A real friend will laugh at/with you, when you tell them about the student who said that they wanted to kill you...

It's November. School has been in session for 51 days (always seems like much more then it really is). And I havent given you all one update from this school year. My apologies for that.

My new class annoys me. Or did in the beginning of the year. I'm getting used to them though, and missing my former students less and less. They've moved on. Forgotten my name. And have given all their love over to their second grade teacher. Whatevs to them. I dont care.

This year's class was proving to be dull and I didnt have much to share, hence the lack of sharing.

Until this week.

Sure I had some stories. Like this one time when I was blending the word "ditch" with my students and asked them to write it down. And was walking around and noticed that majority of them write their "d" as a "b". I kept wondering why the heck my students were writing b****.


And then the time when I asked a student to use the word "tail and tale" in a sentence and he said "My momma said she gon whoop my tail/tale".

But those are eh.

Anywho,I have a student in my class, who I knew from last year (he was retained). He is a very sweet young man, but when he gets upset, theres chaos. He was put on red for punching his sister (shes also in my class) because she wouldnt let him be first in line (Being first in line is sooooooooooooo important to them). He was upset cause he was on red, so he started throwing a tantrum.And I asked him to leave my room, wash his face, look at how silly he looks, stop crying, drink some water, and come back into the classroom when he's ready.

He was willing to do all of that. But from last year's experience, I knew not to send him anywhere on his own because there was a possiblity he would run away, out the door, and down the street. So I sent one of my reliable student's with him.

And when they came back, the reliable student said "He wants to kill you. He told me so in the bathroom."

"What did he say?"

"Uhh...I want to kill her."

He ended up getting suspended for making a comment like this. For one day. And that was that.


I got home and I told my husband.

He told me to quit.

I told some of my friends.

They were worried and concerned.

I told my mom.

She freaked out. Was worried and concerned. And told me to quit.

And then I told C.C.

And she laughed.

And I laughed right with her, cause it was meant to be a funny story to tell.*

Right? Hahaha?

The end.


*Disclaimer: I understand that sometimes we should be cautious of these things and take them very seriously, what with some kids really coming to school with guns and knives ready to kill somebody. But I know this kid. And as soon as he said it, he regretted it and showed remorse, and apologized. And he received a consequence for it. And everything was okay. Alhamdulilah I am alive.

Islam for the Muslim Dummy

That would be me.

The Muslim dummy.

Considering I have so many people in my life with Islamic knowledge, I feel like I know nothing about Islam. I lack motivation. For the life of me, I can't self-motivate myself. And once, after much time, I am motivated, I feel like I lack resources and teachers. For some time, my friends have been my main source of learning and knowledge. But since every one of them has kind of gone their own separate way and busy schedules leaving everyone drowning in God knows what, my friends and I haven't been able to connect----Islamically, I guess you could say.

But yeah.

Anyways, so recently I experienced two things that most Muslims experience very early in their life. Or at least by their prime years. And here I am experiencing it in my mid 20's.

I went to visit the graveyard and I went to the mosque for Eid prayer.

I don't think many of my close friends know this about me. Normally I would have felt kind of embarrassed to admit this. But right now, I think I can get past it. Or at least force myself to, in order to share the story.

I recently got married (Finally!??? And Alhamdulilah!) and since I've gotten married, I've talked to my husband about my maternal grandfather a lot. As I've mentioned before, I lost my maternal grandfather a couple of years ago to cancer. And I've always referred to nana as my partner in my crime. So since getting married, I've always felt that missing piece knowing that my grandfather wasn't there to celebrate this joyous occasion with me and my family and is not able to get to know my husband. Nonetheless, it's something I've learned to not think about or dwell on.

Since my grandfather passed away though, I haven't had the courage to visit his grave site. It's something that I chose not to do because I felt like I wasn't emotionally ready to do so. I knew that I couldn't handle seeing his name on a tombstone and think about how he wasn't around anymore. It just became a personal choice of mine to not visit his grave. And I know some people might think it's a bit harsh and a bit inconsiderate considering the relationship my grandfather and I had, however I don't feel the need to defend this.

