Talk Like an Arkansan #2

Salam!

Bismillah

Some more common words and phrases!!!

crick: creek, small stream or river   "I'm gonna go swimmin' in the crick."

ornery: stubborn, bad tempered   "That bull is ornery."

As (adjective) as a (noun with that characteristic) : a phrase used for emphasis, usually humerous   "That blanket is soft as a baby's butt."

... as all get out: to the maximum amount   "He's as mad as all get out."

if'n: if, in case  "If'n you ain't gonna eat that, can I have it?"

air up: inflate   "Don't forget to air up your tires."

hunkey dorey: great, perfect  "Everything is hunkey dorey!"

cross purposes: two opposing objectives "They's workin' at cross purposes."

womper-jawed/ off kilter: akew, off center  "Fix your dress woman, its all womper-jawed."

darn tootin': for sure, clearly "You're darn tootin'!"

fit to be tied: mad, angry "That big bull was fit to be tied when you jumped in his pen."

pop a squat: sit down  "Come on over and pop a squat, you look bushed."

      bushed: tired, exhausted

hankering/hankerin': a strong desire, craving  "I got a hankerin' for waffle house."

      waffle house: a 24 hour restaurant, serving diner food and breakfast allll daaayyy looooong!!!

heap: plenty, a plethora  "Boy's got a heap a money." (heap of pronounced "heap a")

hear tell: heard a rumor  "I hear tell that girl ran oft and got married."

like to/ liked to have: almost, was about to  "I like to screamed my head off when I saw that those 'coon eyes by the trash can."

      'coon: raccoon, they have reflective eyes in a flashlight beam

goose egg: zero, bruise or bump especially on the head  "Poor Casey got a goose egg on his head last weekend." 

prolly/ probaly: probably  "We should prolly be gettin' in the house right about now 'fore the skeeters come out."

      

      'fore: before

      skeeter: mosquito

purdy: pretty  "Ain't that a purdy little girl!"

fair to midlin': alright, fine, good  "Oh, I'm fair to midlin' thanks."

ruther/ druther: rather "I'd ruther/ I druther go to Stoby's."

druthers: preferences   "If I had my druthers, we'd be at waffle house."

      Stoby's: restaurant in Russleville and Conway, famous for cheese dip and chips

sho nuff: sure enough, that's right, for sure  "That boy's got a hot head. Sho nuff."

      got a hot head: impatient, quick to anger

tump over: to knock over, turn over  "I done tumped over my milk momma."

'et up: eaten up, bitten  "If you go out with all those skeeters, you're gonna get 'et up!" 

bless your pea-pickin' little heart: aww, poor you, a way of offering condolences "Well bless your pea-pickin' little heart. I'm so sorry to hear that..."

in the offing/ in the offin': in the future, coming up in the near future   "I got a surprise for you in the offin'" 

I know this one is a bit long, but I got excited!! LOL, let me know what you think!!!!

Video: Science and Islam

Salam! Bismillah I came across this series of episodes from BBC about Science and Islam. As a physicist and a muslimah, I find these really fascinating! They cover the the Golden Age of Islam and the scientific developments encouraged and spearheaded by muslims. As the "western" world was living in the Dark Ages, muslims were gathering all of the intellectual gems from all over the world, translating them, and saving them for subsequent generations. If not for the muslim drive to preserve ancient knowledge and build on it, almost all of the works of the Greeks would have been lost... So please enjoy inshaAllah and learn about the contributions of muslims who are very seldom mentioned today! (as a side note, please note there are unislamic things happening in the video like smoking and such. also be aware that this is not a video about the religion of islam, but about the culture that arose as muslim leadership spread over the world.)

Eyebrows

Salam!

Bismillah

I know... it has been an embarrassingly long time again. Please accept my apologies.

Today I want to share with you how I deal with my eyebrows. I know it's a strange topic but it is definitely something that I wish  someone had given me tips on when I converted to Islam.

