The ABCs of Life

Thanks to those who are still reading this blog though without updates for a while NOW. I’m not sure whether I’ll be updating frequently again, but I do hope to do so once everything’s certain and settled InshaALlah. Meanwhile, please make du’a for us ya!

To Audrey and LoveQ gang, truly sorry but I don’t think I can participate every week until I get my two feet back home (in my homeland)….allahuma yassir ya ALlah.

I really want to write sometimes. And the worst part of wanting to write is, there’s always something to write down in my head when I’m in bed, putting my baby to sleep and when I’m about to sleep myself. And that is not the time to write because I don’t want my little angel to wake up when she realize that I’m not by her side. And of course after that good night/day sleep, I won’t remember anything when I wake up!

Okay, I’m not complaining about my baby, I’m complaining about myself…I should have put the book and pen under my pillow like before. And scribble in the dark like I did before…why am I remembering these to do things ONLY NOW?!

Aduhhh…sila abaikan pernyataan di atas.

Anyway, about wanting to write, other than having what to write, there’s always a question about why write? Haha, belit-belit punya ayat!

The thing is; there are times I’m not sure whether these words and thoughts are worth to be printed out. Or at least blogged about. Who’s reading? And are they of any benefit to them?

Of thousand and millions of blogs that exist in this realm, what makes me a worth reading writer and what makes me not?

I hate the idea of simply telling stories of just my everyday life. I used to renounce the idea of blogging = online journal/diaries.

But life has taught me that people love this type of writing like they love fun and exciting comics and romantic love stories.

Why? Because people love to snoop on other people’s live? Maybe huh ;)?

But the fact is, people love real people. Real things. Life, for real. Fairy tales and philosophy could seem heavenly nice. But we aren’t fairies and we can’t just live on ideals.

I’ve learnt that people learn from others by learning what they experience in life and how do they respond to it. And people like to understand that they can know, do things, overcome problems and so on being the people they are; with weaknesses, limitations, wants and needs.

And that’s why He sent Prophets to mankind, chosen among men themselves. A Prophet has always been a man, never a Jinn nor an angel. He sent a man to other men so that he will teach them revelations and wisdom. And so that they will be able to understand his speech and follow him by example.

3:164 Allah did confer a great favour on the believers when He sent among them an apostle from among themselves, rehearsing unto them the Signs of Allah, sanctifying them, and instructing them in Scripture and Wisdom, while, before that, they had been in manifest error.

Well, I’m not sure where am I heading with this entry. I just hope that this entry and everything that I’ve written and shall write be a good deed that will benefit InshaALlah, more than just me.

Mungkin untuk masa-masa sukar menulis begini, bisa saya lambakkan sejumlah puisi yang sudah lama tak menghuni blog ini.

Allah Maha Pengasih

I’m not sure what I’ve been doing for the past week but I was surely too busy for this pc huhuhu… Anyway Tot’s Mom tagged me (again) with this. She’s surely kind enough to remember me whenever she blogs. Thank you sis! And sorry delaying this post…

Instructions:

Remove 1 question from below, and add in your personal question, make it a total of 20 questions, then tag 8 people in your list, list them out at the end of this post. Notify them in their chat box that he/she had been tagged. Whoever did the tag will have the blessing from all.

1. You like rainy or sunny day? Why? - A sunny day would be wonderful here in the UK but I won’t complain much, the world needs both every now and then.
2. At what age do you wish to marry? - I used to think of not marrying anyone and devote my life to da’wah & charity but then why not do both through marriage and that should be when I’m 21. But I was only married after finishing my degree at 22. Not bad-lah kan?
3. What color do you like the most? - Anything pastel would do. Not too bright, not too dark. Well, actually I’ll choose according to what’s suitable to the item wearing the colour.
4. If you have the chance, what would you probably say to your beloved one? - I don’t need a chance, I have soooo many of it! Praise be to Allah :).
   
5. Where is the place that you want to go the most? Why? - Makkah, Madinah and Palestine; all three holy Muslim lands. I would love to visit Turkey too.
6. Which part of you that you hate the most? - I don’t hate anything physical about me, I’m blessed with everything I have and I am except that I’m not really good at handling my temper sometimes.
7. When you encounter a sad moment, what would you do? - I’ll quickly do something to not think of the sadness for example entertaining my family or cook. I might cry but I’m doing lesser of that nowadays, I am truly a happy woman praise be to Allah.
   
8. What is it that you are afraid to lose the most? - God and my family.
9. If you win $1 million, what would you do? - Invest in businesses and charities, do ‘Umrah and Hajj, buy a house, a car and everything my children need and of course those expensive cameras and lenses my husband have been dreaming of.
   
10. If you meet someone that you love, would you confess to him/her? Or would you keep it to yourself and observe from afar? - I’m not sure whether I’ve ever had the chance to do that
11. List out 3 good points of the person who tagged you. - Kind enough to remember me with this; a great mommy blogger who seems to be able to post frequently; she must be cute for a having a cute baby!
    
