I've gotten that out of my system, I'm better. It really Galls me though.  I've worked really hard to lose the weight from quitting cigarettes and I've even lost more than I'd originally gained. Anywayyyyy

In the top picture are quite a few of the Elyeman girls. If any of you girls read this and I've spelled your names wrong, just post corrections below, lol.
So beginning from the left is Bayinah, Nazia (not Eleyeman), Jihad - better known as Jiji, Selsabeel, and finally Miss Ala. In the bottom is their Mother, my dear friend, Alice.

Salsa was returning to college the next day and the day after that, today, Ala left for the rest of her college up north.  I will miss them both.  I don't get to see them very often any more with them all growing up and going off to college and my working so much these days, but when we do, I get the BEST hugs, but Jiji has the best hugs of all, lol.

It seems like it's been so long since I was blessed to be invited into their family, but it really hasn't. My Daughter was only "just" pregnant with her now 2.5 yr old son at the time, so I guess that only adds up to about 3 yrs, Wow, it feels so much longer.

At any rate the day was almost a bust because my Daughter has been quit smoking for I think 6 days, as of today.  The effects are really and literally making her very ill.  I was heading toward the Masjid for the first morning prayer on Eid when she called and asked if I would take her to the clinic because she was feeling pretty bad.

I made and about face and by the time I'd gotten back to where my apartment was the poor baby called me back and told me not to come because she'd just realized what day it was and didn't want me to miss the festivities.  I made it to the Masjid just as everyone was exiting the building after the second prayer.  I was bummed! I did get to see quite a few people that I don't most of the time, but missed seeing someone I was supposed to meet.  I'm not sure how that will turn out, but probably for the best. Dua's are a pretty good thing :D (Thank you Sr. Tasneem)

As it turned out, I didn't have to work for the week. Everyone had people at their homes or their whole families were home so I've been spending a lot of time with my daughter and her son.  It has been very nice. I work on Friday, then go to Lowery Park, hopefully, with Erica and the baby, Tiylor. She has passes so I can get in for free :-D

I think the last time I was there my Daughter was quite young, less than the first grade and I know that was the time because we went with a friend and her daughter.  On that visit, we thought my friend's daughter had been "taken" because she just disappeared! It scared us all pretty bad. She turned out to be at the "Lost and Found".  The child in question later said that a strange woman took her there.

My girl friend always teased me saying I was so mean because I wouldn't let my daughter get away from me, as in my not holding her hand.  I swear, I know I got an extra group of gray hairs that day, it was very bad for me, because I'd just been lecturing her in return about all of the children that disappear yearly, Wa Allah! it was so terrible for those few moments, but as you can see, 20 years later, the memory is still very clear.

At any rate Eid of 2011 will go down in my book as a bust, but a good one.

I remember my Mother always saying that on New Years day try to be either doing what you want to be doing in the year to come or something that will enable that end.
Well it is superstitious, but I figure if you are worshiping in the way that is best for your soul and surrounded by people who love you and whom you love, what better way to spend the coming year. You see for Muslims, this is the beginning of the new year so I'm spending time with family and people who are dear to me.

Ramadan 2011

Tomorrow is Eid Al-Fitr
Yes!!! I'm SOOOO looking forward to being at the Masjid.

Can't tell, though since it's LATE and I'm here, lol. 

Hopefully, I'll have plenty of pictures from the festivities.

Just wanted to put a note here and then get to the bed :-D

Sea World! Yayyyy

Where to begin....

After going to Busch Gardens with my daughter and her son, we planned to return that Friday with herself and her husband, just the adults to ride, rides :-D
It turned out the did it together so they could have some "Parents Time". I remember those days, they are a very necessary part of a healthy Psyche for the parents.

Anyway, my daughter suggested we go to Sea World together that Sunday, just us.

I have to say we were greatly disappointed that Manta was malfunctioning while we were there. We stood in line for something like 40 minutes and then got on the ride, waited about 15 mins, got off, got back on about 15 mins later, got back off and then we were invited to get on  again, I wasn't about to get stuck on it so we got out of there.