Okay, first things first. No plucking obviously. The idea behind it is that plucking eyebrows is a kind of vanity and deception. So with this in mind, I find that it is equally vain and deceptive to cut the eyebrows and also to bleach them in such a way as to make them look smaller. There are different scholarly rulings on this issue and most of them don't agree with mine, this is just the level of comfort I have achieved with what I believe is the spirit behind the prohibition. I'm talking about my own comfort zone here, not my scholarly opinion or anything since the hadith as far as I understand doesn't specifically say that coloring eyebrows is wrong or anything.

So that being said, and inshaAllah clarified, what am I supposed to do with my new Muslimah eyebrows? lol

I think my eyebrows have cow-licks, they grow in every which way and never like to stay neat and orderly. I'm not concerned with the volume or anything because subhanAllah most people's eyebrow's correctly fit their features but just the overall messiness. I have found that my eyebrows do look more shapely and thinner when they are orderly.

So, in the spirit of keeping things in order, I have found that the secret to nice Muslimah eyebrows is clear mascara. You can use a little clear mascara to shape your eyebrows without trimming and it gives a little hold during the day so they don't freak out again inshaAllah. (if you can't find clear mascara you can also use a little hair gel and an old cleaned mascara wand).

First use the wand to brush your eyebrows upward. You want them to be as close to straight up and down as possible. Then, take the mascara brush and run it along the top of your eyebrows following the natural shape, just pushing down the hairs that are at the very top, leaving the lower eyebrows somewhat in place. Start at the inside corner of your eye and move outward. This will give you a nice arch and sweep inshaAllah!

Here are some products I used before:
Anastasia Clear Brow Gel
Covergirl Clear Mascara
Disposable Mascara Wands and Hair Gel

How do you all deal with the natural eyebrow that comes with Islam??

New Design

Salam 3laikum!

How do you all like the new design?

I was hoping that the wider 3 column design would be a little more user friendly and you wouldn't have to scroll down for miles to see the bottom of the page :-P

Can you read all the fonts with the current sizes and colors? Can you find all the stuff on the page that you want?

Anyway, let me know what you think inshaAllah

<3 NeverEver

Stylish Blogger Award

Salam 3laikum!

Way back when I got an award from a very Stylish Blogger named Jnana from Spill Beans! So thank you very much sister!

And the Rules are:

1. Thank and link back to the person who gave me the award
2. Share seven things about myself
3. Award 15 recently discovered great bloggers
4. Contact these bloggers to tell them of their award

So Seven things:

~ I wear a necklace every day that my aunt gave to me. I even wear it in the shower lol.

~ I hate soggy cereal. I put only enough milk in the bowl to make the cereal ever-so-slightly wet on the outside but still retain the awesome crunch.

~ I have been Muslim now for over 2 years subhanAllah alhamdulillah and I started this blog when I was still Christian.

~ I credit facebook with killing my appetite for blogs. I am thinking of shutting down my facebook again temporarily after Ramadhan (since I don't want to miss out on the iRamadan facebook group :-P)

~ I am a huge fan of football (aka soccer), especially Barcelona. I usually watch games in Spanish or Arabic even though I'm not fluent because it is more exciting lol.

~ Alhamdulillah I finally have finished my Bachelor's degree in Physics!!! (And i always wondered why girls don't get Bachelorette's degrees...)

~ I find it infinitely easier to say what I mean when I am writing than when I am talking. If I try to explain my thoughts to someone in person, I will often have to explain several times before my true intention and thought is expressed.

I Tag:

I haven't read blogs in so long that this will be really hard for me... I will tag as many as I can inshaAllah

Umm Squeakster: The lady with the cutest cat mashaAllah :-)

Umm An-Nu'man: Seriously striving to educate Muslim children mashaAllah

Tuttie: A truly inspiring lady who loves turtles almost as much as me mashaAllah :-

Noor: Combining my two culinary loves: southern/comfort and middle-eastern/Saudi and doing it smashingly well mashaAllah

Banana Anne: Telling it like it is and striving in the way of Allah mashaAllah

Little Auntie: Giving great examples of gentle naseeha mashaAllah

Rene: An insightful and wonderful sister with a beautiful little girl who is an absolute pleasure to be friends with mashaAllah

Okay I know I didn't make it to 15, but that took me 30 minutes lol

Facebook

Salam!

