Baby steps. I spoke with a couple other faculty at the graduation ceremony for our program. Unfortunately none of them personally knows the professor, but I got a lot of "go to him, and if there's a problem let us know and we'll help you." I saw that it is being offered in September, but with everyone on vacation now I'll wait to approach the prof until we get back from break. My next question, it is a one semester course, 4 credit hours (3 hours a week of lecture (3 credits), and two hours of lab (1 credit)). Now officially, one credit for high school equals out to 5 hours of work a week-- but I have also read here that a semester college course equals a year-long high school course. I use an umbrella, they are fine with accepting this course towards his chemistry credit, but do I present it as 1 full credit, as is? Present it as 1 full credit, but plan out a program for second semester that maybe would cover a different aspect? Present it as half a credit, strictly following the classroom hours, and have sign him up for a second semester of some other chemistry course (assuming this goes well) or something else?

My ds had one done on his leg last year. The dermatologist gave him an injection first, which hurt a bit (like any shot), but then he didn't feel anything. The dr said a stitch isn't always necessary, but because of the location on ds -- and his sporty activities -- she put one in.

Wow, this is the first I've heard of this possible connection, I'd be interested to read further about it. FWIW, my mother did not breastfeed my brother and I. Actually, she tried briefly with my brother but disliked it so strongly she stopped; with me, she had them give her some kind of meds in the hospital to prevent lactation, IIRC.

She was taking Premarin, I don't know much beyond that...

My mother had a hysterectomy in her 50's and was on estrogen for a couple of decades (she is now in her mid 70s). I think she attributes the estrogen to her excellent bone health and good mobility. She is also, however, dedicated to her exercise routine (swimming, walking, hiking) which I am sure also contributes. She has been easily able to continue her extensive traveling and road trips. However, three years ago she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her dr does not believe the estrogen caused her cancer, but it definitely fed it. She was taken off the estrogen, I think she feels weaker, to me she looks weaker. I remember maybe ten years into her experience with estrogen the news came out about the side effects of estrogen and her dr was refusing to let her continue on it; she actually switched doctors over that issue. That has been her experience. I will be visiting her in a few weeks, I would like to ask her (as I begin approach this time in my own life) whether she felt taking the estrogen was worth what she went through (and is still going through, although the cancer is hopefully gone she is still on meds) with the breast cancer.

This is mil's recipe, I've tried to "interpret" it so inshallah it's clear! ;) It is really easy to double/triple this recipe, in the pot in the picture above I used six chickens, you just increase the cooking times slightly (by about five minutes each step). Chicken Biryani ingredients 2 whole chickens, skinned and cut into pieces (cut breast pieces in halves or thirds) 2 cups plain yogurt 5 cups basmati rice 3/4 cup cooking oil 1 tsp whole green cardamon 1 tsp whole cloves 4 medium potatoes 2 Tbsp ginger-garlic paste 4 handfuls of fried onions 2 rounded Tbsp ground cumin 1 rounded tsp garam masala 1/2 tsp ground turmeric 1 small bunch fresh coriander leaves 3 tsp salt whole green chili (optional) 4-5 tomatoes 1/2 cup milk pinch of saffron threads Method 1. Wash and rinse the rice, leaving to soak for at least 1/2 hour. 2. Put a small amount of the oil in the bottom of a large pot/pan, put the cleaned/cut chicken pieces in the pan. Add the yogurt and stir to coat. 3. Peel the potatoes and cut into large chunks. Heat the remaining oil in a separate pan, add the whole cardamon and cloves then add the potatoes. Continue to fry, stirring for about ten minutes until the potatoes are mostly cooked and only a little bit browned. Remove the potatoes to a plate, save the oil. 4. Heat the milk in the microwave until steaming, add the saffron and stir, then leave to steep. 5. Add the ginger-garlic, cumin, garam masala, turmeric, and salt to the chicken and stir. Crumble and put in most of the fried onions -- keep a handful on the side to add at the end. Chop the tomatoes, put in a blender along with the coriander leaves and blend to a paste/liquid, then add to the chicken and stir. If you want chili, you can cut a slit in the side of 2-3, add to the chicken and stir. 6. Drain the soaking rice. In a separate pot, heat a good amount of water (it should be enough to cover the rice by two inches). Add the rice and salt (use more than you normally would for rice). Boil the rice until it is half-cooked -- if you look closely during the cooking process, you will notice a white raw core in the rice grain that keeps getting smaller as it cooks until the grain is almost entirely translucent. At just this point you should drain the rice. (In my opinion, this is the trickiest part of biryani, getting the right "doneness".) 7. Pour the drained rice over the chicken mixture (do not stir!) and smooth out. Using the handle end of a wooden spoon, poke holes in the rice down to the chicken randomly around the pot. Pour the reserved oil from step 3 over the top, then pour the saffron milk over, and sprinkle the fried onions on top. Wrap the top of the pot in aluminum foil, then put the lid, then put a heavy weight on top (point is to try and completely trap all steam inside). 8. Put the pot on a low fire for 2 minutes. Then put on a heat diffuser (I use an old flat griddle) and cook on high fire for 10 minutes, then turn heat low and cook for 20-25 minutes.

