Category Archive

This cat must sleep 22 hours each day.  Except if it’s 3 a.m.  Then it’s time to talk.

…since I first saw the Squeakster in her little cage at the humane society.  From the second I saw her, I knew she was my fuzzy soulmate.

2 pictures, same caption.  I have an lol in the similar vein playing in my head.  Just gotta get the picture.  I don’t know what it is about the Squeaky and books.  Whenever I pull one off the shelf, she has to sniff it and rub it against her cheek.

Squeaky and her new friend, the watermelon.  Don’t tell her the watermelon met it’s end yesterday at the hands of my kitchen knife.

…keeps the doctor away.  Ok, it’s squeaky week!  I was looking for a new picture to use as computer wallpaper, and found this.  I can’t believe I missed posting this earlier in the balcony adventure series.  Just look at that tongue!

…and so do I, here’s 2 videos of our weekend garden adventure.  Thrilling stuff   She’s a very snuffy kitty.

in which the Squekay Deakster noms my garden

Can we go outside mommy, can we can we?

what a beautiful day, do de do de do

sniff sniff, what is this I smell?

could it be…

going in for the kill

nom!

nom nom nom

ahhhh, urp

‘Umar bin Abi Salama said: The Prophet, said to me, “Eat with your right hand.” [Bukhari]

I think I have a better picture of her eating with her right paw, but I haven’t uploaded it yet.  Anyone else’s cat play in their water dish?  It’s adorable – she’ll dip her paw in and then lick it off.  Ok, it’s adorable until she comes to sit on my lap and leaves a big wet spot on my skirt, lol.  This morning, she decided to take a stroll through the bathtub after I took a shower and then left wet little paw prints across the bathroom floor.  For a cat who hates to take a bath, she sure does enjoy water.

The Squeakster in her much hated shirt.  AbuS had this brilliant plan that if she wore a shirt, she’d shed less.  Yeah, not going to happen.

Al-Bara’ ibn ‘Azib (ra) said, “When the Messenger of Allah (saws) used to retire to his bed, he would lie on his right side and then say, ‘O Allah, I surrender my soul to You and I turn my face to You and I entrust my affair to You and I seek Your support with hope and fear of You. There is no refuge from You but to You. I have believed in Your Book which You sent down and Your Prophet whom You sent.’” [al-Bukhari]

While it certainly is convenient to have a Target 2 blocks from work, it does have it’s drawbacks.  Like yesterday, I went to buy some hand soap and sugar over my lunch hour.  Ah, but getting the big soap refill is cheaper.  And a bigger bag of sugar is more economical than the smaller bag.  Oo, and I need peanut butter, better get the big jar of that too.  Oh no wait, my sugar container isn’t big enough for a big bag of sugar.  Better look for bigger containers too.  No wait, those are all too expensive.  What’s this?  And it’s clearanced??  Only 3 dollars???  Sold!

And that is how I ended up lugging 2 very heavy, very large bags of stuff home on the bus and became the proud owner of a this lovely  frog cookie jar, er, sugar container.  I can’t decide if it’s cute or hideous.  Maybe it’s hideously cute.  Or cutely hideous.

The Squeakster sniffs the newest addition to the household.  I swear, she sniffs everything.

I don’t have much in the way of an interior decorating plan or philosophy, but I do have an idea – frogs.  Yes, my kitchen will one day inshaAllah be frog themed.  When I moved into my apartment 4 years ago, my mom and I went thrift shopping for a few things I needed and came upon a pottery barn pot that had a leaping frog on it.  Just what I needed to store my kitchen utensils in!

I haven’t worked much on that theme since then, because someone in this household who is not me is uber frugal and doesn’t think I need to spend money decorating my kitchen.   The tide may be turning however.  We went to the mall this past weekend to spend some gift cards and I dragged AbuS into William Sonoma to browse.  While there,  he fell in love with the espresso machines and decided we needed one.  We test drove a few, but ended up only purchasing a much needed apron.  However, an espresso machine has been added to our new “to get” list.   We need a new microwave, a bookshelf and now apparently, an espresso machine (and an ipod touch, but that’s a different story).

In any case, I’ve rambled on long enough about nothing.  I assembled what I have thus far for my funky green and orange frog themed kitchen.  It’s not much, but it’s a looong way from the kid who had absolutely no desire to be girly and domesticish.

Heh.  I turned this video on last night, and Squeaky came running (which I will have to film someday, because it’s hilarious -  her big fat belly is swinging back and forth as she runs).  I picked her up so she could be closer to the speakers, and she proceeded to have a conversation with the video kitty.