Bismillah

I finally cracked to the pressure and started up a facebook account for this blog! I really really wanted to join in the iRamadan group :-)

Anyway, now that it is open if you guys want to add me my name is Finding Guidance and my e-mail is findingguidance (at) hotmail (dot) com

Please just add that personal note thing to the invite letting me know who you are, like your user name here or your blog address/name so I can recognize you.

I wont add people that I don't recognize from somewhere (like iRamadan or the blog), nor will I be adding any brothers.

hope to see you there inshaAllah!

My Evening

Salam

Bismillah

Alhamdulillah today I was feeling much better, thank you all for your du'a and advice.

I made plans with my friend Dusty to spend some time together since it had been literally ages since I had seen any of my friends outside of jumm'ah. Dusty is from my hometown and converted to Islam just a few short months after me at the end of last Ramadhan mashaAllah. She is a real sweetheart and very sincere while still silly, lol. My kind of lady :-P

First we went to the mall and looked around a bit for long skirts. We found several at maurices of all places in dark denim, khaki, and brown.

Then we went to the masjid to pray asr and we stayed in the masjid library looking for books until maghreb (we both came out with stacks of free books alhamdulillah). Most of my books were about Christianity and explaining Islam as I am looking for materials to show my family to help explain Islam better inshaAllah.

After that we decided to eat dinner at Arby's. I had a large jamocha shake. I don't know if you know how huge that is, but I think i gained 10 lbs LOL.

Next we went to wal-mart so I could get some cookie sheets since my old ones rusted out.

Walmart happens to be next to the movies so we decided to catch a flick before we went home.

Overall it was a good night alhamdulillah. Me and Dusty both had a blast :-)

I think maybe my issue isn't overall loneliness, but I just feel that way when I am with my family.

Allah kareem, inshaAllah khair

Friday Khutba

Salam!

Bismillah

A few weeks ago a brother at our masjid who regularly gives the khutba talked about men's hijab :-) (what I mean by men's hijab is the covering that Muslim men are required to give)

I know, right! A dude bringing up the subject of men's hijab? It was so great subhanAllah!

He basically said "look brothers... you guys would talk endlessly about those sisters that you think don't cover correctly and yet you don't even come to the masjid in proper clothing."

He talked about how our brothers sometimes are so aghast if they see a sister who isn't covered and yet can't be bothered to properly cover their awrah when praying, let alone outside the masjid and in public.

He reminded the brothers of what areas they are commanded to cover and also that if the awrah is not covered, then salah is invalid.

mashaAllah it was great! This brother is one of my dear friend's husband and is a convert from Arizona. Allahu alem, he appears to me to be very sincere and intelligent. I always enjoy when he gives the khutba, especially this one :-)

Ramadhan the Flylady way :-D

Salam!

Bismillah

Eva at handmade beginnings just did a post about her Ramadhan Organizer and gave a link for this awesome(!!) site for Ramadhan planning the flylady way. I'm not sure how many of you are familiar with flylady, but you can find her at flylady.net She teaches us unorganized people how to function as born-organized people. :-) Anyway, someone got the brilliant (mashaAllah) idea to adapt flylady for us Muslim ladies, especially during the potentially stressful time of Ramadhan prep.

The blog is Ramadhan Planner and I suggest you all go and take a look around, especially if you are in charge of planning for your family as there are a lot of resources there.

Award :-D

Salam!

Bismillah

A while back, my dear sister Rukhpar Mor gave me a blog award :-D

Our task was to write about where we see ourselves in 10 years time. I'm sorry this took my so long dear sister. Honestly, this really really threw me for a loop. I had no idea what to say! I still have no idea what to say... but I am going to give it a go anyway.

So in 10 years I will be 32/33 years. I would like to be married inshaAllah to go a good man and living somewhere where I feel accepted. I have no idea where that will be or if that place exists, but that is my goal.

I would like to have at least 3 children by this time inshaAllah. I have always wanted to have a lot of kids, mostly boys but I'm starting to think girls would be okay too. *dreamy look* My friends tease me because when they first asked how many I wanted I said "between 5 and 10" lol. I would like to take care of my kids at home, hopefully homeschool them.

If I am not able to stay at home, I think I would like to teach. Although recently I have given a lot of thought to getting an MBA... maybe working for a non-profit.

