Only in Hyderabad....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtIXw3aCaJs

Haha! I can't believe I sat there waiting for an accident to happen!!! haha

Got this one from Sobia

Blogword 4: Choice

"..If you limit your choices only to what seems possible or reasonable, you disconnect yourself from what you truly want, and all that is left is compromise."- Robert Fritz


Heaven on Earth is a choice you must make, not a place we must find.- Dr. Wayne Dyer

Of Mercies and Wraths...

Verily, My mercy predominates My wrath.

Thank you Lord for the million and one mercies I forget to thank you for each day. Sometimes I'm so busy looking at everything that's going wrong, I forget to thank you for the good that lies behind what I assume to be bad for me.

I'm reminded of a hymn we used to recite at Marymount. This is actually a poem someone wrote that is often used as a hymn - we used to recite them on special Mass meetings. The melody and words are infinitely profound and hold a very, very deep meaning for me.

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful:
The Lord God made them all.

Each little flower that opens,
Each little bird that sings,
He made their glowing colors,
He made their tiny wings.

The rich man in his castle,
The poor man at his gate,
He made them, high or lowly,
And ordered their estate.

The purple headed mountains,
The river running by,
The sunset and the morning
That brightens up the sky.

The cold wind in the winter,
The pleasant summer sun,
The ripe fruits in the garden,
He made them every one.

The tall trees in the greenwood,
The meadows where we play,
The rushes by the water,
To gather every day.

He gave us eyes to see them,
And lips that we might tell
How great is God Almighty,
Who has made all things well.

Today, when despair and defeat was at its peak, Ya Rabbi, I thank you for every other little blessing you've bestowed me with and pray that you grant me the wisdom and strength to look beyond the hardship and praise you even when everything seems at its worst. Thank you My Lord, for blessing my life with your mercies and I pray that you ease the test for those who're suffering hardship and increase their patience. Ameen

With love,
*~Your aspiring, humble servant

Two..

It's exam time. I shouldnt be doing this. But i dont want to miss out on another Wednesday Wandering (altho its friday now) and I missed out last week - I had a great one in mind for that btw!


Here's to the little one with ten sticky lil fingers and a chocolate covered smile that's changed us from two to now three. Here's to the little one who's persistently charmed us, like the relentless drip, drip, drip of water on the protective shells of our hearts. You came and created havoc with our hard won equilibrium, turning our life into a mesmerizing chaos - where on one hand we hate the cookie crumbs and sticky finger marks on our mirrors, windows and tv/monitor screens, on the other we can't spend an evening alone without thinking of you.

Here's to the lil penguin that plays 'take me to the kaba' all day long while running around all over the house, collecting, and dropping, toys on the way. Here's to the lil stork dropping that turns a gloomy day into a bright sunshine. Here's to the lil duckies floating in our bathtub - and our bathroom floor - many thanks to you. Here's to the lil one who insists on red sandals and orange socks on a grey footbal outfit. Here's to the booboo. Here's to the Eeses Pieces. Here's to Eesi. Here's to the little one that fights his best to not to get into the car seat and wants to rush to the steering wheel instead. Here's to the lil one that loves to giggle and pretend he's flying while running in the park. Here's to the lil one who hugs little leap to sleep at night. Here's to the lil one who made prayers with lil leap last night. Here's to the little one who climbs all over me and then, frustratingly, pats my head early in the morning to wake me up. Here's to the little one who pampers me with endless kisses. Here's to the lil one who has captured everyones heart within such a short time. Here's to the little one that is the centre of all our attention.

Here's to Eesa! Daddy's Eeses Pieces.




Parenting wise, I've always been a stern believer of holding a fort of two and an army of three. The kids will grow up and set up their own lives by the time they're 18-20 (if not, ill have to kick them out!), what would remain is us two and us two I shall work on first. But believe me you, its hard. It's hard to take time away from this sweet lil peanut butter cup - as Imran's phoppi says, u can have cupfulls of him with no concern abt calories or diabetes! Despite all the time we sneak away from him to have lil dates, we think abt him endlessly. As much as I moan and groan that I miss us being two, I definitely enjoy us being three more.