It never fails. 

I get up to pray fajr around 5 and then attempt to sleep out on the couch for an hour or so before work.  Squeaky the Hutt decides she MUST talk to me NOW, and will meow meow meow…until it’s time to get up for work.  Then she sleeps.

Dur.

I can’t wait for shorter days and the return of a more normal sleep pattern.  As much as it is teh awesome to finally get in the habit of praying all my prayers on time, isha starting at 11 and fajr ending around 5 leaves not a lot of time for much needed uninterrupted sleep.

Stalking the wrapping paper.

Made a few new recipes that turn out well this weekend:

Chocolate tapioca pudding with bananas – left out the whipped cream and chocolate cookies.  I actually cut up a whole banana into a bowl, and then only put a few spoonfuls for the pudding on top, so it was more banana then pudding.  Tasty and natural, unlike the package add milk and stir puddings from the grocery store.

Corn and Shrimp Chowder without Bacon – menos bacon obviously, so I skipped step 2, and at step 3, heated some olive oil in the pan to cook the scallions and potatos.  I suppose I could have used turkey bacon, but with my goal of getting processed food out of my live, I figured turkey processed to heck and back to look like faux bacon would not fit the bill.  Quite tasty, although I picked the shrimp out of my serving.  I’m not a huge fan of shrimp, but AbuS is, so I figured I’d save them all for him

Lemonade with Watermelon-Strawberry ice cubes.  A modified Martha Stewart recipe.  Originally suppose to be watermelon-strawberry popsicles, but since I didn’t have any popsicle molds, I improvised and put the mix into ice cube trays.  Then, throw 3 cubes in a glass, top with lemonade and wa’la

I know the food pictures aren’t the greatest.  One of these days, I’m going to get a nice wooden plate and bowl, and a clear glass to take food pics for the blog.  But until then, enjoy my vintage Micky D’s Disney glasses from my days as a McDonalds crew member.

I also went co-op shopping this weekend, and I swear this is not a staged pic.  I was setting up my purchases to photograph, and the Squeakster decided to pose with the food for me.

Annie’s Mac n Cheese was on sale for $1.49 a box.  I also stocked up on fruit leather, which is all natural, for lunch sweets.  And, vanilla extract free chocolate chips.

If I knew I was going to have four sons (and that’s totally not in the plans, but Allah [swt] is the best of all planners), I would totally name them:

Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, and Ali or Numan, Malik, Muhammad and Ahmad.

And for girls:

Tasnim, Jinan, Firdaws and Jannah.

And if I get more cats, I’m naming them Squishy, Squeegy, Squiggly, and Squirmy ;)

So this morning I lay down on the couch to catch a small nap after fajr.  And Squeaky the Hutt decided  that rather then demand attention, she’d curl up next to me for a nap too.

The Squeakster has a new nickname – Squeaky the Hutt.  She’s big, she’s fat, she lays around the house and is constantly demanding to be fed and entertained.

Playing in her water dish – she sticks her paw in, splashes around a bit, and then licks the water off her paw

I love my cat.

Watching da bird

Pet’s death linked to Miami’s serial cat killer

Others in south Miami-Dade County are telling similar stories. A woman whose Siamese mix cat, Caesar, was killed and mutilated didn’t want her name published.

“This person killed my cat. He doesn’t need to know anything else about me,” she said. “I don’t know if it’s a gang initiation thing or a satanic ritual thing, but to do what he’s doing, he has to be extremely sick.”

The month-long cat-killing spree has police concerned.

When I read this story, this hadith from Bukhari immediately popped into my mind:

Abdullah bin Umar (ra) said that the Prophet (saws) said, “A woman was tortured and was put in Hell because of a cat which she had kept locked till it died of hunger.”

If people truly feared Allah (swt) and the punishment that could await them on the day of judgment, wouldn’t the world be a much better place?

composed, suprisingly, at 3 a.m.

meow 3 a.m.
cat is at the door talking
time for tahajjud

all squeaky, all the time.  Here she is with her harness which is unfortunately too tight.  She’s not really happy with it, but does enjoy going outside.  No outside this weekend though, as it was raining.

The Squeakster and I enjoyed a very nice weekend together.  Since AbuS sleeps until noon on the weekend, the morning is spent laying on the couch reading, with Squeaky sitting on my chest.