I would like to be fluent in Arabic or at least proficient enough to read the Qur'an with understanding. I would also like to have at least one juz memorized, preferably more.

I hope and pray that in 10 years we are all happy and fulfilled, ameen.

I'm not sure who has been tagged at this point and who hasn't, so if you haven't done it, please tell me where you would like to be in 10 years in the comments or on your blog or in an e-mail :-)

with love

MSN

Salam!

Bismillah

soooo hey ladies! I wanted to let you all know that I opened up an MSN account for finding guidance so that I could receive/send e-mails and also chat with you if you want :-D

so the address is findingguidance (at) hotmail (dot) com

if you would like me to add you to my msn chat thingy, just send me an e-mail with your blogger name on it and stuff so that I know it isn't some weirdo, lol. I wont add anyone in general unless I know who you are.

so... YAY! hoping to have some conversations outside of blogger with you all

World Cup 2010

Salam!

The last time I tried to talk about football/soccer, it didn't go over well. However now I am hoping that everyone is all psyched up about the World Cup so I will try again :-D

My Final 8 Predictions:

Uruguay

Ghana

Argentina

Germany

Netherlands

Brazil

Paraguay/Japan (No idea... this one is a coin toss for me lol) Although I am rooting for Japan as the last Asian team in the running!

ESPANA! Por Siempre! :-D

Supporting any teams in particular?!?

7 Things

Salam!

I got tagged to share seven random things by Tutti and since she ACTUALLY went through the trouble to tag me (to type my name and everything!), I decided I had better do it. :-P

1. Repetitive action is incredibly soothing to me. I seriously think I was made for factory work. Collating is my passion, lol. Something about doing the same exact motion over and over sets my mind free. I love it!

2. I use to hate TV, but then I realized it was just because all the good shows got cancelled. (RIP: Freaks and Geeks, My Name is Earl, Firefly, Dead Like Me, The Tick) Fox and NBC can eat my shorts.

3. I like the taste of canned fruits and vegetables. When I feel like a snack, sometimes I will just open a can of corn or tomatoes and tuck in. I prefer canned pears to fresh ones 100%. I don't like for my pears to be crunchy.... ewww

4. I've only worn makeup outside my house once since I converted. It was for an Eid party lol. I also covered my face on the way because I felt like I looked like a total skank (lol, I was wearing eyeliner, mascara and cherry chapstick :-P)

5. I LOVE LOVE LOVE grilled food. If it wasn't a pain in the butt to light up the coals, I would have at least one grilled meal per day.

6. I take pictures of alllllll of the food that I make. It is like a compulsion now. I can't start eating unless I take a picture. wow... I just realized how freaky that was once I wrote it down, lol.

7. I use to swim a mile every day, but I haven't been swimming since I converted. I bet my stamina is awful now...

I tag: wafa', sara, stacy, rene, banana ann, safyiah, and inkblotsblueabayas

The Importance of Men's Hijab ala Kobe

Salam!

Bismillah

I was going to write a whole post about the importance of men's hijab.

Then I saw this picture and couldn't stop smiling.

InshaAllah I will save the lecture for another day, enjoy the photo!

ONE YEAR!!

Salam!

Bismillah

ALHAMDULILLAH I MADE IT THROUGH ONE WHOLE YEAR OF BLOGGING!!!

Things that have happened this year:

1. I converted to Islam, alhamdulillah

2. I fasted my first whole Ramadhan, alhamdulillah

3. I took survived two semesters of Intensive Arabic, alhamdulillah

4. I wrote 141 blog posts here + 33 on my food blog

5. I got a sister in law and a niece all on the same day :-D alhamdulillah

6. I wore hijab for the first time this year, alhamdulillah

7. I started to wear jilbab and hijab when I converted this year, alhamdulillah

8. I made ridiculous amounts of blogger friends alhamdulillah (*muah* xoxoxoxooxoxo)

9. I *almost* graduated college, inshaAllah next semester!

10. I followed over 200 blogs and had around 1870 profile views

ALHAMDULILLAH WA MASHAALLAH it has been such a great year and inshaAllah I hope to see you all here for another one in the best of health and iman ameeeeeeeeeen.

much love.

