May 1st Update

Assalamu alaikom wa rahmatullah

Well, the garden definitely has taken some unexpected turns! First, after I planted my little seedlings, I watered them and put up supports for them to grow on. My heart sank a few days later when I peeked outside to find most of them gone! Eaten all the way down. Cucumber, tomato, peppers, and lettuces. A couple were left. Then, a few days later, half of the basil leaves were eaten off! Shoot!!! I put a little pinwheel in the garden box, but would you believe that when I went to check on it the next morning, the birds had picked out one of the 'petals' of the flower pinwheel! These birds mean business. So, I have less things growing than I had hoped for. Each time my green pepper flowers it gets eaten off, so I guess it will never grow a pepper.

It's ok. I will possibly set up some tall stakes and put netting over it. Once we get back from our summer trip I can look to making the next growing season more successful. For now I'm not starting anything new since I'm getting ready for our trip.

My peace lillies are doing exactly what I had hoped! I repotted them into smaller pots after reading they like to be slightly rootbound. I then cut off all the browned and burned-looking leaves. Very quickly after that new, healthy leaves have been growing without turning brown. Success!

Back in January I blogged about talking to my children in a softer voice and about praising them more than correcting them. I just want to bring this issue back up for myself and for my readers. Anger provokes more anger, so I'm renewing my goal to guide them and teach them in a more positive way. Praise goes a lot further than rage! LOL

Okie dokie....that's all for today.

Oops plus a parenting tangent

Assalamu alaikom and peace to you lovely folks reading my blog!

I'm a bad bad blogger. I've been gardening and not taking pictures. I know. I'm sorry. Things are growing, and you're missing it. Ha! How will you ever move on? I will go find my camera and snap a few pics insha'Allah (God willing) tomorrow. I've already eaten from my green onions, and tonight use parsely in the dinner. I don't know how fast parsely grows back, so this is an experiment for me because I chopped off the entire bunch growing. No more parsley for a while! lol

I did get a pink 'knockout rose' for the front yard, but you'll get to see all that soon enough. I'm sure you drying to know what parenting topic is on my mind tonight.

Ok, so you know how people can have pretty strong opinions when it comes to how big (or small) a family should be. I've even been one of those people who has said it wouldn't be right to have a 4th child because of how the older 3 would surely not get the attention they need. (and I'm talking about families with children close in age, not spaced out like 5 years apart) I get the concern. But now that I have 4 children age 9 and under, I feel confident in this conclusion I've drawn.

I feel that everyone gets a lot more love and attention with the bigger family. There are more people for you to talk to or who will want to talk to you (not just parents, but sibling to sibling). This is great for playtime, afterschool, weekend mornings when mom and dad want to sleep in. It's perfect for after-dinner goofing off, having a helper while cooking, gardening, and folding laundry. And when you feel a little lonely, it's not long before someone will come around with something to talk about or do.

Also, a little parenting can go a long way, so you don't actually need to spend 4X the energy/effort just because you have 4 children (or 5 or 6). Actually, the trickle down theory works great here because the law of the land is already established and they often keep one another in check (except for the times they all encourage each other to be naughty!). Once the hard work is done with the first one or two, the rest of the family will follow suit. Of course, each child does still need some one on one time, but it's not as much as with the first child b/c a lot of the work has already been done.

Another nice thing is how much help you can get if you set the plan up right. I get so much help with household jobs, homework helping, and just with them playing together. Helping one child with homework is easier when the second child has a third and fourth child to play with instead of sitting there being jealous and wanting your attention. Telling 3 or 4 kids to go play outside has way more chances of happening than telling one kid to go outside and play (without you)

My point for this whole thing is not to say one way is better than the other, but to point out that having more children doesn't necessarily mean they will each lack in attention and love from the parent. They will feel all of that love because it has manifested itself into the entire structure that is called the family. They'll still get the attention they need, and maybe it is not as much as the other way, but who is to say that that is wrong or bad. And as a result they will have gained a lot of siblings!

Thanks for reading, and I didn't mean to offend anyone. Just realizing that my original fear of not having enough to go around isn't really the case. And the biggest disclaimer of all is that none of the above applies to the first year if you have a baby! But if you can survive that, then you'll be home free.

My Peace Lilly

Salam,

I had a very large peace lily plant with great big green leaves, and it hasn't flowered in almost a whole year now. A few months ago, I thought to split the plant in half and make two plants out of one. I did so, successfully, and bought nice looking indoor pots to put them in. Since then, the leaves have been getting brown and crunchy. They're not dying off or anything, just looking like someone put a match to the edges. New leaves come in nice and green, then turn brown at the tips later on.

Well, I did a search on this and learned that peace lily's like to be slightly root bound! I figured that when I separted the large plant into two smaller ones that the new pots were way too big for the roots. So this weekend I put the two smaller plants into smaller pots in an effort to make the roots nice and cozy.

I'll report back in a few weeks with an update. I'm hoping the leaves will stay healthy and that I'll get some nice white flowers out of them!

Here's a picture of a plant.

After the freeze

Assalamu alaikom

The average last freeze date for this city is March 15. Wouldn't ya know on March 20 we got a record 8 inches of snow in Plano! My tulips seemed to come out ok, but the little radish seedlings are all yellow now. I will see how they do this week, and either way, i will plant another row b/c it's been two weeks since the first planting.

I brought into the garage the little lettuce seedlings that just recently popped out of the dirt, and they are fine now. My onions are already well established (and almost ready to be pulled), so they're good to go.