In the afternoon, we played with her “da bird,” which btw is the best cat toy every.  We have another feather on a string toy but it can’t hold a candle to da bird.  After half an hour of play, I’ll stick it back in the closet and she’ll sit forlornly meowing until I get it out again.   Later, she came up to me, pawed at my leg, and when I looked, turn around and ran.  I followed her and she led me to, guess where?  The closet where da bird was hiding.  It’s like kitty crack.

Ok, technically it’s tomorrow, but since I’m not sure if I’ll be on the computer then, it’s being posted today.

I’ m seriously tearing up here people.  Six months ago, I saw my fat and fuzzy friend for the first time in a little cage at the humane society.  I have had the joy of the companionship of my big squishy kitty for six whole months. 

Alhamdulilah for this creature who brings me so much joy.

Playing with her gotcha day present, a kong kickaroo

and a first, the Squeaky Cam!  I know, the video is not that good and probably not all that interesting.  I promise to get better at it  

After a week away from my squishy cuddle bug, the Squeakster and I spent some quality time together these last few days.  Squeaky also had her first trip outside the apartment since going to the vet in mid December.  We got her a harness and leash, so she went on a trip to the park behind our apartment complex.  She had a great time sniffing every blade of grass and weed in sight, and then found a patch of dirt that she promptly began to roll around in.   Her beautiful white belly turned gray, so she had the pleasure of getting a bath after dirt time.

Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera, so no pictures of the dirty kitty frolicking amidst the weeds.  Instead, here’s a picture of her favorite hang out location, her carrier.  Before I got the Squeakster, I had read that cats often don’t like going in their carrier.  As such, I bought a more expensive carrier with an opening on the top, so the cat could be shoved in more easily in a hurry.  Wouldn’t you know, she loves her carrier and sleeps in it every night.

Although I’m in the midst of my grand tour of Wisconsin, I couldn’t let a Monday pass without a new weekly Squeaky.  Thankfully, I’ve managed to figure out how to schedule posts in advance.

So here, for your memorial day viewing pleasure is my weekend couch buddy.  On the weekend, I spend a few hours in the morning reading on the couch.  I hold down one end.  My book buddy holds down the other.

Cat parents, be honest.  Watch this video and tell me you did not pick up your cat and attempt cat yodeling and cat polka.

“Squeaky” clean, ha ha, get it, get it?

The Squeakster acquired a new nickname this weekend.  She is now Squeaky Deaky.

Here is Squeaky Deaky in the midst of her new favorite activity – “hiding” under the blanket, preparing to pounce on a speck of lint on the carpet.

I love the belly pics.  Unfortunately, the Squeakster is not a belly kinda cat, so no belly rubs (unless I want to be bunny kicked and nipped for my attempt).

Squeaky has a new nickname…talkative little monster. 

So I got up to pray isha as per the plan.  Afterwards, I decided to sleep out on the couch, so as to not wake AbuS sneaking back into the bedroom – the door is quite loud and squeaky.  In the past, this has worked out just fine.  Squeaky spends 5 or 10 minutes doing her kneading thing on my stomach, and then she’ll curl up on the top of the couch and we’ll both sleep.

Oh no, not last night.  Last night, she decided she must talk to me…all night.  And if I tried to ignore her and sleep, she walked over to the bedroom door and meowed for AbuS.  So I’d have to get up, pick her up, stumble back to the couch and commence the whole process all over again – kneading, kitty snuggles in to sleep, I make my bedtime dhikr, kitty gets restless and starts to meow, I ignore, she goes to make noise to wake up AbuS, I go to get her…you get the picture.  Talkative little monster *shakes fist at cat*

 Don’t let that innocent little look fool you.  Inside is a devious monster bent on depriving her mommy of sleep

I was awake when fajr came, so I prayed it in the beginning of it’s time for the first time since last Ramadan and decided the heck with it, I’m going to the bedroom.  She meowed at the door a bit, although thankfully not loud enough to wake AbuS, and then went off to do whatever it is she usually does when we’re sleeping.

On the bright side, I made a lot of dhikr last night.  Alhamdulilah

Narrated ‘Ali bin Abi Talib (ra): Fatima (ra) came to the Prophet (saws) asking for a servant. He said, “May I inform you of something better than that? When you go to bed, recite “Subhan Allah’ thirty three times, ‘Alhamdulillah’ thirty three times, and ‘Allahu Akbar’ thirty four times. ‘All added, ‘I have never failed to recite it ever since.” Somebody asked, “Even on the night of the battle of Siffin?” He said, “No, even on the night of the battle of Siffin.”  (Bukhari)

Nope, not a staged posed.  She actually sits around like this.

