Book review

So I wrote a book review for a friend and editor for Aalia magazine and here it is :D enjoy and let me know what you think

Book review of The Midwifes Confession in Aalia magazine

Im still here :)

Assalamalikum and hellos to all you lot out there..

so its been far too long as someone mentioned in my last post.. January seems so far away when I got my lower braces put on. I want to blame it on the fact that blogger wont allow me to use a gmail address (which is just silly!) so I wont use blogger on my phone. However, its more than just that! I could come up with a million excuses but instead I will just fill you in on the last four nearly five months.

Can you believe its almost June already?? Half way through the year!! SubhanAllah... so whats been going on.. well braces are still on! A few adjustments have been made and Im very pleased with the results so far, so is my orthodontist who says he sees no reason why they shouldnt be off around September as planned :) Alhamdulillah, so Im really praying that it all goes smoothly from now on. I had a few problems last month with the wire sticking into the inside of my mouth, but the wire has been changed to a less flexible one now and my new mouth is coming along nicely :) I just remembered I have some photos of my molds on my phone of my teeth before, maybe Ill upload them later insha'Allah

There hasnt really been anything big happening to be honest, Chilli Tomato has found himself a new job alhamdulillah at Morrisons (supermarket) he starts today, so Im looking forward to seeing how that works out. After his probation he will be earning generally the same amount as his old job, for less hours and there is hardly any commute. 0.8 miles instead of 8 miles alhamdulillah. He rides his new bike, oh yeah, he bought a hybrid bike (mountain bike frame, racer wheels) after buying our mountain bikes purely for work reasons, to work and it takes him about 10minutes if that!! so hes very happy. He realised there is a gym that hes been to before and he liked just next door to his workplace AND there is a mosque around the corner Alhamdulillah!! Hes even more up to actually moving to the area, which would mean closer for me too when Im going to work at 0230... trust me, an extra 5 minutes in bed makes a world of difference!!!

In May we took a family holiday to North Wales, my old next door neighbour has a caravan there and they allowed us to use it for a little while :) It was amazing masha'Allah.. our first proper holiday together away from family :) We climbed Mount Snowdon, went to a mountain bike park, strolled along the beach.. It was quite an active holiday and I was suprised at how refreshed I came away from it all really, Im glad I married this guy partly for the reason that he is so active masha'Allah.. He has opened me up to many experiences since we married in 2009 and Im grateful to Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) for that. We share so many more hobbies now.. I got him into snowboarding and photography and he got me into mountain biking :) prefect combinations masha'Allah

Ive recently bought a kindle (well my mum will tell you she bought it for my birthday but whatever! ;P) and Im in love.. Ive been reading soo much since I got it (feel free to check me out at my Goodreads profile :)
Also, Ive started meal planning :) Im thoroughly enjoying cooking new things (I decided to cook at least 2 new things every plan), our plan is for 2 weeks and its settling into a good routine alhamdulillah.

Insha'Allah when I get a minute free I will upload some photos from whats been happening since I last wrote :) Wish I could upload my instagram photos onto blogger, like you can with facebook and twitter.. would make things good too :D

Anyways, time to get back to work I think.....
Keep commenting :)
Fi amenAllah
Ammena