Eemaan - faith

"I have yet to shed the slavery of the human mind - reveling in its logic and intellect - often forgetting how limited it, in fact, is compared with the wisdom that is perhaps available to us in direct proportion to the strength of our emaan."

Khadeeja Balkhi

Home alone..

Imo0o left for Montreal last night. It's a weird, hollow feeling. I'm staying at our place with Eesa and it feels .. lonely. Imo did it for three months while Eesie and I were in pak/india, God only knows how he did it. It's crazy. His flight hadn't left and we'd already exchanged 200 txt msgs - and then we realized that we should just talk instead considering I have unlimited minutes and he has weekends free. But then we resorted back to txting... its more fun!

We spent the weekend at his parents place and sneaked in plenty of dates at random hours of the day and..err.. night! My fave was the one yest afternoon (just hours before his flight) with tiramisu and mocha icecream on waffles at a nice bistro/icecream inn while eesa was at his grandparents place. Here's a convo from this date:

Sheza: *holding her tummy* Let's go home, I need to pee
Imran: Let's get the bill first
Sheza: What an oxymoronic date... here I am discussing my bladder issues! I'm definitely impressing you there!
Imran: Shez, we've been married for almost four years!
Shez: Whooaa! Hang on there! You might be that old, I'm not! *grins*
Imran: *gives me the serious look* Seriously, it'd be four years in december!
Shez: *shocked* wooow! you're right! and oh my God! we have a two year old son!!
Imran: *laughing* Yup! time flies!
Shez: Oh my God! We'd celebrate our ten yr anniversary even before we hit the big 30!

*double grins for that one!*

I dont know why but I'm feeling scared of the big 30 already and I still have eons to go before I actually hit it!

Anyway, Imo left last night right after his uncle arrived from Sweden. He's got three daughters and he's the only uncle I hadnt met in the family. Knowing the Gaya (..and Merchant!!) family, I forecast three VERY interesting weeks ahead.

I finally met up with Sadia on Sat eve. We had a 2 hour long poolside discussion at my in-laws on everything. From pre-marital prep talk to sofas (microfibre vs leather) to towels to clothes to vacations.. it was nice and refresshing. She's leaving to get married in pak in 16 days! and then she's moving to new york! Ah... good riddance to bad rubbish! LOL! just kidding! I can just picture her giving me THE glare! I'll miss u, u dork!

Here's my dillemma from the weekend. I had an asgmt that was due today. I had done it and misplaced it somewhere at my inlaws. In between transferring files and cleaning up Rizzi's computer, I deleted the file. So i had no hard or soft copy. I stayed up last night to do it again. And then guess what!!! This morning I was packing up eesa's diaper bag to go to maryam's place and found it there!! I must have kept it in there on the way back from my inlaws place last weekend! But dayam! I must have chked in there atleast thrice! And then to top it off, M called this mornign to say she's dropped out of the program so KC and i had to catch up with her part of the asgmt!!

I'm regretting not having gone to mtl with him. I'm really crazy abt staying at hotels and boy do i love flying and airplanes. Imz usually drives slow on the highway when we're crossing the airport on the 401 just so i could watch a plane go by. And right now he's staying at hilton hotel... ah! airplanes EVERYWHERE!!!

Erm yea, so now the next highlight of my life during imo's absence is our girls get together on wed morn with Maryam and Atikah. and then Imo's return in the evening on wed. Ideas for a warm welcome anyone? ;)

Emptiness

Emptiness is a symptom that you are not living creatively.You either have no goal that is important enough to you,or you are not using your talents and efforts to strivetoward an important goal.--Maxwell Maltz


I got this quote from a home organization magazine I've subscribed to. I thought its a quote worth sharing!