“We are not amused”  

The Queen of the Apartment surveys her domain and waits impatiently for love and affection to be showered upon her.

I dreamt last night that I had another orange kitty named Squishy.  Squishy and Squeaky looked a lot alike, so that the visitor (in my dream) had a hard time telling them apart.  inshaAllah it’s the first type of dream the Prophet (saws) mentioned  

The Prophet (saws) said: “Dreams are of three types: a dream from Allah, a dream which causes distress and which comes from the Shaytaan, and a dream which comes from what a person thinks about when he is awake, and he sees it when he is asleep.” (Bukhari, Muslim)

in which I had waaaay too much fun with picnik

This week’s photo comes to you courtesy of the husband, who has gone from completely loathing Squeaky to being totally smitten with her. 

So the husband may go to egypt this summer.  Alhamdulilah for him, as he hasn’t been back since he immigrated to the US more than 3 and a half years ago.  I was debating going for a few weeks.  Not the entire time, but just enough to get some awesome abaya shopping in

Oh, but now crisis…what would I do with Squeaky while I was away?  I’m literally feeling sick to my stomach about leaving my beloved kitty behind.  Would I board her?  I don’t want her to be stuck in a little cage?  Have someone come over to feed her?  But that’s only for 15 minutes a day and she’d be so lonely.  And I don’t have any friends in the area who would take her.

*cries*

Look at that face.  Who could leave that face alone for 2 weeks?

bwahaha it’s all cat, all the time.

Oh, and don’t forget to sign up for this free class Imam Suhaib is teaching on Message for the Seekers of Guidance.  I have Imam Zaid’s translation, and mashaAllah, the book is awesome.  Take Imam Zaid’s commentary, add Imam Suhaib’s, and it promises to be one very intense and deep class.

Squeaky wanted to join the WWE.   I put my foot down at a skimpy leather costume like the divas wear, so she’s decided she’s going to audition to be Rey Mysterio’s sidekick instead.

Alhamdulilah it was a good day.  Work was good – got a good review.  Got some posts done, and a few more in the works.  Went to a halaqa that was good.  I’m motivated now to memorize Qur’an and hadith, so that I can accurately quote things in conversation.  Then came home and hung out with ma kitteh while the husband was out with a new friend (yaaay, he needs friends).  The Squeakster is currently sleeping on a chair next to me at the computer.

Look at this cute bundle of fluff.  How could your heart not melt when you see her?  Occasionally, I’ll reach over to pet her, and she makes a little grunt, annoyed at first, and then content.  Good night sweet kitty.  If but for my asthma, I would take you to bed with me, but alas, I’m off to sleep alone.

squeaky meets bag

Free flowing thoughts:

• On Wisconsin, on Wisconsin…Varsity, oh Varsity…U, rah rah Wiiiiiscooooonsiiiiin.
• Cooking Tibetan this week.  Pictures and recipes forthcoming inshaAllah
• Ah Spring.  I love spring.
• Squeaky loves spring too.  I opened the window, and she went nuts.  She started dashing around like mad and wedged herself between the sliding window and the screen.
• Have I mentioned I love my kitty?

Squeaky amidst the recycling

Got to spend some quality time with the Squeakster this weekend.  On Sunday, I decided to exercise after a 2 month hiatus.  I put in a yoga tape, and Squeaky decided that she needed attention NOW.  Try doing downward facing dog with a cat mashing herself against your face and then rolling around on the mat, trying to look extra cute when you’re attempting to move down into plank.

So I’m just sitting there, minding my own business, cooking, reading, surfing the net, going about my day when I hear a pitiful little “meow.”

 And there she is, staring at me with big wide eyes, saying love me, love me, pick me up, pet me, please.

Where do animals go after they die?

Question:

My cat that I have had and loved for 15 years just passed away and I was wondering what happens to animals once they pass away?? do they go to paradise? Also we chose for him to have a natural death at home on warm bedding instead of being euthanized at the vet…did we make the right choice even though he was really suffering?

Answer:

Walaikum assalam,

By clear Qur’anic text, you’ll have whatever you wish for in Paradise. Thus, if you wish to have your cat in paradise, it will be with you, in the best of states.

But be sure to get there!

Faraz Rabbani

Can you imagine spending eternity with that face?  Love ya Squeakster!

2 pictures to make up for the lack of the weekly squeaky last week

captioned by moi, picture via icanhazcheezburger

Apparently, water from the glass is a lot tastier then water from the dish, even if they both came from the same pur water filter.