Its been awhile

and what can I say? Things have been mad lately.. not during the week (Im just tired then) but at weekends definitely. Last weekend I spent Saturday in Kingston searching for swimming shorts, you know the surfing type that go to your knees? Cause I found a ladies only 2 hour swimming session not far from me on Sunday evenings so Im going to try to get to them insha'allah. Then on Sunday I met up with one of my bestest friends from Canada, Nadia stopped over in UK for her sisters wedding before flying over to Athens for the reception (hes half greek) and then training it over to Istanbul to visit her teaching friends there. Then shes stopping back here for a week so should be fun. She brought me over a ton of skirts and hijabs that I originally left at hers, bless her masha'allah.. oh and my dream book that Ive been contemplating buying again ;)
I slightly rearranged the things on display in my room the other day, moved some hijabs from being stuffed in a drawer to inside my wardrobe so I can see them better and I moved some books from the lower shelf of my bookcase to the higher to make room for my ever growing dvd collection ;) I now have all the Gilmore Girls dvds and have started on Angel too :) I love that tv series, I also bought a few at hmv yesterday but have a list for when I get paid lol.
Took a trip into London yesterday, met up with a girl I work with which was nice.. I had the nicest nutella and banana crepes, but I couldnt finish them all there was just too much chocolate. Bet you never thought you would hear me say that eh?! lol. I bought some shoes finally to go with my New Look maxi dress so now I have a complete outfit. I was looking for navy shoes, because there was no way I was going to find the pinkish tint I needed for the other outfit (I have a navy set and a raspberry set to go with the dress) but whaddyaknow I found the perfect pinkish shoes ;) now I realised I dont have a bag to go with either.. Im thinking navy would be better for both of them. So today Im going into Kingston to find a bag, take a dvd back and wander around.
Im onto the last Twilight book (breaking dawn) for the 3rd time :) and after this I promise to start reading something else. I recently bought 'Satanic verses', 'the count of monte cristo' and 'wuthering heights' so insha'allah one of them will grab my attention long enough to pull me away from the magical sensuous world of teenage vampires ;)
I was talking to my mum yesterday, she worries alot about me as you all know and I know she worries more about me being on my own so I told her I had met up with my friend yesterday on Oxford Street, I also told her about my veggie friend in work and about my HR friend (Batool) of course she asked where shes from, 'because with a name like that she had to have SOMETHING else in her' *rolls eyes* whatever.. Im just sick of chirade now, and at least if she knows names it isnt so hard.. shes impressed I have a HR friend lol... I even mentioned to Batool last week about going on holiday next summer just us.. somewhere hot so we can sit on the top floor balcony and sun bathe.. I really need some sun, and seeing as I wont be going to Algeria anytime in the foreseeable future I should try to do something. Im intending on going back to Canada for 10 days/2 weeks end of jan beginning of feb to get some boarding time in insha'allah.. so snow and sun sorted for next year insha'allah ;)
Also started back with my sewing too :) looking more like it should so far alhamdulillah.. Im kicking myself for not printing off more patterns though, I have nothing to flit to and from, so I find I do less stitching.. maybe Ill go to the library and see if theres a printer there I can use.
Well peeps, thats enough from me for today :) peace and salams,

Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer

In relation to my last post and Kates question.. heres a few facts :) So I finally finished the 4 books on Thursday night (last night) and how big they are? 1st book, Twilight 434p 2nd book, New Moon 594p 3rd book, Eclipse 628p 4th and final book, Breaking Dawn 754p.. now I just watched the film again and Im eagerly awaiting the next film due out in November insha'allah... obsessed? much? now I dont know what to do with my time! Any suggestions?

What Im reading at the moment

Im reading the Twilight series at the moment, my old next door neighbour lent me the books on Friday. I started reading them Sunday night and Im onto the 4th and final book now... I feel sad in a way to finish them.. they are really worth the read if youre into that sort of stuff :)

Islamic short stories

Salam, so you still looking for a little bit of fiction? all halal of course... Feel free to check out my other blog of collection of short stories, I need some feedback insha'allah

Books for sale

hello everyone,
so I have some books that Im looking to load off while sorting out my flat.. Ive given the links and the price, this doesnt include post and packaging, insha'allah we can sort that out if you want me to send you some. All prices are CDN$

Princess Sultana's circle Jean Sasson $10 (paperback)
Anybody out there Marian Keyes $20 (paperback)
Annie Freeman's fabulous Travelling funeral Kris Radish $15 (paperback)
Petals in the Ashes Mary Hooper $5 (paperback)
Mirage Soheir Khashoggi $7 (paperback)
Tamarind Mem Anita rau Badami $10 (paperback)
Brick Lane Monica Ali $10 (paperback)
My fathers notebook Kader Abdolah $15 (paperback)
Veil of Roses Laura Fitzgerald $7 (paperback)
Rethinking muslim women and the veil Katherine Bullock $15 (paperback)

My shopping spree yesterday

So yesterday I drove over to mississauga for a few hours with my dear sister Aalya. We met at a new mosque, which is actually a school too so was over run with kids and quite distracting but alhamdulillah. We were there for a bit then drove over to sound vision to check out their closing down sale, Im sad to see it being closed down but you know I feel that if they had put better prices on their books they could have sold more. Allahu alim. Anyways this is what I bought




I do feel that I need to know more about timelines and stuff, and this looked like an easy to read book. It was actually one of the last books I picked up and only came upon it by chance :) insha'allah it will be useful.







