Curried Chickpea Salad

Yum,  I tried this out and it was great.  My kids and DH loved it too.

http://www.simple-veganista.com/2014/01/curried-chickpea-salad.html

30 Things About My Invisible Illness You May Not Know

30 Things About My Invisible Illness You May Not Know

1. The illness I live with is: Anemia, Chronic Fatigue, Fibromyalgia (that I know of)

2. I was diagnosed with it in the year: Anemia started 2005; Fatigue and Fibro August 2012

3. But I had symptoms since: 2010

4. The biggest adjustment I’ve had to make is: Sleep schedule, knowing when to stop instead of pushing past my limits

5. Most people assume: It's normal every day aches or old age pains :) or I simply overslept or being lazy

6. The hardest part about mornings are: Getting out of bed.  Sometimes my back hurts so bad I can't do anything but lay there. 

7. My favorite medical TV show is: Right now Grey's Anatomy.  It used to be House when it was on the air.  

8. A gadget I couldn’t live without is: My scanner/adobe type writer; I have issues writing for to long so what I tend to do is scan things I need to write on and use my adobe typewriter to fill in the forms.

9. The hardest part about nights are: Getting comfortable enough to fall asleep or keeping my RLS at bay

10. Each day I take _ 7_ pills & vitamins. (No comments, please. That is including taking 1 pill twice out the day)

11. Regarding alternative treatments I: Am still looking.

12. If I had to choose between an invisible illness or visible I would choose: Actually I probably would prefer an invisible one.  Even with all the trouble of trying to convince someone that you do have a problem.  I would prefer that over them seeing my pain everyday and either feeling sorry for me or it hurting them too seeing my problems.  At least this way I can hide it when I need to (which also causes it's own problems :) ). 

13. Regarding working and career: Hmm, that has been my biggest struggle.  I would like to be further along than I am, but I wonder sometimes if I take on the extra work will I be able to keep up.  Or will my ailment remain at the stage it's at or worsen making it harder to keep up.

14. People would be surprised to know: Anything is wrong with me.  I rarely just let go and lay out not moving.  I try to push through, which on days I fall asleep at the drop of a dime is kinda scary.

15. The hardest thing to accept about my new reality has been: Unpredictability.  I love to plan ahead, but I can't always count on my plans.  

16. Something I never thought I could do with my illness that I did was: Running.  With the pain that I feel and the extreme pain I feel after exercising I didn't think I would be strong enough to even pretend to run, but I do.  And  I love it.  And will keep it up until my body tells me otherwise.

17. The commercials about my illness: Are vague.  I'm glad they are there because then when I say Fibromyalgia or chronic pain people are like "Oh yeah" I heard about that.  But they don't really do it justice.

18. Something I really miss doing since I was diagnosed is: Getting up and just going.  Now getting up is an issue and some days I can't go because I can't wake up.

19. It was really hard to have to give up: Hanging out after the kids are in bed.  That's usually my me time or me and hubby time, but for the most part I usually need too (don't always do what I need) go to bed when they do to function in the mornings.

20. A new hobby I have taken up since my diagnosis is: I haven't fully executed it, but I want to garden.  Actively as mentioned above I've taken up running.

21. If I could have one day of feeling normal again I would: Take the kids somewhere like disney were we would walk around all day, ride rides, eat whatever and do it again the next day.  As it stands if I did that I wouldn't be able to walk either the next day or a few hours into that day.

22. My illness has taught me: Priorities

23. Want to know a secret? One thing people say that gets under my skin is: Just take some tylenol or just get up and move around you'll feel better.

24. But I love it when people: Want to know more and don't blame everything on my ailment

25. My favorite motto, scripture, quote that gets me through tough times is: Of course, God doesn't give you anything you can't handle.

26. When someone is diagnosed I’d like to tell them: Don't think about what you can't do, remember all you can and do what you can until you can't.

27. Something that has surprised me about living with an illness is: How little people know about others.  When I tell people

28. The nicest thing someone did for me when I wasn’t feeling well was: My hubs took the kids out the whole day so I could be alone to sleep, surf the internet or just veg out.

29. I’m involved with Invisible Illness Week because: There are a lot of those who suffer in silence and I was one of them.  I'm not trying to put a sign on my back and say look at me, but look at the illnesses support those with them.

30. The fact that you read this list makes me feel: Happy that maybe you will take interest or show us chronically ill some support.

My Facebook Page: F-A-I-D-Fighting-Against-Invisible-Diseases

MS Donations: http://www.nationalmssociety.org/Donate
My Personal Lupus Donation page: http://lupus.donorpages.com/Raise4Lupus/TPQ/

Congratulations 4th Grader

Alhamdulilah, yesterday my beautiful little girl started her first day of forth grade.  This will be her last year in Elementary and I'm so proud.  This little girl fought her way from the back of the pack to being nominated for GT classes and missed it by very little on the test.  She passed her STAAR test with flying colors and even though nervous I know she will do the same this year.

As my husband says I won't know what they can do until I let them try.  So I've let her go even though she is my first baby and I'm trying so hard to hang on.  She has started learning how to cook and has almost mastered laundry LOL. I can't wait to see the wonders Allah has in store for this wonderful little woman.

Keep steppin

I took 20,000 steps and earned the High Tops badge! #Fitbit

EID ul Fitr 1436

Here we are blessed to see the end of another ramadan. I am thankful for my family.  My husband,  two daughters (Africa n Khalifah) and my young son (Israfil).

Daily Dua

Good day for this. To all those who feel they've fallen short.

Title: Rabbana 5 رَبَّنَا لَا تُؤَاخِذْنَآ إِن نَّسِينَآ أَوْ أَخْطَأْنَا ۚ . Our Lord! Condemn us not if we forget, or miss the mark! For more duas, Download our free app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.quranreading.muslimduaseries

Essence of Peace

With all the discrepancies relayed in the media and by word of mouth explaining (incorrectly) Islam and Muslim beliefs to others that don't know any better has gotten well out of control.

Being a black woman and knowing about all the stereotypes there are about black people and the racism that is very much alive and well,  I've actually felt and experienced more hate as a Muslim within the last year than ever in my 30 years being black.

That being said I want to relay a story that will show you the very essence of Islam and the peace that it's meant to bring and instill in it's followers.

Uncle Hamza ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib:
During the Battle of Uhud (625) a woman Hind bint Utbah hired a man to kill the prophet (PBUH) or some one close to him.  This was an effort to retaliate to the deaths of her father and brother during the battle of Badr.  Success! Her hired hand was able to kill the prophet's (PBUH) Uncle Hamza.  But it wasn't enough that he was killed she had to rub it in and get in another jab at the prophet (PBUH).  So after the battle she proceeded to eating (yes, eating) Hamza's liver out of his body.

Four years later (629) after the Muslims were successful in returning to Makkah Hind bint Uthbah's husband Abu Sufyan ibn Harb had converted to Islam, but she was afraid of what was going to be done to her for what she did to the prophet (PBUH).  She thought she would have to be a shut in for the rest of her life to stay safe.

However in the three years (632) that the prophet (PBUH) lived after his return to Makkah he never so much as spoke a bad word against Hind bint Uthbah.  She was allowed to live in peace and travel throughout the city without even an evil eye given from any Muslims.  With the kindness she was shown Hind accepted the message of Islam and is now considered to be among the ranks of the companions of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).


Index:
PBUH - Peace Be Upon Him