Some days, one just need a kitty in one’s lap.  Unfortunately, one can’t bring her kitty to work, so one must rely on pictures to lift one’s spirits.

Urgh, 12 hours worth of work to do before 10 am.

My contortionist kitty caught mid groom.  She’ll sit on her behind and contort herself every which way to get clean.  And, if she gets distracted by something, she’ll try to sit up while still on her butt and will fall over   Haven’t caught that on camera yet.

On a lighter note, here’s what I’d buy if I had unlimited resources.  I may have already done this once, but I needed to distract myself from all the nastiness permeating the blogosphere and the serious nature of my last few posts.

For the husband:

For my kitchen:

For the house/apartment:

For me:

And for my Squeaky:

…were terrified.

A Palestinian boy carries a cat inside his house in Jabalya in the northern Gaza Strip January 14, 2009. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon renews in Egypt call for ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, whose aircraft kept up pounding of tunnels used by group to smuggle arms into Gaza Strip.

REUTERS/Suhaib Salem (GAZA)

rollin in the nip

…an epic story of cold weather, near crushing defeat and then finally triumph?  No?  Oh, too bad, you’re going to hear it anyways.

I live in an apartment. Occasionally, they’ll let us know that they’re going to plow the parking lot and our cars have to be out at 8 am. No big deal, I’ll just take the car to work instead of the bus. 6 am, and the car…won’t…start.  Not ever rev rev rev, no go.  Like seriously short “eh eh eh,” no catch at all.  And, no one around to be me a jump.

6:30 am, no one around to give me a jump, etc etc etc.

Did I mention that with the wind, it’s -35 or 40?

So I stayed home from work to plead my case with the landlady. They have the choice of a $50 fine or towing. Please just give me the fine, I begged, I’ll take my shovel and shovel around and under my car, so you can’t tell the difference. Nope, we’re going to tow. Nope, we’re going to tow. Nope, we’re going to tow. She was seriously heartless. She’s like, I have a car too, and I got it moved. Well, excuuuuuuuse me for not being able to afford a new car. I’ve already had to put $1000 worth of repairs into it last year, and I have some more work that needs to be done. arguh!

At this point, I’m a blubbering mess.  The Squeakster attempts to calm me by jumping on my lap and butting my hand to snuggle with her.  Ah well, better go watch my car get towed.  Outside.  In the artic breeze.

I called up my husband at work (who doesn’t know how to drive and doesn’t know anything about cars) and called my landlady every name in the book in between sobs.  I’m trying not to swear, the husband doesn’t like when I swear, but I was so shaken up, he didn’t even point out the string of filth I was uttering.  That helped relieve my stress a bit, but my car was still stuck. So I call my dad up at work. He suggested I try to jump it, since it was too slow to catch apparently. Now it was 8:30 and there was no one around to give me a jump.

The temperature may have crept up to -32 by now.

Ah, but there is the little corner grocery store that I’ve been avoiding since I was nearly assaulted a few months ago. The owners are muslim and like me well enough. Maybe they’ll give me a jump.

So I dash over, frozen to the bone after being in and out of the cold for the better part of 2 hours, and ask for a jump. There’s only one guy in the store and for another moment, I’m almost crying again. But, thank God, but he lets me take his car!

This is the first time I’ve jumped my car by myself, so I hook it up like my friend’s husband did last time – both clamps on the borrowed car, red one on my battery and black one on the chasse. Nothing happened.

Call my dad, crying again. He suggests I put the black one on the battery and listen for their battery to go down. Ah ha, there are sparks, it’s working.

Thank God, it starts while I’m on the phone with my dad. I just completely break down and keep mumbling thank God, thank God, thank God, which freaks my dad out, lol. I’m kind of the religious freak in the family.

Now I have another dilemma. I have 2 running cars, one that I have to return. I can’t turn off my car, otherwise it may not start again. And my purse is up in the apartment. Thankfully the very nice Russian maintenance guy happens to be walking by. I run up and ask him if he can watch my car. He doesn’t understand English very well, and thought I wanted help pushing it. Luckily through gesturing, he understands and I manage to return the car and get my stuff.

Thank God. Now I have to bake cookies for the guy at the store and the maintenance guy. Maybe I’ll make cheese cake…and buy a new battery for my car.