I bought this book since it was referred to in Jamal Badawi's lectures during RIS last year. I should have goggled it because I just found the whole thing online, Allahu alim. Enjoy.





Again another book I just found online :( but Im looking forward to getting into that one, I do believe that if you know causes you will try your upmost best to not be found in those situations. Of course, you cant always stay away from the issues, Allah has written for you these things while you were in the womb of your mother but maybe you can move away from these things sooner.. and of course bad things are always from Shaitan which we do have choices over to be sucked into them or not.



I own a few of these thin childrens books, I think they get the point across quicker and go into the general storyline that you should know rather than bogging you down with useless bits of facts and information. Theres also a little Q&A section at the back to see if you learnt anything from the book. I know this story can be found over the net, but these types of books are easy things you can carry around with you and read in a few mintues.





Here is another childrens type book, I couldnt find it online but I found a wikipedia page for the same story. I have most of this collection too, so when i found it in the sale it would have been silly to ignore it :P thats my excuse anyways. I look forward to reading that one too insha'allah






I went in to buy another of this series for a friend in UK and thought about buying the set, however I decided against it but picked this one up for myself 'rights and obligations between the spouses in islam' she did recommend it, so insha'allah its worthwhile.






And this is the one I bought for my friend :) 'marital intimacy according to the pure sunnah





It always amazes that the kids school books are so much cheaper than your average book, masha'allah. This was $9 then had 40% knocked off masha'allah. Anyways, I dont think Im up to this level just yet :P maybe a few years insha'allah... but why not buy it now? so every time I see it, then that will be the goal to be able to complete this insha'allah. For me and everyone else who is part of this ummah insha'allah

Also I bought some hijab pins :) my chin pins have been falling to pieces lately and I have to start remembering the thicker ones that I can wear normal safety pins with.. I also bought a yellow stick pin for the side of my head :) its pretty masha'allah. Then we went to subway for lunch, I got a foot long sub! dont ask! I was hungry :P and sat chatting for actually quite a few hours come to think of it, but it was nice... we talked about my impending wedding, the reasons marriage freaks me out, her hubby, september 11th, random news stories Ive recently read thanks to MMW blog. Then we left and I drove home, completely happy with my day, alhamdulillah. JazakAllah khair Aalya, insha'allah see you soon.

Quote

Im reading Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Glibert at the moment, Im waiting Prime So in between sobbing at how cute the main male character is in the film I came across this quote that I wanted to share with you all... it sums me to a tea, apart from the fact that it is said by a man!

Luca Spaghetti:
"We can change our wives," he said. "We can change our jobs, our nationalities and even our religions, but we can never change our team"

:) Subhanallah... my life quote!

Stuff

So... heres a few things, on suggestion from 2 close friends Ive changed the title of my blog to Ammena's Adventures :) Quite chirpy I think, and I suppose it does suit my life.. good adventures or not alhamdulillah. Also, with only 3 hours of my poll left to vote on the poll currently stands at me learning some new salah duaa... followed by surah al-fil.. Ive decided that I need to do more research on salah duaas, I have read many things where only certain things are allowed to be said and only at certain times. So insha'allah I will look more into that, but I do have a duaa I want to learn from here so insha'allah I will start to learn at least that one and surah al-fil at the same time insha'allah. Then I will know all the small surahs from the mount hira website masha'allah and next will be a big one :) Ill keep you up to date insha'allah.
Oh yeh, I started 'Footsteps' yeh yeh i know.. I havent finished the stitching yet :P insha'allah Ill finish tonight definately. I must admit, Im not as impressed with this one as I was with the other 2. I seem to be skipping over a lot of the islamic stuff, I suppose when you get into reading a novel you dont have the heart for the facts you want the story line. Its mostly about the husband looking into marrying a second wife... but Ill give you a full report when its finished insha'allah
Peace and salams, Ammena

