Sabtu, 31 Disember 2011

Rezeki

*This is a self-reminder but I think its good to share with you my beloved readers :)

Macam-macam perseption orang tentang erti rezeki. Ada yang beranggapan only positive impact can be considered as rezeki - gaji naik, dapat anak, dapat hadiah, etc. Kalau barang hilang, kereta accident and rosak, keguguran dan kemudian kena pulak pergi buat kemoterapi, that's was considered as 'tak de rezeki'. In fact, I too was in that state of opinion. 

Until very recent, I listened to @yasminmogahed 's podcast, where she said, that all, everything that happened, involved around us is considered rezk especially when we are able to face them. Able to face them like literally alive. Not dead. And that rezk is actually a test. Because life itself is a test, jadi semua,  gaji naik, dapat anak, dapat hadiah, barang hilang, kereta accident and rosak, keguguran dan kemudian kena pulak pergi buat kemoterapi, adalah rezki (ujian). Yang baik rezki dan yang tak baik juga rezki. Its how we accept them and how we look at the situation, are we going to be too happy till we forget to be thankful to God or giving up and blame God with what had happened?, that's matter.

So, despite of complaining this is not enough, I am tired, I want my me time, we should always thankful. Thank you for being able to wake up in the next morning to breath the air facing a brand new day. Thank you (Allah swt) for the 2nd chance.

Count the blessing.. Start to think of Allah with what we do: Alhamdullillah- Syukur ke hadratMu Allah; Astaghrafirullah- Ampunilah dosa ku ini, Ya Allah; MasyaAllah, Lahaulawalaquwatailla billah - Sungguh atas kehendak Allah (semua ini terwujud), tidak ada daya kekuatan kecuali kekuatanMu (dengan pertolonganMu) Ya Allah.. -- make this as a habit (better then menyeranah).

May 2012 will open our mind to be more mature (in Islamic way) and being positive towards life. Happy New Year. Lets together improve our self to be a better Muslim, insyaAllah :)
 

Jumaat, 30 Disember 2011

Terbengkalai

What's up with that unfinished work.. Erm.. I guess I am not patience enough to do crochet.

I think this could be the best tool to teach me to become more bersabar. We will see... Hehee

This, I miss..

Like a lot!


Crocheting. Bought the books when I was carrying Hamza, planned to make at least a pair of booty for him but till now, Na-da. Hehee..

I wish to be given more time to do this but ya, in life, we have to choose. To prioritize and focus. And also to stop to smell the roses.

So, this, can wait. I wanted to finish my reading first.
:)

NeezaNeedles 1st Anniversary Giveaway


Is on now at my Facebook fanpage- go to this LINK. Do join. Even if you don't have baby yet, you can give them to your friends or siblings, if you won.

Open for International participant as well!!! :)

Spread the words.. Thank you :)))

This is a STICKY POST. New post (if there's any) will be below this post. :)

Khamis, 29 Disember 2011

Beautiful love story

Komen saya: Kisah cinta agung. Lagi best dari mana-mana drama.. Hehee..

This is the beautiful love story between Zainab bint Muhammad and Abu El'Ass ibn Rabee'.

Zainab was the daughter of the Prophet (PBUH) and her cousin Abu El'Ass, was Khadija's (RA) nephew. He was one of the nobles of the Quraish, and the Prophet (SAW) loved him very much.

One day Abu El'Ass went to the Prophet (SAW) before he had received his mission of Prophethood and said: "I want to marry your eldest daughter". So the Prophet replied: "I must ask her first". He (SAW) went to Zainab and asked her: "Your cousin came to me and he wishes to marry you, do you accept him as your husband?" Her face turned red with bashfulness and she smiled.

