polarbear

mikes hard lemonade gives me serious heartburn...

Today was a terrible day...worked 10.5 hours and my damn babysitter (my sis in law) told me "As of today she can no longer babysit zaid, bc her 2 yr old is jealous"...(thats a whole nother story) so that gives me 2 days to find a day care and come up with a week up front for the center...i promised myself i would never have him in day care and here i am with no other options, i have exhausted all other resources....

did you guys know day care is 60-70$ a day?? i probably shoudl just quit my damn job

Okay, that's just stupid! That's just about how much I make in one day (slightly less) after taxes and insurance, ect..... if that was the case for me, I would be quiting my job bc why be seperated from my baby and still only have the same amount of money?

That being said, I do want children and my husband hates that I have to work the job I do. If I got pregnant, I would be working from home on his buisness and going to school (both I am doing already) and quite my job. We've already agreed on it, but don't know how we would do it financially

My husband tried fasting but the first day back to work after hurricane evacuation he could not take it. He is a welder and it gets very very hot. He has to eat something and most of all have water. I told him before he even went to work that he was going to start feeling sick just like he did last year. Last year he stopped fasting after a day or two. He is not really a practicing muslim in ALOT of ways. But, for sure, he does not eat pork.

It's amazing the difference after the first two days fasting and then having to break it... I'm the same as always, with the same health problems, but somehow I feel like I have so much energy compared to the days of fasting. I haven't felt this good in almost a year!

I'm tempted to try fasting again tomorrow since it's the start of my weekend and see if the same thing happens with my blood levels I've got to talk it over with my husband tonight, bc I'm not sure if I should just accept it as a blessing and a lesson that even with very little energy it could be worse.

It's the 4th of Ramadan ... how is everyone on reading the Qur'aan? So everyone *should* be just finishing up juz 4 ... We are caught up since my husband has been reading for us after Tarawee (sweet guy ... since he knows right now I am not up for it) then having little discussion about what we read! Seding out encouragement to everyone!

That's so sweat

I wonder if my husband would be willing to read outloud in arabic for me so I could try to follow along. He does read every night

We went to Alexandria. It was beautiful and the ocean breeze was such a relief from Cairo. He wanted to go to another town he said most people honeymooned at, but I can't remember the name. We didn't have enough time to go there, unfortunately

I would love to go to Alexandria.... my husband too.

We are both a little sad we were never able to have a wedding or a honeymoon. I was going to try to take time off work on our aniversary, but it's at the start of the busy season and around X-mas so everything is expensive. He also used our savings to go back to Egypt this summer (dad was sick)

I've been promised we can go to SeaWorld in Orlando next summer for a long weekend, but we've never been on vacation together. Maby in another 5-10yrs I when we can afford it

Good morning

I'm here, it's my friday, and I'm going to try to be productive at work and stay off the internet It's just so hard when it's only a double click away