Freerice.com

Salam!

Bismillah

Freerice.com is a website that combines studying your GRE or GMAT vocabulary with charity!!! For every right answer you have, freerice will donate 10 grains of rice to the needy, so spend some time studying your English vocab and feeding hungry people, inshaAllah!

Mission Statement of FreeRice: PLEASE CHECK IT OUT!!

About FreeRice

FreeRice is a non-profit website run by the United Nations World Food Program. Our partner is the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.

FreeRice has two goals:

1. Provide education to everyone for free.
2. Help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free.

This is made possible by the generosity of the sponsors who advertise on this site.

Whether you are CEO of a large corporation or a street child in a poor country, improving your education can improve your life. It is a great investment in yourself.

Perhaps even greater is the investment your donated rice makes in hungry human beings, enabling them to function and be productive. Somewhere in the world, a person is eating rice that you helped provide. Thank you.

here!!!

My brother

السلام عليكم

بسم الله

MASHAALLAH my brother is engaged!!!!!



They are planning to have a short engagement, so inshaAllah they will get married either during spring break next month (!?!?!) or the last part of May.

His fiance has a little three year old girl and I llooovvvveeee her. We play with puzzles. Which are awesome.

I pray that Allah put love and understanding in their hearts and give them a great big happy family, ameen!!

Questions from Banana Anne!

As-salamu alaikum

Bismillah Ar-rahman Ar-raheem

So one of my FAVORITE bloggers, Anne, just asked these questions at her blog This is Not Clever. MashaAllah isn't that a clever title? ;-)

Anyway, it sounded like fun and so I thought I would post here and ask you guys the same questions after I answer.

Favorite beverage and why?: It is a tie between Pepsi and this stuff called Klass Aguas Frescas in Mango flavored. We have a sizable Hispanic population where we live, so a lot of my favorite snacks reflect that. They have the best galletas!! :-)

Favorite place you've traveled to and why: I haven't really gotten to travel anywhere outside of the US :-( however, I have been to quite a few states and I must say that Vermont and Pennsylvania are just lovely during the summer.

Favorite cartoon strip: Mmmm.... I haven't really read the funnies in a long time. There was one that I use to like a lot, but I can't remember what the name is. InshaAllah if I find it I will let you know :-P

Favorite Surahs from the Qur'an (if you have any) and why: Sura Ar-Rahman is my all time favorite. If you go to the Qur'an app over ~~> there you can listen to Ahmed Al-Ajmy who is my favorite reciter for this sura, mashaAllah.

If you were forced to move to a Muslim majority country, where would you want to go?: I think i would move to Saudi. There are a lot of reasons: first, it would be lovely to be near the Masjid al-Haram and Masjid An-Nabi. Second, I don't like to drive HAHA. Third, the majority of the people in my community here are from Saudi and I really like and appreciate their values and culture and feel comfortable in that atmosphere.

Favorite type of meat (or if you're vegetarian, favorite non-meat dish) and why?: I like beef and lamb. The majority of the halal meat we can get here is chicken and lamb, so I eat a lot of that. :-)

Worst movie you've ever seen: I really prefer to block these things out of my mind, lol. I know that I have watched some pretty awful movies in my time, but thankfully they all escape my memory at this point.

Did you sleep with a stuffed animal/security blanket when you were a kid? What was it/what was its name? Do you still sleep with it now? No I never really had a specific animal or blanket that I slept with. Although my mother said that I was particularly attached to my toes. I would play with them and chew on them and hold them, lol.

Soccer News: MABROOK!

!!!!!مبروك لمصر




Disclaimer: This is in no way a political or religious post, and really is just a post about my daily life.

Today I watched the soccer game between Algeria and Egypt. It was really exciting!! I got super caught up in it all. I'm a big fan of the underdog and after the last few games between Egypt and Algeria, I was kind of rooting for Egypt to win this time.