Via UmmTravis I stumbled upon Compound Cats.  It’s a volunteer organization based in Saudi Arabia (I think) that aims to promote understanding and better treatment of cats in residential compounds.  Having seen how street cats are treated in Cairo first hand and hearing about the kitties in Medina from almiskeenah, a hearty alhamdulilah and many duas for the peeps at Compound Cats for their effort!  I had been thinking about how a TNR program would work in the Middle East, and low and behold, people are already working on it!  Alhamdulilah.

When we adopted the Squeakster, she was already spayed.  If she hadn’t been, I don’t think the husband would have allowed her to be.  The prevailing opinion, it seems, is that spaying/neutering is unislamic.  Compound Cats has put together a good argument as to why neutering in particular should be permissible islamically.  Granted, I’m not sure it will convince my very stubborn husband, but we’ll see.  Their final point is a good one:

People have created a situation for these animals which is no longer natural and neutering is the more compassionate and beneficial way to help the situation.

From what I’ve been told, the saudi government (?) deals with the cat over population population problem by culling (ie killing) cats they scoop off the street.  Wouldn’t it be more humane to snip snip and let the cats live out their natural lives?  Snip snip vs. death…hmm, I wonder…

As a muslim and a cat lover, this site made my day.

New year, so why not revive the sunnah of the week series?  inshaAllah this time I won’t flake out

Sunnah of the Week 09:01

From Al-Adab al-Mufrad al-Bukhari:

‘A’isha (ra) said, “I went to the Prophet (saws), and said, ‘Messenger of Allah, you give your wives kunyas, so give me a kunya.’ He said, ‘Take the kunya of your nephew, ‘Abdullah.’”

I gave myself a kunya today.  I am now UmmSqueakster.  At first, I intended it to be merely a change of pace, as I’ve been rahma online since 2002.  However, upon thinking and doing some digging, I can now say that I do it to impliment a sunnah.  Granted, it’s not conventional, but it isn’t unheard of either.  Using an animal in the kunya is a sunnah of the companions.    Abu Hurairah (ra) translates as “Father of th small cat.”

Now if anyone ever asks me what my muslim name is, I can say UmmSqueaky.  That should throw them for a loop, ha.

Yes, I’m odd, I already know that, thank you very much.

Here’s my first crack at muslim lolcats.  They’re nowhere near as hilarious as Mr. Moo’s, but give me some time

FYI, when a person prays alone, they can set an object out in front of them known as a sutra.  Anyone passing in front of the praying person should pass in front of the sutra.

I knew from the minute I saw you in that tiny cage at the humane society with that little hand written sign saying “I’m a cuddler” that Allah (swt) had meant for us to be together.   Every day has been brighter and happier because of you and I thank Allah (swt) for bringing you into my life.

I love you Squeakster.

From Sunan Abu Dawud, an example of how our mother Aisha (ra) treated cats:

Narrated Aisha, Ummul Mu’minin:

Dawud ibn Salih ibn Dinar at-Tammar quoted his mother as saying that her mistress sent her with some pudding (harisah) to Aisha who was offering prayer. She made a sign to me to place it down. A cat came and ate some of it, but when Aisha finished her prayer, she ate from the place where the cat had eaten. She stated: The Messenger of Allah (saws) said: It is not unclean: it is one of those who go round among you. She added: I saw the Messenger of Allah (saws) performing ablution from the water left over by the cat.

Sorry to go MIA.  I’ll respond to comments soon inshaAllah.

Happy 1430/2009!  As always, I make resolutions, but perhas this year, I can actually keep them?

Dunya:

• Walk every week day during my lunch hour, if even for 15 minutes
• Do ab exercises everyday
• Lift weights 3 times a week
• Only spend $20 on eating out each month
• Learn Caribbean and Vietnamese cooking
• Show Squeaky in the HHP category at a TICA cat show.

Akhira

• Complete the 40 grand and keep on going inshaAllah
• Never leave a salat without doing x amount of dhikr
• Learn a new ayah every week
• Leave ____ sin (sorry, that one’s private)

As always, inshaAllah inshaAllah inshaAllah.

All righty, I’m planning on ordering a collar for Squeaky from Ragtime Pet Collars, and there are too many choices.  Here’s what I’m thinking.  Thoughts?

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

One of these days I’ll get back to posting about Islam, I promise.  But for right now, I’ve got cold and cats on the brain.

Kitty has a name.  She is now Squeaky, because when I pick her up, she makes a squeaky meow.