I want to say that in my past relationships I have had a couple men I was really close to treat me badly and I stayed with them way too long past the experation date. They new I was devoted and trustworthy in fact they bragged about it all the time. Alot of other girls used to tell me I was too easy for these guys to walk all over (and they were the kind to do that) One married friend from Iran told me she had her husband wrapped aournd her finger because she never let him be sure he was good enough for her. She was very attentive to him,cooking,etc...but she told me never let your husband think "he's everything to you" make him have some doubt that he is good enough. Let bhim know you love him...but make him always be a bit uncertain. Personally I was taught that if you did not make your man feel he was all that...someone else might! But it has kind of back fired in my past. They were so confident that they became arrogant and I would eventually leave from feeling unappreciated and taken for granted. My point being that I know I have issues with being afraid I will have it happen again. I stayed single, alone, no dating etc...for 5 years before meeting my husband online. I though it was safe and he would not be able to use me for sex or make me love him with great sex and I could take my time to evaluate him from afar the best I could. I even pickes a completely different type of guy! Foreign, exotic, different culture not american! I was so tired of american men (I know theyre are real good ones) I just did not pick those LOL. Now my own issues are involved alot and I know it. I an close to my bnew husband and afraid when I feel he is taking me for granted or not appreciating me. I don't care what he "says" I watch his actions and that is so hard when you are not together! So I google him, snoop, read stories and drive myself crazy! I know it's my problem. I mean I do find some questionable things for sure. But he was a single guy on line alot for a long time so it's easy to find trails. But he hasn't really domne anything to me personally and I have no proof he will. No ex wifes to ask....no relationship history to review....no perpetual bad behaviour to go on. It really is a guessing game at this point. I will be honest in that I know I am jaded by my past. I am not going to trust him until he earns it (because of my bad experiences) and it's not his fault. Yeah he has told me lies to cover his past online activities he's ashamed of that my espionage (sp) operations uncovered but they are from his past and my issues are mine I know. Bottom line I hold myself accountable for my own feelings and issues that stem from my bad choices in the past and will check myself when I realise I am on a mission to prove he's a wolf. He's just a man. I picked him and he picked me. Now we are married. I have to remember we picked each other...we could have picked someone else. We both had tons of other options neither of us had to be together. he has a great family that does not care if he ever leaves, I knew he wanted a wife of his own and a life of his own but he could have chosen alot of girls, younger, french, etc......I could have picked a rich man that would allow me to stay home and travel with a retirement plan but we picked each other because we fit together best. I'm not young, he's not rich, We Fit well together and it works. Remember too people don't get married and than become "sainted"... that takes time years sometimes. I know the best most wonderful married couple, inseperable! together over 50 years and the wife told me...our secret is not that we are perfect but we promised to never say the word divorce. We made our commitment to God and each other and promise we would never leave this marriage. She said once when they were newly married they hung out alot with othwr married friends ans were at a party drinking and dancing and she saw her husband sloe dancing with another friends wife and he was kissing her neck! she was so hurt by it she wanted a divorce but instead she said she bit her tongue expressed lovingly how hurt it made her feel and together they decided not to drink alcohol and slow dance with the oposite sex LOL but they did it together. It wasn't perfect but they stuck it out and eventually there was less and less and it became perfect OVERTIME. I know I picked crummy men. Its not my husbands fault so why should be suffer until I heal? I WILL DRIVE HIM AWAY! I will make him do all the stuff I am so afraid he is going to do that will kill me! Why should I behave in a way I would not even tolerate from him. I will be a hypocrite. If he acted like me I would hate it. But he says "it just proves to him how much I love him" he is really too good-thank god! I hope I stop before he changes his mind

Well, you know what they say... The first step is admitting your wrong (although I'm not blaming you). It just means that you have to acknowladge a problem before you can fix it.

Just make sure you stay true to yourself and don't go too far the other direction We do need to be careful and protect ourselves. Again, just follow your heart (but don't ignore your head too much) - try to walk the middle ground.

Happy Hump Day!

My husband has been so sweet this week trying to take care of me, even last night when he was the one fasting. I came home at 10pm to the laundry done and folded and dinner on the table for me Yesterday after prayer he tucked me into bed for another hour and stayed up in the other room so I could have the bed to myself. This morning he even turned off the alarm so I wouldn't wake up and ate alone so I could get some more rest. He's such a sweetheart and I'm thinking I'm going to make his favorite food tonight (seafood stew).

Just like polarbear said.. Since you are already going to Lebanon can you get the list of embassy approved translators and have it done there? Or is there another reason it has to be from the Lebanese Embassy in DC? Most translators there will turn it around for you in 1-2 days? I hope that you get it sorted out asap!! And good luck on the interview!!

It needed to be done here because i have it here. By the time I get to Lebanon (monday night) I dont know if we can find someone to do it on Tusday and can have it done that same day......

Seriously, try the UltraTranslate.com right away. They don't start translating until they get a payment (CC or Paypal) but it will get to you in 1-2 days. If your postal service delivers on a Saturday and you get it in before noon, you should have it in time. Do you have access to a scanner?

Best of Luck

Found it - UltraTranslate.com

1-2 buisness days express delivery

Costs quite a bit ($93 for me with rush and certified for embassy) but I got it in 3 days in the mail and it was notarized and certified. If you did it this morning you might get it in time since they say 1-2 buisness days.

The other option is trying to do it in his country. When is his interview?

I am about in tears.

I received Hayz's translated birth certificate yesterday from the Lebanese Embassy up in DC. Guess What??? Its wrong. I sent a letter with the original and told them how his name is spelled on his passport and they still did it wrong. I don't see how we're going to be able to get another translated copy of his birth cert in time for his interview.

