I have 108 unique items from IKEA

Umm, not that it’s something to boast about, I mean, it is IKEA...

I really love IKEA, I love it for the simplicity, the solutions, the flexibility, the AS-IS sections, and of course, the price! We all know that there are also downsides, like having to put everything together with the teeny, tiny, allen key and the “questionable” quality of a lot of their items, but if you’re like me, you have kids that destroy things anyways, so you’re not looking for long-lasting solutions!

From toys to teacups, spoons to sofas, fabrics to fry pans, I have it all, well, except for appliances or mattresses.

Most favorite is my precious workspace:

Most regretted purchase:

For $89, it’s such a complete waste of money! I bought it from the website, so I didn’t really know until I got it how small and cheaply made it was, but oh well…

Most likely to be used for something other than the intended purpose:

From tents to rocket ships, and most recently race cars, these chairs can do it all!

Most useful:

I think IKEA has the best affordable clothing storage solutions but what I really needed was a solution for my kitchen! I decided to convert one of their wardrobes into a makeshift pantry (food is stored on a large top shelf – not shown) with some of the wire drawers for snacks, containers, and the millions of plastic crap that we own (sorry green folks), and a large area for the small appliances. It actually works exceptionally well, and my kids can easily get dishes from “their” drawer!

Most frequently used:

I have 3 kids – need I say more?!

Most frequently NOT used:

They love their beds, but they sleep on a mattress in our room!

Most useful for work at home parents:

In my opinion the cutest, functional children’s furniture can be found at IKEA. I completely love this table and stool set that lives in our office and the kids do everything their from ‘academic’ work to crafting to playing on the computer.

What are your IKEA goodies?

3 tips and tricks for encouraging your husband to get started on that honey-do list

If you’re anything like me, you spend a fair amount of time trying to convince your husband to help out with your “projects”! Besides the usual motivational tricks, you know, guilt, rewards, the-sad-puppy-dog-eyes, there are a few others that I’ve discovered works pretty well each ‘home improvement’ season:

1. When you make a request, be sure to ask very politely and use the word “quick”...

   For example, “Honey, can you do me a quick favor”, or “There is something that I need you to do really quickly...”, and so on.
   Now, this really works well if the job is relatively short, so if you’re doing a large project, ideally, you should split it up into small tasks. You may think that if it’s a small task, you don’t need the word “quick”, or that the “quickness” is implied, but you would be wrong, they need to actually hear the word “quick” to be motivated. Try it!

2. Start a project, but don’t finish it

   I think you can use this trick twice at most, because they do catch on… and the unfinished project has to be something that you know will annoy him. For example, if you’re redoing your flooring, remove part of the old flooring and then just stop, if he’s anything like my hubby, he’ll briefly complain about you starting a project without him and then he’ll go on to finish it himself… and without even, uh, being asked or anything…

3. Threaten to do a task that, both you and he know, you cannot do by yourself

   For example, “Hey, do you think we could remodel the closet today?”, “Today?? You need to do that today?”, “Umm, well, I have been asking for the past 5 months! Never mind, I’ll just do it myself!”
   

What are your ‘tips and tricks’?

We’re fasting… but slowly

We were discussing Ramadan with our kids – my almost 5 year old is carrying on discussions about fasting, “I am going to fast” he says, “by not eating too much…” he continued, and we were agreeing, “ok, that sounds good, maybe you can have a small snack”... when all of a sudden, my 3 year old speaks up and says “I am going to *slow*!”

Today marks the start of Ramadan and Muslims all over the world will be fasting for the month. It’s a very spiritual time for us, it’s a time to reflect, to help humanity, to be close to God, and to spend time with family. I hope that I can accomplish all my goals this month, God willing, and to my Muslim sisters and brothers, Ramadan Mubarak to you, and may you have a blessed month.

Beginnings

Hi, I’m muslim. It’s September 11th today and I feel I should say something on the subject, but the truth is I’m tried. Tired of a lot of things, and sad about other things...

But, today I sent out postcards to a few of my American neighbors, as part of Karen’s postcard swap and I thought the theme of “beginnings” to be somewhat appropriate.

So, whatever it is that you’re beginning, I hope you find success, fulfillment, and happiness.

Love, Shaz.

Talk to me and the proverbial straw

So you’re in the middle of the ocean with your significant other, who managed to get you both lost, on a tiny little row boat with only one paddle, you just ate your last morsel of food and drank your last drop of water, you’re just about to give up all hope of being rescued when you see an island way out in the distance! You are desperate to get to the island because you are not fond of water and this trip was your partner’s idea, you paddle as fast as you can until you just can’t do it anymore, then your partner takes over and somehow manages to lose the paddle!

No, I didn’t get lost at sea this weekend, but I did feel like I was losing my mind a little! I was an over-worked, under-appreciated, always-with-the-kids, work at home mom, I did not take my own advice and have a mom escape, I allowed myself to get to the point of exhaustion and it was not pretty.

It’s my first September as a work at home mom, and the challenge that this week presented me with was an unexpected and apparently difficult one, I let myself get lost in my deadlines, I did not prioritize getting the kids into a new routine, then at the end of my week, when I could hardly recognize myself, I decided that blame for all of it, and may be even global warming, should placed directly on my husband’s shoulders.

As I reflect upon it now, I think that we completely failed to plan for this new phase in our life, we just sort of remained in the free-spirited, routine-free, mindset of summer, but with the workload of fall and three kids that just acted out a bit more than they should have because they were not really sure what to do. My husband surely has contributed to this problem, although he does try to let me work, I think that he has the misconception that I do not require the same quiet time to work on my projects that I afford him, or perhaps I give him the idea that I don’t need support, because as you know, we moms can be control freaks sometimes!

Please tell me how you keep your balance during stressful times?