So along came my husband, and I wanted him to know my grandfather. My sisters, my husband, and I were near the graveyard one day and my sisters suggested going to the graveyard and sending our blessings to everyone we knew that was buried there, including my grandfather. I said that I would stay in the car and send my peace and blessings from the car. But my husband insisted that I go and told me that it would be okay if I went and how in Islam, Muslims believed that there was a reward for visiting the deceased and sending your peace and blessings to them. And praying for them and their soul and their mercy.

So reluctantly I obliged. And I went into the graveyard. And I saw many people I knew that had passed away.

And it was hard.

Harder then I thought it would be.

And it was definitely a learning experience.

Second thing I've very recently experienced was going to Eid prayer. This Eid being the Eid where we commemorate and remember Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him) and Eid falling on a Sunday, I was able to attend the prayers with my husband. It was such a happy day for me. I felt like such a kid going to the candy store. I was in awe by things that might be mundane for everyone else. And I was nervous and felt like I would make mistakes. So I asked my husband to tell me what to expect and what to do. I even learned about some traditions and customs that are performed in the masjid during this particular Eid. And I also learned about the pilgrimage that Muslims make to Hajj during this time. And lastly in the lecture, or khutba that, the imam (leader of the mosque), I finally heard the full story about Prophet Ibrahim and the sacrifice he was willing to make for God.

And yes, it is sad that I didn't know that story.

It's also sad that I'm experiencing this so late.

But I'm very grateful that I was able to.

Alhamdulilah. I feel incredibly blessed.

H A P P Y  'E I D  E V E R Y O N E ! ! ! 

May God accept the prayers of all those who are observing the Hajj. 

And may He accept the prayers of all of us around the world! Ameen!

 Have a wonderful Eid! 

And as a friend says Happy Sheep Day (like happy turkey day for Thanksgiving...get it? Lol) 

Cat, Spider, and I

A couple days ago I had an incident with a spider. It was quite the confusing and adrenaline filled incident. It mostly involved me watching a spider go around in a circle 10 times around the light on my ceiling for almost 10 minutes (the spider took several breaks and went off course several times). Eventually I decided I could not trust this spider to continue staying on the ceiling and circling around the light in full view for the rest of the night. So I got my cat involved.
Correction: I TRIED to get my cat involved.
I awakened the said cat and started communicating to her that she has a job to do.
Said cat, however, just stared at my hand motions and blinked sleepily a few times. I tried pointing but said cat just followed my hand's motions back and forth.

Eventually I gave up and told said cat that I shall have to do this myself.
I rather liked the said spider. It was cute in the way it harmlessly circled. But, the thought of cute spider crawling on me while sleeping was not cute anymore. And if I cannot trust said cat to listen to me, I sure cannot trust a cute spider.
I contemplated capturing the said cute spider and unleashing it to the outside world. Oh the havoc it would spread.
But that method usually involves a lot of complications and yelling and screw ups.
And I was tired.
So I went with the unfortunate route.
I first asked the said cute spider to leave on its own three times. (No one wants a random animal to attest against you on the Day of Judgement in front of God)
Then I grabbed the closest napkin and showed said cat how to kill a spider.
But I was not to be lucky; the said cute spider fell on my bed when I swiped at it with my napkin. Panic ensues. Adrenaline squirming.
It was a game of cat and mouse. Only it was confused human and said cute spider.
Spider ran, I ran. Spider hid, I searched.
Eventually I found Spider as it ran on to my laptop.
And it was the end of Spider.

Said cat, that was observing the whole time, stood up as though to pay its respects either to said spider or to confused human. It even sleepily came over and sniffed the napkin that held Spider, approved, and then walked back over and lied down to sleep

It was a weird experience between a spider, a cat and a human. And as I type this, a wonder if I should have built an enclosure for Spider and kept it. Sure, it would have been the weirdest thing and I would have definitely crossed the weirdo line but it was not an ordinary spider.
It was said cute Spider.

From God we come, and to Him we return. {An Islamic prayer recited upon hearing the death of someone or in this case, a spider}