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I’m home.  Spent 3 days straight with my extended family - all 25 of them.  Yeah, it was nice, but a bit much.  Random things I have learned:

• My uncle lived a very full life and touched a lot of people.  Alhamdulilah. 
• My dad was crazy in college.  Real crazy.  Lampshade on head crazy.
• Life on the farm was hard.  Ok, I theoretically knew that before, but hearing the stories about growing up on the farm, man, it was tough.
• My dad and his brothers performed science experiments on the barn cats when they were little, such as: how high up does a cat have to be dropped from before it can land on it’s feet?  Boo.
• There is such a job as elephant floor salesman.  That’s what my dad and uncle’s college roommate does for a living.  He sells floors for elephants.
• My dad and my uncle roomed together in college.  They had a very poor sense of hygiene.
• My dad and his siblings are horrible at Taboo.  I, on the other hand, rock.
• The Sunday after Thanksgiving is the worst day to travel.  It took me an hour and a half longer than it normally does to drive between Madison and Minnesota.  The last 19 miles along 94 to the Minnesota border were bumper to bumper traffic.
• My grandmother will never get over my hijab.  She asks me the same questions about it every time I see her. 
• Speaking of hijab, my aunt thinks my hijab is stupid.  Well, she can bite me.
• Madcat is my new favorite pet store.  Too bad it’s in Madison.  They feed their store kitty evo wet food, and OMGosh, she was soooo soft.
• Left over veggie fajita fillings make a good omelet the morning after.
• There are lots of good wet cat foods out there.  I got probably 10 different brands, 20 different flavors.  I also have 3 varieties of dry food: Innova, Origen and Solid Gold.   I figure I’ll see what kitty likes best and get more of that.
•  My kitty is going to be so spoiled.
• Speaking of kitty, my husband is weird.  He asked me this morning if I could sew some clothes for the cat.  Yeah, I can’t sew.  Apparently, he wants to take the cat outside in the winter.  Um, yeah.
• The american paper industry is in dire straights.  My dad, 2 of his brothers and 2 of my aunts are/were all in the paper industry.  Many of the people who came to the funeral were paper people.  My brother is going to be a chemical engineer who specializes in paper, just like my dad.  Every time my dad introduced my brother and said what he was studying, the person groaned, rolled their eyes and urged him to get the heck out while he still can.
• Unsloppy joes are the awesome.  It’s my new favorite recipe.  I made it for my grandma and my sister this weekend, and when my aunt and her boyfriend stopped over, they tried it too.  They all had to have the recipe.

And now, on with life.  We’re into Dhull-Hijja.  Eid is potentially next Monday.  I haven’t had a chance to see if there’s squabbling about the date yet, so I’m not sure.  inshaAllah we’re getting a kitty next weekend.  Alhamdulilah.

Dhul Hijjah continues

So, I’m at my parents’, exchanging gifts for that holiday, oh, what’s it’s name, that occurs at the end of December? I still haven’t managed to get up the gumption to tell them that I’d rather come on the 26th or 27th to exchange gifts, and avoid the 25th. I have no guts. *hangs head* Well, at least I drove in this morning, to avoid being guilted into attending church yesterday.

Anywho, last year, Sunni Sister put together a fantastic list of readings about Dhul Hijjah. Go, read. After all, iqra was Allah (swt)’s first command.

Welcome the Blessed Month of Dhul Hijjah

First 10 days of Dhull-Hijja

We are quickly approaching the best days of the year, the day of Arafah and Eid al Ahdu. These days fall in the Islamic month Dhull-Hijja, which will be starting inshaAllah this weekend.

While 2 million muslims are in Saudi Arabia, eagerly waiting to complete their hajj, for those of us at home, we can still reap some rewards and benefits from the first 10 days of this month. Fasting these first 10 days are a sunnah (an example) of our blessed Prophet (saws). In addition, doing good deeds and extra worship are held in even higher regard during this time.

Ibn `Abbas (ra) reported that the Prophet (saws) said: “There are no days in which righteous deeds are more beloved to Allah than these ten days.” The people asked, “Not even Jihad for the sake of Allah?” He said, “Not even Jihad for the sake of Allah, except in the case of a man who went out, giving himself and his wealth up for the cause (of Allah), and came back with nothing.” (Reported by Al-Bukhari)

Visit IslamOnline for more articles on these 10 days. Mutmainaa lists acts of worship and activities that are perfect to at this time.