In covering this with my highschooler, for source material we used Usama bin Munqidh's Book of Contemplation (Islam and the Crusades, tr Paul Cobb). Usama was a poet/writer whose patron was Saladin, and he wrote this collection almost of vignettes or commentaries, some read like diary entries. Again, you would need to skim through and see what you would want to use. Unless you had a personal interest for yourself, I probably would look to borrow it from a library rather than purchase. It may not be the most on-spot book as far as being "all about the Crusades," but if you're looking for source material from the Arab side that is really from that time period, this would fit that bill.

I *love* Um Ali, so I'll share if you do!! ;)

This past weekend we went to a potluck iftar dinner, my assignment was the savory dish -- for 40-ish people. I had ds haul down my ginormous cooking pot and made a vat of chicken biryani. This pot doesn't get a whole lotta use, but I always feel like it's a big cauldron or something when I break it out, lol.

I guess I'm really dating myself, lol. I'll probably end up playing with it more than the kids. :laugh:

My kids have Ramadan calenders where they get little gifts each day, today's gift was silly putty that I had gotten in the States. I had real trouble finding comics that it would work on -- I think they were starting to think I was "misremembering." I guess back in my day it was the easiest thing in the world, but we tried the comics in our local paper and a comic book we had gotten from India, no dice. I actually looked up on the internet to make sure we were "doing it right" -- silly putty! lol Finally, I dug through the boys bookshelves for an old comic book I had gotten in the States to tie into our history studies -- printed in 1946. That worked! But now I'm wondering if the joy of silly putty has been lost to improvements in newsprint? Other than making it into a wicked bouncy ball or digging up really old comic books, what else "works" for silly putty?

I have been refused service. It is not generally a benign experience, where the salesperson approaches you with a warm smile and says, "I'm so sorry, I'm sure you're a wonderful person, but I can't have you in my store." Leaving these situations as the one refused, I was not left with a neutral feeling, like oh well I'll just try the next store. I was embarrassed and frankly intimidated and afraid to even try the next store because who knew what would happen. Part of me wished they would just put a sign on the door so I would know not to go in there -- but can you imagine? I understand that people have personal convictions, but I would also like to live in a welcoming and positive society. I'm not sure how you would balance that.

I think people are being disingenuous when they say "this is about religious freedom!" I wish they would be honest, and say this is about freedom for *their* religion. I am confident if a Muslim business tried a similar suit, for example wanting to be exempt from paying for medicines with animal byproducts (like gelatin), the general response would be "Sharia!!!! They're trying to take over our country!! Go back to your own country!"