Books

Woohoo.. my books are being shipped out as we speak :) as Im at work it means I will probably pick them up tonight, that is if they cant leave them in my mail box. This is what I ordered to cheer myself up last week :P

A thousand splendid suns by Khaled Hosseini
I read the kiterunner a few years ago and really enjoyed it, so once he released this I was itching for it... however, books are just far too expensive over here but I thought oh well... at least its money spent on something good :) Its a hardback too, which I just realised so if anyone wants to borrow they are going to have to pick it up heehee


Ive heard so many reviews about this I just wanted to check it out. It was fairly cheap too, just $10 so I thought why not, although my friend in Ottawa told me she read the first 2 chapters but couldnt get into it... insha'allah it will be worth it



As you all probably know Ive read the first 2 books of this series and I cant wait to start this one insha'allah. Although stitching to finish first!!! It seems from the blurb like its from a different perspective, the first 2 were from the young convert Tamika, this one I think is from her parent in laws. Should be interesting, Ill let you all know.


I had this on my wish list, and when I was in Ottawa I noticed it on my friends bookshelf. Apparently people keep giving her books! noone gives me books! lol.. its about muslim scientists (well thats part of it :P) so looks like an interesting factual book insha'allah.

Update

What with my break from the net, Ive been able to do some concentrating on me alhamdulillah. Today I woke up late :( but I was able to get out and hunt for a long sleeved white top Ive been looking for for ages :) on my 4th shop, can you believe it took that long to find that essential? alhamdulillah its been found, and now Im wearing it under my $1 dress from bluenotes ;P Anyways, I got home and have really got stuck into my current stitching project. Ive decided I want to make a big piece for each of my closest friends... so you may be on the list :P The one Im working on at the moment I just have to finish the border, Im nearly finished with a big shahada man too, which I dont know what to do with since I was told this might actually be haram, any thoughts or comments? Finally I finished learning my surah :D alhamdulillah, surah al-ma'un, Im so happy to have that finally finished, and it actually wasnt that hard as I had expected just because its 7 verses.
Ooh, I just ordered some books off my wishlist too :D one thousand splendid suns, eat, pray, love and footsteps :D so im excited to receive those hopefully the last week in march :D Also I booked the car for going to visit my friend in Ottawa next weekend, so something in the future to look forward to insha'allah

If I could speak

I read this book quite awhile ago now, then I lent it to a friend on boxing day who returned it back to me while at RIS a few days later with plenty of good to say about it. I bought the sequel at the convention and am looking at the third book now insha'allah. So while at RIS I lent it onto another revert friend, who too loved it and asked if she could pass it onto a girl who she worked with. While all my friends were over at the weekend she passed it back to me and told me the girl she had lent the book to took her shahada after the book answered many questions for her. Alhamdulillah, la howla wala qwata illa billah. I just wanted to share that all with you :D

A Voice by Umm Zakiyyah

masha'allah I just finished this book, started it on friday and have to say it was well worth the money masha'allah. I read the prequel quite a few months ago and wanted to get the second one for quite awhile now, I saw it at the conference for a good price and decided to go for it. Its a lot thicker than the first one, which took me 4 hours to read, so I didnt expect to get through this one as quickly as I did. Bearing in mind I was at my mums for the majority of saturday.

I wont go too much into detail about the book but I would highly recommend it to anyone who likes novels but is looking for something away of the romance and desciptions in most of the novels in today society.

The general overview of the book is this... it follows Tamika through a year of her life, the year after she converted to Islam. At the end of the book, she has found a husband, a life and is preparing herself for the future with a strained but workable relationship with her family and a year left of college. Masha'allah there are some ups and downs and her husband isnt who you would expect at the beginning but in the end they get there.. through all the tests, and after all the prayers masha'allah. What I wouldnt give to be so straight and submitted to my deen, insha'allah. I cant really tell you more because it would give it away, I dont know whether it was the obvious length of the book that took my longer to get into the story. There were times that I skipped over a few paragraphs when the author went into long and unneeded details.. but all in all, highly recommended to anyone who is a convert or looking to marry.