12. What are the requirements that you wish for your other half? - A good Muslim, a family man. Whatever he is now.
13. Till now, what is the moment that you regret the most? - When I was angry at my son and I’m actually angry of myself.
14. Which type of person that you hate the most? - I’d say hating is nearly impossible for me but I really dislike hypocrites and liars.
15. What is your ambition? - I want to be the most beneficial person that one could be.
    
16. What is the thing that will make you think he/she is bad? - Good people usually have ‘welcoming’ vibes but you’ll never know what a person is until you get to know them; I’d say I’ll feel negative about a person when he/she doesn’t keep his/her promises.
17. If you can have 1 dream to come true, what would it be? - God’s bliss till eternity.
18. Christmas is coming, who do you like to celebrate with? - I don’t celebrate Christmas but ‘Eidul Adha is just around the corner and I’d like to celebrate it with my Mama, Papa and Atok other than my nucleus family.
    
19. What do you think it’s the most important thing in your life? - God.
20. My question: Why is God so important? - God: The Creator is the reason we are here now on earth. If you want to live a life with a purpose greater than just worldly happiness, success and wealth; you need to believe in Him. If you want to know how should you be living your life; you need to get to know Him. If you want to live an eternal life; you need to know if there’s beyond this short life on earth and how could you achieve it. And therefore, I believe in Allah and I am a Muslim.

**Oops! Everyone’s welcomed to do the tag because I can’t really specify the special 8 since many of my blogging friends seemed to have a hard time answering one these days
Alright, I’m done with this praise be to Allah

The world of blog advertising has really expanded these days. We no longer see unrelated banner ads on free domains or they are there but maybe lesser in number. And most ads on blogs nowadays are becoming the source of income to their owners. In other words, they are there if we want them to and many choose to have them for the benefits they really come with.

Another lucrative blog advertising campaign would be by writing opinions or reviews on products, websites or services on your blog with appropriate compensation for every post. You can now get paid to blog, attracting bloggers and their blogging activities to blog for money. It might sound unbelievable still to some, but many other people out there are getting benefits from every effort they put to advertise on blogs and write great entries. If you haven’t heard about this before, you should check it out ASAP because as we talk, many out there are waiting for their monthly pay checks or online payouts simply by sticking to the new way of blogging and advertising.

Tot’s Mom tagged me with this ***thank you***…hence HELPED me out to give a bit of ‘not too much to think about’ update. Fidaa’ has just recovered from her fever; she was so grumpy all week and it worried us a lot. ALhamdulillah she’s fine now and it’s time to get things going.

And about breakfast; I’m not sure whether I had much breakfasts these days since our living hours have turned upside down again. The little girl has been staying up all night for play and sleeps all day long. Handzalah had this very same problem but he was colicky then. Fidaa’? I don’t know what’s stopping her from having a good night sleep other than this cycle of a normal 2 weeks and another 2 weeks of Batman Returns. So today, before they go to sleep in the morning, we went out to the city for some fresh air by bus; trying to break the ‘bat’ cycle. Haven’t been on the bus for quite some time since we bought the car. We used to take Handzalah on the bus before and today I asked him whether he prefers the car or the bus … he said “the BUS” of course!

Err back to breakfast, we usually have either toasts or cereals. Handzalah prefers to have his toasts with butter and jam while Abuhandzalah will surely ask for his favourite chocolate spread. There’s one time he asked for ‘Kaya’ and Mama really sent it from home. Lucky him! We rarely have ‘Nasi Lemak’ or other heavy meals at the beginning of the day, but we do sometime fancy having ‘Cucur Ikan Bilis’, sandwiches or toasts/Prathas with sardines or chicken curry.

And breakfast is totally a home-made event!

I’m not a great cook though lived with the greatest cook in the whole world for 22 years; but Alhamdulillah my cooking are proven to be edible and safe. Practice makes better for me. Kan?

Dearests: tinkerbell, azila, am0i and baiti, would you like to continue this tag for me? Others are certainly welcomed too

To Mama & Taiko, Happy Birthday! (23rd Nov)

I’m struggling to finish my entry on TAB and write a few notes about SMS, but I don’t think I can finish them now since I’ll have to prepare for my teaching training late this evening. But I couldn’t help pass this on to every blogger I know, especially to my husband, my beloved sisters tinkerbell & lieawulf, am0i, azila, anak encik johari and encik razali whom blogs in secrecy :D, ciksarah & crew, mrsraiyan, mrsmynie, mrsbaiti, abiummi.com, shera, afi and everyone else out there who blogs for a cause God loves and we love too.

This special Happy Blogging Wish was a lovely gift from Tot’s Mom, the creative mind behind Poems For Cards who’s also a Malaysian in a foreign land. I hope it’ll help boost everyone’s spirit to keep on blogging for whatever good thing you have in mind even if it’s just simply to keep your sanity, to keep in touch with friends or to convey message of love, peace, truth and so on. After all, blogging isn’t as simple as it may seems especially when you have little kids and other demanding jobs around.

So Happy Blogging everybody and may our struggle and efforts help create a better us and a better life for us to live in!