What in the heck are we supposed to do????? I'm leaving Sunday to fly over there and there isn't time to get the Embassy to do another.

It doesn't need to be certified by the embassy here in the US. There are usually places not far from the US Embassy in any given country who will do it in a day or two for a fee. The trick is that it has to be a translation that the embassy will accept and needs to be taken there afterwards for verification I believe.

I'm sure someone will post soon who has done it recently to give you the specifics. It may cost some money to get it done right away, but it would be worth it.

Oh! I'll see if I can find the place I used online... you scan in a PDF of the document (just about any language) and if you pay an extra processing fee they will get it done in 24hrs and send it back in PDF for you to print as well as by mail. It is stamped, signed, and certified - accepted by the US Governement. It cost quite a bit ($80 I think) but I needed it right away and it was worth it.

I have no idea why, but I'm feeling incredibly guilty about being sick

I also wanted to share this Ramadan with my husband, but that's a no go and he has threatened to force nutrition down me Oh well, I'm at school 3 nights out of 7 so I told him to go ahead and go to the mosque every night since I didn't need someone to break fast with. If I'm not fasting I might have the energy to go with him the nights I don't have school... gotta look at the positive

Polar - You sound very, very sick and this holy time isn't meant for you to suffer - no one should ever fast if they're not physically well enough to do so - I'm Catholic (which I know Lent has nothing on the fasting of Ramadan) but I at times have been so ill, that my priest gave me a dispensation to eat meat on Fridays. I will say that there are also some Catholics who do fast regularly, drinking only water for sustenance for days on end - they will do this as a penance or to reconnect spiritually with the faith. Many of us also practice what we call a Eucharistic fast, which is where we don't eat or drink anything from dinner the night before until we go to Mass the next day - Catholics are now given a three-hour time frame, but there are still many of us who do it "Old School Style" - and everyday at that, for those who attend mass daily. Pardon my bandcamp story here - just thought I'd share.

Do what you can - and make some sacrifices in other ways. Maybe no sweets or sodas or anything that you truly, truly enjoy. Give money or food to the shelter in Miami. Ramadan is supposed to be a difficult time, but there is to be a sweetness to it, too...you shouldn't be killing yourself over it. Peace be with you.

Thanks

My husband has plans already on ways to help me make it up and I will be feeding the homeless downtown every Friday as usual, so I will be doing some good.

Olivia - your right, I was feeling pretty down all day today, but I want to be able to be thankful for the things I do have and inshalla I will find ways to fullfilll my duties and be generous with others.

I'm giving up all other liquids except water during the day and I'm going to stay away from sweets - can't promise anything after dinner though

I have no idea why, but I'm feeling incredibly guilty about being sick

I also wanted to share this Ramadan with my husband, but that's a no go and he has threatened to force nutrition down me Oh well, I'm at school 3 nights out of 7 so I told him to go ahead and go to the mosque every night since I didn't need someone to break fast with. If I'm not fasting I might have the energy to go with him the nights I don't have school... gotta look at the positive

I'm about to call my hematologist... just realized I have petichia again which means my platlet levels are dangerously low and I'm probably anemic again

I was afraid that fasting would effect my blood levels, but I was hoping to make it a little longer than 1 1/2 days before having side effects ... just hoping I don't end up relapsing again bc being exhausted all day and achy really sucks! (and that's with no fasting )

Happy Tuesday MENA!

I actually had to work yesterday and fasting was painful (litterally ) but my boss let me go 2 hrs early and I was able to take a nap. Unfortunatly was so faint that I just laid on the couch the rest of the day watching the cealing and occasionally trying to catch up on reading for school. I was passed out after prayers and hubby says he couldn't wake me

Inshalla today will be better I go straight from work to school until 9pm tonight, so hopefully there will not be time to think about how thristy I am Got some dates and a bottle of water in my school bag and I'm hopeing to get home with enough time to make prayers and eat a little.

I'm trying to decided what to do. I don't think I can afford that price. Maybe I should look on Ebay? I need to start learning Arabic before I move to Egypt. Rosetta Stone is highly recommended.

I took an arabic class at the university to help me get started, after that it's been self-taught with a little help from my husband now that he's back.