Masha'allah

My books from the weekend

Those of you who know me will know that Im an avid reader and cant help buying new books even if I still have tons to read. So this weekend at the conference I had my usual book fest and this is what I bought, feel free to check out the links to find out more about the books.

A Voice by Umm Zakiyyah

I read the first book awhile ago, and have since lent it to a few people who also loved it.. now Im eager to get into this one soon insha'allah.

Londonstani by Gautam Malkani

I have been looking at this one for quite some time now, so looking forward to see if it meets expectations

Etiquette with the Quran by Imam Al-Nawawi

Looking forward to getting some knowledge out of this one, Ill keep you all informed insha'allah

The Zahir by Paulo Coelho

The alchemist was recommended to me a few years ago, so Im interested to see if he has kept the same style

Scattered pictures by Imam Zaid Shakir

I have it signed too :) Ive read the first story so far and Im impressed masha'allah

Islam the natural way of life

I never realised until it was pointed out to me last night that this has been a textbook looking book that I have had my eye on in awhile, so eager to start this soon insha'allah.

Companions of the prophet volume 1 & volume 2

Masha'allah $13 for the two books.. I started the first story yesterday of Mus'ab ibn 'Umayr which is quite interesting so far and seems like a good book for those new to islam or just wanting to refresh their knowledge of the sahaba

Assalamalikum girlies...

so its been a very long time since Ive written anything in here and for that I apologise. Insha'allah when my life is back to its normal pace I will be here writing again, complaining my life is boring alhamdulillah. Things have been busy, what with my family visiting, Im been catching up on some reading and im in the middle of 2 stitching orders for friends. Insha'allah they will be finished soon because Im getting a little tired of the whole concept now, I havent updated my website in a long time and I think it will be longer before I do. I realised that it was stressful with just a few things to have to finish, let alone more... I dont know how I would cope. So Im leaving it there for people to check out, and if Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) wants me to stitch more, Im sure he will guide the people to my site. Im currently reading 'Rethinking muslim women and the veil' with my friend Laylah... we are both reading it separately and commenting when we chat... and look, this link actually takes you to an e-book gutted!!! Im on chapter 5, so fairly close to the end and so far its been an interesting read masha'allah. So if you have the time, print it off or read it on the net, its worth the read.

What else have I been up to? well Im currently organising a little trip to montreal with Laylah (as per my blast) to visit Anisah. Ive known Anisah now for around 31/2yrs now and Ive never met her.. I cant even remember how we met, I think it was through an Islamic forum, we have spoke on the phone and chat over the webcam (especially to show off current islamic buys) So I think its about time we got together. Ive never really been to Montreal, passed through it on way to Quebec city so Im really looking forward to it. We are also planning to spend a day in Quebec city too insha'allah, so it will be nice to check it out again especially with different people. So we leave tomorrow insha'allah after a little shopping spree in Mississauga, I have to buy a hijab for an outfit for a friends wedding on july 8th so thats my next weekend booked too.. ho hum, the life of Ammena.. alhamdulillah

i spoke to my other half today too, hes got himself a landline in his flat so it was good to check on him and hear that he is ok alhamdulillah. Ive also just been accepted for a new position in work too, currently im QA technician but with this new position I will be QA/Range technician. Yep you got it, finally Ill be working in ballistics (the reason why I took this job in the first place) which will insha'allah help to boost my cv (resume) when im looking for a new job in UK.

Anyways, thats it for now... all the news I have.. insha'lalah when I get back Ill be posting loads of pics from montreal, so get ready girls. Fi amenallah, your sister in Islam, Ammena

Snow

Salam girls... ok, so Im working 12-8 this week and from around 7ish last night it snowed. I was ok coming home alhamdulillah, although it took 10mins rather than the usual 5mins.. but alhamdulillah I will not complain about that when I think about how long it would have took me to get home from my last job. I woke up this morning at 9am (which is getting to be very easy) and first thing I did (after kicking myself for not waking up for fajr, AGAIN!) was look out the window. Surprise surprise... its still snowing. So I remembered the comment that Khadijah wrote about the snow and thought I would take a picture for her, so here it is. The view out of my spare bedroom window looking onto the main road.