I started watching Egypt play in the Confederations Cup down in South Africa (where my bff Rayyan lives ;-) ). The whole time I was like.... wow they were robbed. They played really well the entire time (way better than USA) and yet didn't make it into the final game. Bummer. (The US totally lucked their way into the finals BTW, I know they beat Egypt by 3 in that game, but still... lucky shots. I mean look at how close the game between Egypt and Brazil was! Anyway... rambling, lol)

So then I got all excited when it came time for the World Cup qualifiers. I wanted to see how Egypt would do! They had some reaaaallllyyy heavy competition when they played Algeria and the games were really exciting. Algeria won in the end after a tie breaking game, so Egypt was still my underdog.

So then we come to the African Cup!! Egypt played Camaroon and they did SO WELL, mashaAllah. I'm a Barcelona fan, so I know that Eto'o from Camaroon is really good and so I'm not sure how it is going to go for Egypt, but they win!!

So NOOOOW they are playing in the semi-final against who? Algeria! Woooo it's a rematch. I love rematches for the express purpose of cheering on the one I think might lose, lol. And this game was CRAAAZZZY!!! Red cards everywhere, penalty shots, beautiful goals, dribbling! And Egypt wins!! Ahhhhhhhh my underdog!!!

Anyway, some of the people who *ACTUALLY* know things about sports totally predicted that Egypt would win, but to me they were still the underdog :-P

And that is what this post is about. To say Mabrook to the Egyptian team for the exciting end to an interesting string of games :-D and good luck in the Final.

P.S. I usually watch soccer in Spanish or Arabic, neither of which language I am fluent in LOL. If you haven't tried this before, you should totally do it because Spanish and Arab casters get SO MUCH MORE EXCITED than American casters. Plus you will learn some new words you can throw into a conversation, lol.

Sisters: from an e-mail

السلام عليكم

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

SISTERS
A young wife sat on a sofa on a hot humid day,
Drinking iced tea and visiting with her Mother. As
They talked about life, about marriage, about the
Responsibilities of life and the obligations of
Adulthood, the mother clinked the ice cubes in her
Glass thoughtfully and turned a clear, sober glance
Upon her daughter.
'Don't forget your Sisters,' she advised, swirling
The tea leaves to the bottom of her glass. 'They'll
Be more important as you get older. No matter how
Much you love your husband, no matter how much you
Love the children you may have, you are still going
To need Sisters. Remember to go places with them now
And then; do things with them.'

'Remember that 'Sisters' means ALL the women...
Your girlfriends, your daughters, and all your other
Women relatives too. 'You'll need other women. Women
Always do.'

What a funny piece of advice!' the young woman
Thought. Haven't I just gotten married?
Haven't I just joined the couple-world? I'm now a
Married woman, for goodness sake! A grownup! Surely
My husband and the family we may start will be all I
Need to make my life worthwhile!'

But she listened to her Mother. She kept contact
With her Sisters and made more women friends each
Year. As the years tumbled by, one after another,
She gradually came to understand that her Mom really
Knew what she was talking about. As time and nature
Work their changes and their mysteries upon a woman,
Sisters are the mainstays of her life.

After more than 50 years of living in this world,
Here is what I've learned:

THIS SAYS IT ALL:
Time passes.
Life happens.
Distance separates.
Children grow up.
Jobs come and go.
Love waxes and wanes.
Men don't do what they're supposed to do.
Hearts break.
Parents die.
Colleagues forget favors.
Careers end.
BUT.........

Sisters are there, no matter how much time and how
Many miles are
Between you. A girl friend is never farther a way
Than needing her can reach.

When you have to walk that lonesome valley and you
Have to walk it by yourself, the women in your life
Will be on the valley's rim, cheering you on,
Praying for you, pulling for you, intervening on
Your behalf, and waiting with open arms at the
Valley's' end.

Sometimes, they will even break the rules and walk
Beside you...Or come in and carry you out.

Girlfriends , daughters, granddaughters,
Daughters-in-law, sisters, sisters-in-law, Mothers,
Grandmothers, aunties, nieces, cousins, and extended
Family, all bless our life!

The world wouldn't be the same without women. When we began this adventure called
Womanhood, we had no idea of the incredible joys or
Sorrows that lay ahead. Nor did we know how much we
Would need each other.

Dua: May Allah ta'ala bless you all in this life and the next
and give you good women for support and guidance.
Ameen