What was the most fun though was just spending the time together. The last time we'd been able to do that was in the summer of 02.  We went to Williamsburg, VA to their Busch Gardens and also into Williamsburg the historical sights.  It was really WONDERFUL for me because I loved all the "learning" involved with reading the landmark plaque and speaking with all of the personnel in period clothing performing daily activities of the time.

This is in the Penguin exhibit. We are standing in front of an amazing picture that shows the eco-cycle /food chain. The picture itself was really amazing in it's detail.

 

This is the last thing we did that day before leaving. It was a really fun show with Dolphins and a whale I've never seen before. It was very long, slender and quite able to frolic with the Dolphins.  I checked the website and there is no mention even of the show we saw, much less the whale in question. :-P

A Day with my Daughter and Son

August 02, 2011

What a great day to spend some time together. 

I unexpectedly had a day off in the middle of the weed and got to spend it with my daughter and grand son.

The weather was actually pretty good. By good I mean it rained on the way there, which ment it cooled off.

Our Intended Destination

As you can see by this picture it was sunny for a little while and boy did that make it hot!  Then Tyilor got 
into some water splashing and jumping around not to mention the climbing and rope bridge walking.  Mommy said she had to work to keep up, lol

Then there was tree climbing and then adventures over the rope bridge and all over those two floors and then back over the bridge and down again.  It was so much fun watching him on his trek you could see he was practically dragging poor Mommy along and she was having trouble providing the "balancing" hand that he needed so much. :-P

They finally made it back down to the ground and by then we'd all worked up a fearsome appetite, what with them trekking all over Elmo's tree house and myself  following down below with my trusty camera, we all decided it was time to procure some "GRUB!" 

Tyilor inspecting his french fry and we also had a guest who was more than happy to help out with whatever TY was to busy to eat himself or he deemed unworthy of his attentions, lol.

At first I thought he'd be really hungry, but I think that he got a regular diet as he was actually picky enough to NOT eat the french fries.

We got to see the primates, which turns out were one of Ty's favorite attractions.




                             

I got to take a few "tourist" type pictures too, any way, fun was had by all and we were all sufficiently tired when it was time to head home.

A Night With The Girls




The Hostess-Mineself

 



The FOOD!

  I was so Blessed last night to have so many dear family and friends come to my new home.

My Daughter came up with the idea of having a "family" night so we could just spend time together and it has morphed into a really great time.

She usually brings her son and a girlfriend.  Our last gathering was at her house and we did the traditional pizza and a salad and pop-corn and a movie.  We were up soooo late that night, lol.

This time, it was at my house and her Mother-in-law also came and two of my friends.  It was so much fun that we never got to the "movie" part.

My Daughter, Erica, had also suggested a book club which is really great, since as a kid, getting her to read anything that wasn't required was an act of Congress, lol.  Subhannah Allah, she is a voracious reader now and I am so incredibly pleased that I am happy to find a way to cram some "reading for pleasure" into my schedule of "reading my assignments" that I'd stay up even later. 

Generally, on a day to day basis, I clean  a house from 9 am to 1 pm then, if I have another one I'll start that one about 1:30 pm until no later than 5:30 pm, then race to school (16 miles away) change into scrubs in the ladies room (a lot of us do this) then attend school until 10:30-11:00 pm, drive back home and cram some studying in if I'm awake enough, then sleep by 1 or 1:30 am.  Repeat daily.  If I only have one customer (usually) I go early to school and study, do assignments then classes so that by the weekend I am a total ZOMBIE, but in the long run, it'll be worth it. 
I already have an Administrative degree, but since the trend in hiring is toward medicine, especially with so much of our median population nearing retirement, I decided to add the Medical Billing and Coding to it so that I would be a more marketable commodity. InshaAllah, we'll see if it helps. I sincerely hope so since even with the grants I am adding to my student loan deficit :-(

Trying very hard to stay awake in class. Medical Terminology is fascinating, but I'm not sleeping enough :p