So whats been going on?? i had a really good weekend, was able to keep up with some salah alhamdulillah. We went shopping to Newmarket (Canada!) on saturday with my mums friend and her little boy, she got some Timberland shoes (around 40pounds) and some warm clothes for the boy. I was able to pray dhuhr & asr together in the changing rooms, I prayed together because, well I am actually really far from home at the shops. Then we were back in time for maghrib, went out for chicken wings for food (i had the nicest big massive veggie wrap with nice chips with melted cheese on yummy!) and i prayed isha before bed. Fajr when i woke up.. sunday was a harder day we left for Niagara around 10ish.... the little lad needed the toilet so we stopped off at a service station just around dhuhr time so I prayed dhuhr and asr in the car alhamdulillah. I missed the time for maghrib cause we went after Niagara to visit some friends.. so I made my way down to Cambridge and prayed when I got home.. alhamdulillah, I was grateful for the times that I could pray. Although tell me this girls... if I have no way of finding out the qiblah direction, what do I do?? there was no rising or falling of the sun, no compass.. i just guessed and prayed that my Salah would be accepted, making duaa after each for this request. Insha'allah thats enough.

The girl who I was meant to meet at the immigration centre of YMCA has been sick for past 2 days so I didnt go down yet, today she emailed me asking to make it tomorrow when I had emailed her tellin her I wouldnt be able to make it today because of the weather. So insha'allah I will get down this week, although tomorrow Im starting work a little earlier to go and visit a supplier who doesnt believe our testing method so maybe Ill even go next week. Im looking forward to this change in times, Ill be able to go for Jumah insha'allah which Im excited about.. insha'allah the masjid has a proper jumah salah. Ill have all the time when Im awake to do what I want.

Im currently in the middle of reading 'purification of the heart' by Hamza Yusuf and i have to say when I get into it... its a good book masha'allah with many little things I could use. And Im supposed to be learning the duaa for the witr salah (Qunut) insha'allah ill take my english paper with me to work today and sit with that for half an hour... Ive told my forum the deadline is end of feb but i dunno whether ill be able to do it by then, cause usually i have a few days reciting the english.. then i gradually bring the arabic in line by line... Allahu alim. Insha'allah.

Well, now Im off for a shower after trying to send some cross stitch patterns to a friend. Fi amenallah, your sister in Islam, Ammena

My weekend

Assalamalikum ladies... so its been awhile and im sorry about that.. insha'allah i will find more time to blog soon. Im in the middle of a few things at the moment, namely finishing 'purification of the heart' for my reading group, although I really dont know why I bother... noone is really into it and it doesnt help me trying to organise things. Im also nearly finished with a little stitching project for my good sister in Islam anisah to help insha'allah with her bringing hubby over to Canada. Also on friday i learnt that my stepdad was still in florida so he couldnt pick my mum up from the airport when she got back from her week in England, she had been delayed so it was thought that i would pick her up (obviously) her flight was due to come in at 230am saturday morning which i wasnt looking forward to, but Allahu alim. But then it got delayed more, and more, and more, until eventually it settled at 1545 saturday afternoon (a good 24hour delay) i got there at that time and she eventually came out around 1630 so I took her home, she unpacked some stuff and gave me tons of chocolate (so im happy) and she even bought me the 3rd strip for my football team. Apparently there is more to follow cause she shipped some stuff over in boxes to lighten her suitcase. Anyways... thats my news for now, should get on with some work now.

Oh and if any of you remember reading my blog from when i went home last year, my mum even saw the young family friend and her friend from years ago who saw me in hijab when i was at home.. alhamdulillah they never said anything, well she never said anything to me anyway. And the young girl is apparently engaged to a turkish guy lol.. funny how things go. Allahu alim