No name as of yet.  Perhaps she’ll just be Kitty from here on out.  Kitty is adjusting well.  She isn’t quite as clingy as she was on Monday, ie she’s not constantly on my lap and when I’m walking around, she follows me, but doesn’t meow incessantly to be picked up.  We even managed a 15 minute play session last night.  I was a bit worried that the toys I have didn’t interest her, but we batted a crinkle ball back and forth for a few minutes, and then got in some good rough housing with a wand and dangly fuzzy attachment.  I have pictures, but didn’t plug the camera in this morning before I went to work.  So, here’s a different picture for your Kitty fix.  You know you want one.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://uk.youtube.com/v/YZJT5hJsFUM" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

Check it at 4 minutes, 30 seconds.

I’m making our kitty a dhikr kitty.  She sits on my lap and I whisper the dhikr in hear ears.

…I’ve accidentally ended up live blogging kitty’s first full day with me on the catsite.  So rather than repeat it all here, if anyone’s interested, here it is:

www.thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=182483

Lots of pics of kitty, plus some of the food I made.

I will say this is one needy kitty.  Thankfully, she napped for an hour and a half this afternoon, and let me get a good 4 dishes cooked – kashmiri stir fried cabbage, calcutta jewish fish curry, parsi liver and spices and lemon chicken with almonds from I’ve forgotten where – all from my new cookbook I mentioned in the last post.  MmmMmmmMmmmm!

Ok, I can’t resist, one more kitty pic:

I am so absolutely awesome that I will not jump up on your lap.  Instead, I will sit here and meow incessantly while you pat your lap and say up up up a million times like a fool.  Then, you will eventually tire and will pick me up, and I will sleep on your lap for an hour, even though you have tomato soup on the stove that needs stirring.

…most likely so I will stop yammering about getting a cat and start talking about islam again, dang it!

As I type, I have a blondish orange fluff ball wrapping herself around the chair, giving me this look that says “why are you typing?  You should be using both of those hands to pet me!”

We adopted her from the humane society yesterday. She’s 4 years old, a bit on the pudgy side, and a big ol ball of love. After sniffing tentitively around the apartment yesterday, she was snuggling in our laps and demanding attention. I was a bit worried, since I had read that cats may hide when brought into a new home, but this girl is not shy at all.

The only down side is that she is perhaps a bit too needy and maybe has some abandonment issues. The bedroom is off limits, since I have asthma and allergies, and need one cat hair free zone. When the husband and I go into the bedroom and shut the door, she sits outside meowing. And if we don’t snuggle her for 15 minutes, she’s meowing at our feet. Thankfully, she let us sleep just fine, and I’m hoping once she realizes we won’t abandon her and are going to give her plenty of love, she won’t need to demand attention.

We don’t have a name for her yet. I like Rabia (after the famous early sufi) and Shams (arabic for sun, and also Rumi’s companion), and the husband likes Habiba (loved in arabic) and Noura (light in arabic). She was called Mitze, but she doesn’t answer to it, so we don’t feel bad about changing her name. So far she’s just kitty and sweety.

I have a free vet appointment scheduled for this weekend, so I’m going to talk with him about the amount of food we should be feeding her. They had her on Purina One at the humane society (bleck, after reading the ingredient list, how could anyone feed that to their cats?  It’s all grains and animal by products!) and I got a free bag with the adoption. I’m going to wean her onto one of the meat based cat foods that is better for her health and coat.

We prayed several prayers with her yesterday.  During the first one she meowed throughout, but after that, she sat patiently on the side, and after the husband made salaams, she ran over to be petted.  I make dhikr after the prayer with her, whispering the subhaAllahs into her ear.
So, enough of me rambling, here’s our kitty!

Yup, this place looks pretty good

nice view

yup, I think I could like it here

Just chillin

getting some lovin

and finally, sulking because I’m typing rather than petting her

From Adnaan:

From Timelight

From Maya_Darryl

Waleed Khamis

There is a story out there on the web about the Prophet (saws) and his cat Muezza.  He let a cat sleep on his cloak when the adhan sounded.  Rather than disturb the cat, he cut off the piece of the cloak the cat was sleeping on and got up to pray.  Another version says the cat was sleeping on the sleeve of a jacket the Prophet (saws) wanted to wear at the time of prayer, and he cut the sleeve off rather than disturb the cat.  I haven’t been able to find the source of the story, but it touches me both as a muslim and a cat person.  MashaAllah, our Prophet (saws) was capable of such tenderness.