In a couple of weeks once it's a bit warmer I will check around the nursery for my tomatoes, peppers, and cukes.

The compost bin is almost done turning. I have quit adding to it for a week or so now to give it a chance to finish up. Once I take out the current compost and distribute it in my yard I will reconsider if I want to have a pile going during the hot months (smell, fruitflies, etc..)

garden update

Assalamu alaikom

Two days ago I planted some seeds. I usually garden using transplants (the plant has already been grown to a healthy 6 inches tall), but this year I want to try a few of my items from seed. I planted basil and lettuce from seed. It's so funny b/c the seed is the size of half a crumb, and it just disappears into the dirt. Insha'Allah they'll grow!

I will probably buy the rest of my garden items as transplants: tomato, pepper, cucumber. Oh yes, I have seeds for parsley and radishes, but that's it.

The daffodils are so pretty, and the tulip greens are starting to come up too. I'll try to get some pictures together.

Did it!

Man, what a productive week. I'm getting the hang of things like they were in the old days. I haven't been like this since before I got pregnant with Aisha! Starting last week I keep Maryam in PreK til 3pm instead of picking her up at 11:30. Man. What a difference. I have cleaned closets, reorganzied toys and book shelves, and have cooked 5 freezer meals! Having that block of free time is amazing, and to top it off, little Aisha now sleeps for a good midday nap unlike before.

So I split a lasange recipe into two 8*8 pans and put them in the freezer today. I also just make two meatloaves (2lbs each), cooked them, sliced them, and then froze them. I have spaghetti sauce divided up for some jumbo shells and for a spaghetti dinner. Oh ya I also made a King Ranch Casserole last week :)

The toys were in a state of chaos. In the bottom of the buckets I found clothing, socks, hair accessories, gameboy games, and long lost puzzle pieces. Now that I have a toddler (sort of), I arranged a spot for those toys so that she could take advantage of 'em. For the older kids, well, they're very low on toys (which is good), so it was easy to put them into a few tubs. They don't play with 'toys' so much. They mostly 'misuse' something else in the house and make it into their latest passtime.

doing some freezer cooking

I'm ready to do all sorts of cooking and freezing just for the heck of it.

I'll use ground beef. 6 pounds.

2 pounds into a spaghetti sauce. This makes a large pot. I will use 4-5 cups of the sauce for a lasagne for the freezer (instead of one large dish i will use two smaller square tins).

the other 4 pounds i will make into meatloaf, shaped into two loaves on a cookie sheet. i will cook them, then slice them into slices, and freeze those portions. i think those would be good for my husband to take to work or for me to pull out for lunches. or i can keep one in a 2lb loaf as a dinner.

and what i'm really waiting to cook and eat (same day) is my friend Cara's beef stew that i saw on her blog! Check it out on her blog http://homespunkitchen.blogspot.com/2010/01/beef-stew.html

Of marriage and other things

I realized something today, and I am actually very happy to come to find this out. It's something I think I took for granted. Not so much because I meant to, but because it was just part of the background. It took an encounter with someone who was the complete opposite of it to make realize what 'it' was. So what is 'it'?

It is something that my husband and I have in common, and it kind of sets the tone for our life. We are both pretty laid back about most things, or at least about the same things. And our outlook on things is very similar to the other's. I know that if one of us were not like this, it would seriously complicate all major decisions in our life. If both of us were not like this, then we'd probably be fine, but my point is that I am so thankful that we are both of the same mindset. This is really a blessing, and like I said, I didn't really give it much of a second thought (well, I probably did think about it before we got married, but not since then) because it is just there and it works well.

To add, we both strongly believe that Allah's will will be, and there's not much you can do about it if it is meant to be. We pray about things and ask for guidance, and then we just go for it. Mostly I'm referring to things like having children, where to live, and similar 'big' family decisions. Alhamdulilaah, thank God, our decision making times have not been of a clashing kind. We have an idea of what we would like, we try to get it, and when we do we are thankful, and when we don't we are also thankful.

This hit me today as I remembered a conversation. The people I was talking to were surprised that we kept having children without seriously thinking it over, making lists of pro's and con's, and discussing this major life changing event. I told them we just would feel like it was time for another baby, and if I suggested it my husband would say 'Sure!'. They couldn't believe it was that easy. I couldn't believe they suggested a list of pro's and con's!!! So after that, I thought, man, am I fortunate to have a husband who is similar to me in this aspect. We believe each child brings his own sustenance/provision and not to worry about the money part of having a baby. We both felt comfortable having a large family, and we both also understood that if one of us felt it was time to say 'no' that the other would take that seriously.

So yay for finding a huge *positive* detail in my married life! It's always fun to come across those :) I know I don't normally post about my too-personal life, but this was such a big deal that I had to share it! Maybe you can find something similar to be thankful for. And if my dear husband is reading (since I caught him reading this the other day), then thank you habibi :)

garden update

Assalamu alaikom

Quick update that my onions are sprouting! I just put them in the ground about 2 weeks ago (I think), and suddenly I saw tiny little green shoots coming up out of the dirt yesterday :) What an exciting feeling... I mean it's as if I wasn't expecting it to happen.

I know you can't see it, but there is a little green shoot somewhere in there. I took this yesterday, and today there are lots more and they're taller.

I planted another pot of onion sets and garlic cloves as well.

And that cedar planter garden is on its way to my house!!! I think it'll be here next week. I plan on mostly a 'salad garden' for that planter.

Tied up with a thing called Life

Blogging will be on hold for a short bit. When it rains it pours.