This is a good idea, you could just do quick pics with your phone and have it right at hand. My mom couldn't find one of her bags at the Dubai airport when she came to visit once, she told the manager it was "red." Once they finally found it, turns out it was mostly black with a small red stripe. Luckily the manager was more amused than irritated. I have a distinctive, neon-bright pattern of thick cloth ribbon I chose from Michaels, I get a spool when we're home each summer and use that to attach small ties to our luggage handles (big enough to be seen, small enough to not be a hindrance).. when we travel we usually have 10+ bags (two pieces per person on a long-haul flight) so it's been a real help!

For places where there literally is no sunrise or no sunset at a given time, I read an opinion that offered two options -- a) follow the timings in Makkah or b ) follow the timings in the city closest to you that does have sunrise/sunset. Emphasis was placed on coming to a community consensus -- not generally an easy task! lol

I'm collecting recipes for fuul -- how do you make it? We used to get it in Saudi for breakfast, it was really good. I have some cans of fava beans but not sure how to go about it... we used to get it from those little shops where they have those huge, narrow-necked pots of fuul, it's more "pasty" than "beany," if you kwim, lol. A blog post (not mine) about it here: These past couple of mornings Ive been having a peanut-butter-and banana sandwich on whole-grain bread. I haven't felt hungry during the day at all, just thirsty at times.

Could be root beer, Rosie! :)

I still have my first Qur'an as well! It also has notes and marks all in it, but after all these years it's starting to fall apart! :( I need to figure out if I can get it rebound, or should I do something else to preserve it. I'm so sentimental, I don't think I can just get rid of it... I don't really do decorations either. I have some small lamps we decorated with glass paint one year, but I actually haven't even taken them out this year! I did make Ramadan calendars for the kids, that's about all I could manage this year. :( But living here, there are a lot of decorations out along the streets and a general "festive atmosphere" that's nice..

Oh no! How are you handling pain relief for that? Ds is having some dental work done, I've tried to schedule it as close to the iftar time as possible, but even then the next day I hope he won't have any residual pain to deal with.. the orthodontist didn't seem to think it would be an issue...

I never really fooled much with suhoor until my boys got old enough to fast -- poor dh was largely on his own until then, lol. But now I make some things in bulk they can get out for themselves. I usually make a big pot of qeema, they have it with paratha, and I keep a box of pattice (like potato pancakes stuffed with meat) in the freezer they can quickly fry in the morning... spiced chickpeas...I didn't grow up Muslim, but I've adopted some of dh's cultural dishes :) Iftar we've really tried to keep just like a normal dinner, with the addition of dates and laban at maghrib. With the heat I've found laban to be really refreshing -- honestly more than water. I'm happy to not have Ramadan during the school year, but not particularly enjoying the summer heat -- I guess I can't have it both ways!

Salaam and Ramadan Mubarak! How are the Muslim posters here coping with a summer Ramadan? Temps here are averaging 110F, we stop eating/drinking at about 4am and start again at about 7.15pm. It's a long, hot day. What's everyone having for meals? I'm always looking for new ideas....:)

Where I live this sort of thing is a problem and abortion is illegal. Unsurprisingly, what this means in reality is that people with money travel outside the country to get it done, and people without money are left with trying any number of "back-alley" methods and not infrequently end up with a serious medical condition. As far as how this relates to the US, well to me, looking at this case and this discussion in particular, I can see a similarity -- "we're not going to provide you with this, you can either pay for it on your own or find another job." So again those employees who have money won't have any trouble, but those who don't have money may.

I know you weren't asking me, but how I covered this was through ds' literary analysis curriculum, but it could be easily replicated. There was a unit on Biblical allusions, they gave a list or chart of the most common ones. I had ds read through the list and I checked whether he was familiar with the stories behind them all -- there were many he did not know, so I pulled out our Bible and had him use those as a base for reading.

You might consider visiting the Wikipedia page linked above and making an adjustment, as this is where the confusion is stemming from. I mean no disrespect towards your efforts, but I do not believe your institution is -- or is even intended to be -- in the same genre as al-Azhar and al-Qarawiyyin.

Their Facebook page says they charge $75 per credit hour, not sure how that fits into anything -- if it does. Is that just for certain students? Or certain classes? Or?