In Khan Khalili in Cairo, taken by moi

And from the wonderful world of flickr

Tunisian Cats

Lots of cats in Cairo

Cats at Jabal al Nour in Mecca

Morocco

The house is dusted and vacuumed, and the kitty stuff has been organized.  inshaAllah we’ll be getting our newest family member this weekend.   We haven’t picked one out yet, but I’m making dua for a friendly little fluff ball who loves to play, be carried, will sit on my lap, won’t wake us up at night and who I’m not allergic to.

Here’s the kitty prep work that’s been done:

Litter box and litter – check

I picked the petco brand litter because you can go in and refill the container.  Thumbs up for reducing waste.

 Bed – check

It’s actually a dog bed, but it was so fuzzy and cute!  We were originally going to just line a box with a blanket, but my sister bought this for me for my birthday.

Food station – check

Ceramic, so the kitty can’t knock the bowls everywhere.  I have a plastic water dish I think I’ll put in the kitchen too.

Giant box o stuff – check

Ah, but what’s in the giant box o stuff, you may ask?

Food – check

3 brands of low grain/no grain dry foods and several kinds of wet food.  Allah (swt) didn’t create cats to eat grocery store brand crap with wheat and corn.  I figure I’ll see what kitty likes best and buy more.

Treats – check

I also started a grow in the bag cat grass, but I think I put too much water in.  I’ll have to find a pot and attempt to grow some more.

And my favorite, toys – check!

This kitty better like to play, cuz I’m all set.

And finally, all prepared for kitty, the toys I’ve put out for her when she comes home – check

3 days until kitty day inshaAllah!

soon inshaAllah

Between the election and the kitteh quest, I haven’t had much time to surf the muslim blogosphere as of late.  Sorry ’bout that.  We’re going kitteh hunting this weekend at local shelters and rescues, and my internet time will be devoted to surfing petfinder until we find one to adopt inshaAllah.

I do want to mention some goings on in Rome where there’s a Catholic-Muslim forum going on. 

• Catholic-Muslim Forum opens with frank talk at Vatican
• No news is good news at Catholic-Muslim Forum
• Peering through funnels at interfaith problems
• Pace picks up in international interfaith meetings

The Reuters FaithWorld blog is on my daily blogstroll.  If it’s not on yours, it should be.  I’d miss a lot of religion related stories (like the Catholic-Muslim forum) if I didn’t check it periodically.

On a related note, I’ve forsaken my ipod in favor of my little portable radio these last few days, in order to listen to all the election goings on in real time.  I happened to turn it on around 10 this morning and catch part of an interview with Eboo Patel on our local public radio station.  The hour was on the 2008 election and the religion gap, although the portion I heard was q&a from callers, mainly asking about Eboo’s interfaith work. 

Well, not quite yet, but soon inshaAllah.  The husband has finally relented, after listening to me whine and moon over kittehs for 3 years.  We found an absolutely gorgeous kitteh on craig’s list and went to visit her yesterday.  Alas, she’s painfully shy, to the point where she hid underneath something the entire time we were there and wouldn’t let us touch her.  Perhaps if we were more experienced pet owners we could take a risk, but I’d like a cat that is open and friendly from the get go the first time around.

So, we’ll be visiting some shelters next weekend, where inshaAllah we’ll find a kitteh who loves us right off the bat.

I have everything all set up and ready to go.  I cleaned the apartment from top to bottom, even the closets.  I cleared a spot for the litter box, made a little toy box out of a shoe box, set up an eating station (far away from the litter box) and made a bed out of a blanket and a box.  Now all we need is a kitteh.  inshaAllah soon.

My eeevil plan is working *rubs hands together with glee*    I want a cat.  The husband is waffling on the subject.  He’s agreed that we’ll get one, but just not anytime soon.  I’m tired of waiting.  So I drug him to Petsmart after our anniversary dinner last night.  Many of the big chain pet stores don’t sell cats, but they do foster them for local shelters.  One of the kitties stole my husband’s heart as she melted in my arms. 

Look at that face.  Who could say no to that face? 

The husband said she was just begging to be taken home.  Ah honey, every cat I play with (I visit the kitties at Petsmart often) just begs to be taken home.  He also thought she’d be lonely if we adopted just one, so we’ll have to adopt 2.  Nope, not going to say no to that either

Unfortunately, we can’t adopt little Eleanor.  The management at our apartments requires cats to be declawed.  I will not declaw a cat, so we’re looking for one who is already declawed.  inshaAllah Eleanor will go to a good home.  Many thanks to her for gently nudging my husband in the right direction.

One step closer to getting a cat inshaAllah.