What you never thought tongs could do!

Mom (as she watched me empty the contents of yet another kitchen cabinet): habeebti.. I think we've reached the point where it would really be much easier if you bring your kids here to see the stuff. You've emptied the whole house!!

For the last few days mom has been seriously worrying on whether she'll reunite with her things ever again. So much so that she demanded I make a checklist that is closely monitored by her for accuracy. She made it quite clear that if anything goes missing or breaking, I'm in deeeep trouble. I knew better than to think she was kidding. And on my part, I was only too glad to convey the message (with minor alteration) to the kids.

"Listen up class. Each group has examples of machines. Now the radio, video and computer are the school's property. So if you wreck those, you'll have to pay for it. As for everything else, it's my mom's. She likes her stuff. If anything happens to it, she is gonna come to school and find you."

They all burst out in giggles. Apparently, they found it more funny than scary. You can tell they do not appreciate the sacred relationship between a woman and her kitchen utensils. They have a lot to learn!

"Miss Mariam! Is this toy car you're mom's?"

"No, it's my brother's. He's 4 times as tall as you are. If you break it, he'll come and squash you."

Again, waves of giggles (myself included) as we all imagined Abdulraheem being squashed flat by my bro like in the cartoons.

"Miss Mariam what is this?"
I was just about to explain that this is what they use to decorate the "ka3ek Eid" (Eid cookies) but Ahmed was faster:
"I know I know! This is that thing they use to remove nose hair"
"Oh my God look at the size of THIS ONE (pointing to a salad tong). You need to have a HUGE nose to use this one!!"

Aaaaand, my daily laughter dose is thus complete:)