Together..

Sara sent out the blogword today. It's together.

Security. Comfort. Fun. Memories.

None of the above. The word tangos on raw nerves.

My sense of security has been shattered. Fear has walked in. Comfort zone has been invaded. Building brutal memories while reliving older times.

Friends and family are hurt. The media is callous. The muslim leaders are fame thirsty. Speaking on microphones without remembering they too shall return. Backbiting. Mercilessly. Endlessly.

They ask for unity. The people are anything but! Sadly, we're NOT together. The community's sense of security, albeit false, has fizzled out. Everything is meaningless. But everything has to go on.

Hope and prayers are all we have. Hanging on tight for: 'the Believers are not tested but by His leave'.

May Allah swt ease the burdens of this ummah. Ameen

I feel like...

- having pina coladas and pakola; tim horton's iced cap and butter sesame bagel!

- enjoying our patcony (patio + balcony). its a HUGE balcony. we have a snack there everyday right after imo comes home. but we had an early dinner with mannam and z there today. it was RELAXING. afterwards imz n i went down to the newly discovered basketball net to shoot some hoops. OMG its amazing! i felt soooooo goooooooood. its all covered and u can lock it so i could wear shorts and play without any worries. ah!

- hugging me momma! missing her like cwazzy. esp after she calls!

- swimming! woohoo @ mom and dad's pool officially being open for this season!

- getting a pedicure... again! *nudge* @ mannam!

- making mannam's jaw drop. did it once today and it was a sight worth seeing!:P

- swiffering...EVERYWHERE! im in LOVE! cleaning is a whiz with that thang! but boy does it guzzle up batteries!

- spring cleaning! ok this spring.. its been crazy! i've been at it after 3 yrs! ive spray painted everything imaginable silver/grey! ive block printed the blinds in my room, colour coordinated the hangers in our closet, coerced imo to put up more shelves in our closet and throughly maximized the space there, put baskets in every space imaginable, organized under my bathroom cabinet (ive put orange and green boxes there too!). I can officially say i have orange in every room, except the office and master bedroom- which are both blue:P! all i need is wallflowers and mats for the bathroom!

- reading! i picked up 4 MUST reads from the lib and they're still sitting there! and guess what! i still havent done my homework and monday is around the corner! ah! and this was due LAST week! *psst!* bless those extensions and ttc strikes:D

Feeling Alive..

"Don't ask what the world needs.
Ask what makes you come alive and go do it.
Because what the world needs is people who have come alive."Howard Thurman

Mariam Hussain sent out this quote and i thought id share it with everyone here. I also found this really cute article on feeling like a kid all over again in my P&G subscription.

Here goes:

Follow our prescription for a little play therapy:

1. Buy a hula hoop
Go ahead, embarrass your kids. Ask for a pogo stick, hula hoop, or Chinese jump rope for your next birthday. Want a more practical reason? It's great exercise.

2. Bang that drum
Have you always wanted to play the drums, craft a clay pot, write poetry, or paint landscapes, but never found the time to learn? You're never too old to begin. (Remember Grandma Moses didn't start painting until her senior years.)

3. Red Rover, Red Rover, invite your friends over
When your kids complain that "there's nothing to do," or you're doing the complaining, relive your youth. Playing Red Rover, Freeze Tag, and Ghost in the Graveyard will get you started.

4. Dance the age away
Ballroom dancing (or belly dancing) anyone? Try taking formal dance classes, or just turn on some loud music and jump around your living room.

5. Be a team player (and not at the office)
You're an expert at driving the kids to soccer and basketball games. Maybe it's time to join a team of your own. Adult teams are usually less competitive than kids' teams, more fun, and great exercise.

6. Where the kids are
Who says waterparks are for kids? For an entire day of fun, gather your adult friends and head to the nearest amusement park, zoo, game room, or waterpark. Don't feel guilty. You can return with the kids another time.