Thick and Thin.

I've decided I will once again post every single day, as I did "in the beginning", no matter what I have actually done toward my goal of 20 minutes a day of Islamic studies and exercise. I think (no, I KNOW) it helps me stay motivated when I'm accountable, and I miss writing every little thing that comes into my head, whether for your amusement or not (most probably not).

He seems to get the idea.

Today is just a quick little post—don't worry. I know how to take 'er easy on a Sunday.




ISLAM
Today I had Arabic class in the morning and after an hour review session, we have somehow convinced our teacher that we DO know what's going on, despite all of our indications of total confusion this whole semester. He refers to the day, about 5 weeks ago, when he realized we didn't understand cases in Arabic grammar as "The Scare" and I don't blame him. We're in Arabic 8 and should have had this all down in Arabic 5 or 6. But we're back on track now and he is, and I quote, "Wery happy now."

Today we also worked on Hadith #15 from An-Nawawi's 40 Ahadeeth. This one's a classic and no one, Muslim or not, can really argue with it's message. Here's the video with the Arabic audio and English text translation:

MashAllah I really love Sh. Saad al-Ghamdy's voice. It's a big reason I listen to these little videos over and over. Insha Allah (God willing) you will get something out of them too!

*************************

EXERCISE
While there was no actual exercise today, I did make some rather healthy choices at the grocery store today. They somehow resulted in a lower bill than usual as well—CHA-CHING!

Here are some things I chose over less-healthy items I might usually buy on a Sunday when I've had no lunch and just got out of a two-hour board meeting (there were some snacks) following my 3-hour class. Consider this the Health Tip of the Day:

1. Organic beets, carrots, zucchini, and hearts of romaine instead of conventional Doritos.

2. In-season blueberries and strawberries to mix into my plain yogurt instead of a Snack Pack.

2. Neufchatel cheese for my bagel instead of the full-fat Philly.

3. Edy's Whole Fruit Bars ( in coconut, YUM!) instead of ice cream. I actually PUT BACK the Häagen Dazs single-serve cups after noting that the tiny little buggers had twice as many calories and five times the fat of one delicious coconut bar.

There was some other stuff in there but I am way over my personal limit of 10 minutes for blogging tonight. You get the picture—I'm trying to buy more fresh foods and find healthier alternatives without eating things I hate or hating myself. Both of those last things are bad.

Ok so the cat has been head-butting my arm for about 10 minutes now which is driving me bananas so I will leave you with this question: What did you do that was not-so-bad today?