You've got one more semester right? You could even try the comunity college bc it will be cheaper

Ramadan Mubarrak everybody! I just woke up at noon(ish) because we didn't go to bed until 5am lol. All pplz in the path of the storm, stay safe and my door is open if needed. I have been up like 49 minutes and I'm soooooooooooooooooooooo thirsty already...ugggg!

The worst part for me is the headaches and it gets hard for me to concentrate at work It takes a couple of days for me to adjust.

I'm thinking of leaving work early today and taking a nap before starting in on homework and dinner

Sunflower - you and your family are in my prayers

Me-N-Him - please stay safe and make sure your as prepared as can be, you will also be in my prayers

Anyone else in Gustav's path - my heart goes out to you

Ramadan Kareem!

Found out my husband isn't too good at getting up to eat before 5:45

ITA!!! If anyone wants a place to stay, it might be a far drive, but my place is always open for my MENA family, no matter what! No major natural disasters here in Delaware

Well, whatever you do, don't head my way... FL might just get hit by the next one brewing out there in the Atlantic

I've got to write a paper tonight and turn it in by Midnight ( wasn't really procrastinating, just trying to come up with a really good essay topic ) Anyone have any good ideas to write about Islamic Arab traders in the Indian Ocean before the arrival of the Europeans in 1500 CE? J/K - I have a few ideas, just trying to come up with a good thesis statement and a clear point of view

So I might stop by on the chat tonight, depending on how this paper goes

Has anyone tried this program / website? (I'm sorry in advance if it's been mentioned before)

http://islam.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite....hanDownload.php

the Download (go from server 1 ) - http://www.download.com/3055-2135_4-108761...l?tag=pdl-redir

It's by IslamicFinder.. And gives athan for any city.. as well as lists the daily prayer times.

I installed it and it works very well. We put in our town and a few other preference selections and let it be and at 1:10 PM here on the east coast the computer started adhan for Dhuhr (scared us at first, we were in the other room ) hehe

Jihed really likes it.. There isn't a mosque close enough to us that he could hear the call to prayer, so this seemed like a really good program.

If you have a constant internet connection and a computer that you can leave on, it's a really good solution.

The best is that it is free. There are lots of interesting features too

If you upgrade and pay for the pro version you get even more, qiblah finder, quran recitation with any language, etc. (We may do that later depending on how much we like it)

My husband didn't know I had it on my computer the first day he came to the US. He said he woke up totally confused and didn't know where he was when the athan started

It wakes us up in the morning for prayers (of course I go straight back to sleep after ) and it's really nice.

So what are the sure signs of being pregnant?

I didn't get my monthly visitor (it's almost 2 weeks later), husband returned 2 weeks after previous one, tummy problems after eating, tired is pretty normal for me so I'm not adding that to the list please help me come up with other possible reasons for these problems

In the long run, both sides have an experienced Washington bulldog and an inexperienced youngster who wants to change things.... The real focus needs to be on who is the pres. no vp

What really sickens me about this whole thing is how my father does not agree with the Republican party, but will vote for them anyway because the wealthy are under the impression that this is the only way to keep from being taxed to death They have been told (by the republican publicity machine) that if the democrats come into power, they will loose a significant chunk on their cash flow to taxation I mean I get it that even 1 percentage point is thousands of dollars to these people, but somehow I just can't seem to feel pity for them

Noura I hope you stay safe! Are you anywhere near where they're evacuating? The Governer's message was so ominous!!!!

I am about an hour away from New Orleans where they are evacuating. We are not evacuating but making major preparations for buckling down. My dad has boarded up the windows on the east side of their house (they have huge glass panes there). We've taken down all things that could fly away (and into a window ) and secured the iron picnic table and chairs.

I've just returned from the store getting ice, tape for the windows, batteries for a radio, and lighters for the candles. We have food, water, and flashlights. Dogs & Cat are as prepared for as we can be. George is *not* liking being an inside cat - at all . I'll probably cook up some things tonight and tomorrow in case we lose power (which is pretty imminent) and fill the bathtub tonight for water to flush the toilets. We'll be fasting anyways, but it would be nice to have something decent to eat for the first Iftar!

Ugghhhh... I think that's it. Just trying to stay off the roads and out of the stores as much as possible. Oh yea, topped off the gas tank too - just in case . I think we're as ready as we can be at this point. It looks like it's really gonna be a doozy.

