Yeah, I know y’all thinking this is a bidah bragging blog…but it aint. Let me explain. Every summer I crave my mother’s Barbecue, especially how she does it on the 4th of July and every Fall I crave a nice Turkey dinner with all the side dishes that would accompany a typical Thanksgiving meal. So of course every year I like to get with other Americans who can appreciate such fine cuisine and eat till our heart is content! Tonight, I am having an iftar with my theme being – for lack of a better description- Thanksgiving Dinner, insha’Allah  .

I am exhausted. I haven’t slept all night, because ‘Mrs. Bright Idea’ doesn’t know the first thing about cooking a Thanksgiving dinner. I’ve deciding it’s best to make it potluck. However, I am hosting it so I will prepare the main course, insha’Allah. I  have surfed the net for the easiest and simplest way to make a Turkey. I bought two. A huge one for the women and children and a regular size one for the men. The men will eat at one of my neighbors home (alhamduillah she is American!) and she will cook that Turkey for me there, insha’Allah. However, since mine is so humongous, it has to cook for about 6 hours no less by my estimate…lol!

Since I’m up with no sleep, I’ve decided that I need to blog my Post Ramadan Resolutions. I need this to be an accountability thread. So here goes:

1. Home School Myself. I must stop waiting for the perfect opportunity to present itself and just do it myself. I am the type that needs to be in a classroom setting, but it’s just not doable at the moment and alhamduillah I have found everything I need to teach myself at home. My friend is in the States and ordered these for me and will bring them to me over the Eid break, insha’Allah:

a. The Medinah Books DVDs – I can’t wait till they arrive. I have had the books for years. You can even watch the class taught on Google Videos, but they download too slow for me.

b. Noorani Qa’idah Book with 5 Audio CDS – This is The American English version of al-Qaai’dah an-Nooraneeyah. Many of the Quran Memorization schools in Saudi use these books to teach the children. The Arabic books are here, but I am pleased to have found this in English for instructional purposes.

2. Start an Exercise Regiment. All of the children except for the baby will start school next month, insha’Allah. I have found an aerobics class in the area that I would like to join. I’m really looking forward to this.