We’re nearing the last 10 days of Ramadhan, and Ramadhan as usual has been a busy, busy month. Today, I’d just like to make someone happy by completing the tagging game (5 things) she tagged me with. Sorry for taking so much time on this dearest. Here we go …

5 things in my bag…

• Diapers
• Baby Wipes
• Handzalah’s tumbler and cereal bar
• Fidaa’s face towel
• Purse (out of 10 outings, I might only carry it once :D)

5 things that are in my wallet

• Umm…anything but money?
• IC
• Driving Licence
• All sorts of cards
• Aiyah, this one is too hard

5 favorite things in my bedroom

• Bed
• Books
• Family photo
• My little cuties
• Must have 5 ah?

5 things I wish to do

• Be a better person
• Help my husband finish his PhD ASAP
• Meet my family
• Umrah and Hajj
• Make my WAHM project a success

5 things that I am doing now

• writing this
• watching over my two little darlings
• bit by Fidaa’
• thinking what’s next
• feeling a bit hopeful that I’m at last getting to point 5

5 people I would like to tag

• other people
• anyone
• anybody
• someone
• YOU!

It’s a big day today for bloggers as the challenge to blog about a great cause - AGAINST ABUSE - has just begun! If you’re about to write a new entry today, don’t forget to participate and blog against any type of abuse you’d like to talk about.

A.B.U.S.E is a word with a totally negative meaning. There’s nothing good or positive about abusing, being abusive and it’s clearly impossible to feel OK about being abused! Abusing political power for self-interests, abusing children or animals or even things (vandalism) are all inhuman. Nobody in this world would like to be treated cruelly, not even by simple abusive words or gestures, let alone being physically hurt, mentally tortured or wrongly put behind bars without trial. Abuse, in whatever way are against human nature that needs love. And a Muslim, a true Muslim, will always strive to protect others and himself from being abused nor abusive. Abusing is evil, as mentioned in a Hadith: Abusing a Muslim is Fusuq (an evil doing) and killing him is Kufr (disbelief).

Do your bit to stop all kinds of abuse. Everyone of us is a member of a neighbourhood, a town and a country. Play our little roles and put pressure to the criminals and the big people. Be kind to each other. Treat others the way you would like to be treated best. Be more aware of your surroundings, more concern about the people you live with, always report any crime (or suspicious acts) you witness, teach your children to keep away from strangers. Be aware of your rights and the law governing you, vote for the right people and the list goes on and on. Preventing abuse is best handled through law enforcement and education but everybody has a share in putting a stop to this immorality. Some people are free to abuse power and people because we let them do so. Because we care less or maybe because we find little interest in what’s going on with the world around us. Don’t let our ignorance help more and more abusers to walk free abusing anything they wish. Wake up to reality, be in the know and unite! And Bloggers, just write about this please!

More info about Bloggers Against Abuse (it’s on TODAY), go to BlogCatalog.com

It has been so long since my last entry on this domain. The laptop went KO again and I could do nothing but wait for a new PC to post again. It feels so frustrating to see it ‘crash’ when I’ve just moved, hoping to do and be better than before. ‘Ala kulli haal, alhamdulillah it’s here again and it’s Ramadhan! Ramadhan Mubarak to all, may ALlah help us all in this quest of taqwa.

The anthology is finally here. I’ll post a promo entry later inshaALlah. Seeru ‘ala barakatillah

Tagged by abuhandzalah. But I just can’t think of the other ten people to tag. Why don’t you, YES, YOU! - (The one who’s reading this) - help me to continue this tag. Thanks!

-Start Copy-

It’s very simple. When this is passed on to you, copy the whole thing, skim the list and put a * star beside those that you like. (Check out especially the * starred ones.)

Add the next number (1. 2. 3. 4. 5., etc.) and write your own blogging tip for other bloggers.

Try to make your tip general.

After that, tag 10 other people. Link love some friends!

Just think– if 10 people start this, the 10 people pass it onto another 10 people, you have 100 links already!

1. Look, read, and learn. ****

-http://www.neonscent.com

2. Be, EXCELLENT to each other. ****

-http://www.bushmackel.com/

3. Don’t let money change ya! ****

-http://www.therandomforest.info

4. Always reply to your comments. ****

-http://chattiekat.com

5. Spell check is your friend. **

- http://thingsbymike.com

6. Be the blog. ***

- http://www.meandmydrum.com/

7. Your readers are your treasure.*

- http://www.brownbaron.com/blog/

8. Learn From The Pros. *

-http://www.shaunlow.com/

9. Be creative and controversial ***

- http://www.ahmadaffzan.com

10. Put both your mind and heart to it and you’ll never go wrong.

- http://nurinmz.com/blog

-End Copy-

I bet you’ve been thinking what am I up to tweaking this blog every now and then, changing this and that all the time. Huhu, this is not the look that I wanted for my blog. I want something simple but with a personal touch and creative spark that’ll last in your minds. Unfortunately, my blog advisors have yet to return with results huhuh .. Me, and my limited tech skills, are struggling to make this blog at least look ’sensible’ to the viewers including me!

Any ideas how I can transform its looks back to home sweet home?