This one is expected to be a category 5 hurricane and making a beeline for Louisiana. Please take care of yourself!

Don't forget the emergency first aid kit and stuff for bugs! Because of all of the standing water after hurricanes, the biggest health risks are mosquitoes and other bitting bugs. Heaven forbid that a window or something gets knocked out or you get flooded - the insects will find their way to you (snakes too).

I also have a portable camping stove in my closet as part of my hurricane prep - this way you can at least heat things up

Oh yeah, and plastic/paper plates and utensils - you won't have the water to wash the dishes every meal.

Camping stores are great places, you can find all sorts of stuff there - I also have alot of camping stuff like battery fans for the heat and a wind up radio that doesn't need batteries.

Yard trash bags are good to have too if you need to protect something from getting wet inside the house. Also do double duty for clean up

You should also have at least a gallon of drinkable water per person - jugs and such. Even if you are fasting, you should be drinking alot at night and it gets hot without air-conditioning

Good luck and you will be in my prayers

That's good news

I remember my husband being soooo PO'ed he couldn't find a job within the first two weeks - I'm talking the first day he had his SS card On top of that he didn't speak a word of English He found one in a month, but man it was the only thing he could think about besides the driving thing. They both happened at the same time, but 1 month for a job and driver's liscense and 3 months for the GC - he couldn't believe it was taking so long

Now I'm having the opposite problem. He wouldn't go back to his old job when he came back and is working on the buisness. The only problem with that is that it could take 2-3 months for us to make any profit. I'm really worried bc my CC are maxed out from this summer and I don't make enough to cover rent and bills for two people, let alone the gas and phone cards..... he tells me to just take the money from the buisness and he will pay it back eventually, but it just doesn't work like that and I'm having a hard time convincing him I need help with the money thing

I know I would move to Spain, my grandmother is from the same city he is living, i adore his family and being close would be great. My thoughts are why are we not talking about that... I know he brought up 2-3yrs going there after we agreed to wait until my little one was older like 10 yrs so the time line is changing fast.

I love him and I know he loves me.... he accepted the job in Spain because he knows my dream was to be there one day. I would be there now if he could support us, he lived alone and i could bring my kids. lots of "ifs" I have to go to work now..

If your heart lays in Spain ... and if you could take your children ... why the hell not find out a way to live there? Life in Europe is so much better on many levels then in the US (and NA). I know I am so much more happier living here ... then I would have ever been living in the US And about waiting for your child to be 10 years? I am not sure what your reasoning is ... buuut from my point of view the younger they are, the easier it is for them to adjust to a totally different enivorment. My duaghter is adjusting just fine ... but with her education, if I would have come here earlier by like maybe a year or two it would have made a big difference!

Well I pray that you find the solutions!

I know I don't have children, but if living back in France had been an option we would have gone for that.

My husband had a very good job there, was established, it's not easy for an American to find work there but it's doable and I could, the life and culture is so much better... but more than that, my husband had that support system from the thousands of other arabs living in the larger cities. He had a job with men that spoke arabic and he was the only one speaking any French (actually became the resident translator ). He does not have that here and it's painful to see, it's the reason I let him go back to Egypt after only 5 months here. It's so much harder for him here and it's had it's effect on him.

The only problem we had with the plan was that he left the country while waiting for his residency bc his dad had a heart attack and became paralized. He is no longer able to get a visa or pursue the residency he was gaurenteed after living there 10 yrs. He hasn't even been able to get a visitor's visa to visit his brother there or get rid of the appartment or close out his bank account or anything else. He even has a french sponsor and a job offer - that route is now closed for at least the forseable future because he chose to go home to the father he thought was dying........

Please think about it before you push him too hard, you may regret it later

When I first started to learn to pray, I had al-fatiha and the rest of the prayer parts written down and would place it in front of me in case I got lost - at the VERY begining, I had to litteraly read it from the paper.

There is a CD we give to all the new converts at my masjid: Pray as you have seen me Pray

I think it's kinda expensive since it's a DVD, probably about $20. I gave away my copy a long time ago, but I might be able to get ahold of another one if someone wants me to send it to them.

You can always find videos on utube I'm sure.