So Zainab married Abu El'Ass, the beginning of a great love story. They had two children; Ali and Omama.
Then Muhammad became a Prophet while Abu El'Ass was away from Makkah. Abu El'Ass returned to find his wife a Muslim. When he first came back, his wife said "I have great news for you". He stood up and left her. Zainab was surprised and followed him as she said, "My father became a Prophet and I have become a Muslim". He replied, "Why didn't you tell me first?" Hence a big problem began between the two; a problem of religion and belief.
She told him, "I wasn't going to disbelieve in my father and his message, he is not a liar, and he is "The Honest and Trustworthy". I'm not the only believer; my mother and my sisters became Muslims, my cousin Ali ibn Abi Taleb became a Muslim, your cousin Othman ibn Affan became a Muslim, and your friend, Abu Bakr, became a Muslim".
He replied, "Well, as for me, I don't want people to say, 'he let down his people and his forefathers to please his wife'. And I am not accusing your father of anything". Then he said, "So will you excuse me and understand?" She replied, "Who will excuse and understand you if I don't? I will stay beside you and help you until you reach the truth." And she kept her word for 20 years.

Abu El'Ass remained an unbeliever, and then came the migration. Zainab went to her father and asked him for the permission to stay with her husband. The Prophet (SAW) replied, "Stay with your husband and children".

So Zainab stayed in Makkah, until the battle of Badr occurred. Abu El'Ass was to fight in the army of Quraish against the Muslims. For Zainab, it meant that her husband will be fighting her father, a time Zainab had always feared. She kept crying out: "O Allah, I fear one day the sun may rise and my children become orphans or I lose my father".

So the battle started, and ended in victory for the Muslims. Abu El'Ass was captured by the Muslims, and news of this reached Makkah. Zainab asked, "What did my father do?" They told her, "The Muslims won". So she prayed to Allah, thanking Him. Then she asked: "What did my husband do?" They said: "He was captured". She said, "I'll send a payment to release him". She didn't own anything of much value, so she took off her mother's necklace, and sent it with Abu El'Ass's brother to the Prophet.
While the Prophet (SAW) was sitting, taking payments and releasing captives, he saw Khadija's necklace. He held it up and asked: "Whose payment is this?" They said: "Abu El'Ass ibn Rabee". He cried and said "This is Khadija's necklace". As soon as the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) saw that necklace, he had a feeling of extreme compassion and his heart palpitated for the great memory. The Companions who were present there gazed in amazement having being captivated by the magnificence of the situation.

After a long silence, the Messenger of Allah (SAW) stood up and said "People, this man is my in-law, should I release him? And do you accept the return of this necklace to my daughter?" They answered in unison "Yes, Messenger of Allah".
The Prophet (SAW) gave the necklace to Abu El'Ass and said to him: "Tell Zainab not to give away Khadija''s necklace". Then he (SAW) said, "Abu El'Ass, Can we speak privately?" He took him aside and said, "Allah has ordered me to separate between a Muslim and a disbeliever, so could you return my daughter to me?" Abu El'Ass reluctantly agreed.

Zainab stood on the gates of Makkah waiting for the arrival of Abu El'Ass. When he finally came he said, "I am going away". She asked, "Where to?" He replied, "It is not me who is going, it is you. You are going to your father. We must separate because you are a Muslim". She implored him, "Will you become a Muslim and come with me?" But he refused.

So Zainab took her son and daughter and traveled to Madinah, and for 6 years she refused to remarry, hoping that one day Abu El'Ass would come.
After 6 years, Abu El'Ass was traveling in a caravan from Makkah to Syria. During the journey, he was intercepted by some of the Prophet's companions. He escaped and asked for Zainab's home. He knocked on her door shortly before the dawn prayer. She opened the door and asked him "Did you become a Muslim?" He whispered "No, I come as a fugitive". She implored him once more "Can you become a Muslim?" Again his answer was a negative. "Do not worry." She said, "Welcome my cousin, welcome, the father of Ali and Omama".

After the Prophet (SAW) prayed the dawn prayer in congregation with the people, they heard a voice from the back of the mosque, "I have freed Abu El'Ass ibn Rabee". Zainab had granted Abu El'Ass' freedom. The Prophet (SAW)asked, "Have you heard what I heard?" They all said, "Yes, Messenger of Allah". Zainab said, "He is my cousin and the father of my children and I have freed him". The Prophet (SAW) stood up and said, "O people, I declare that this man was a very good son-in-law, he never broke his promise, and neither did he tell lies. So if you accept, I will return his money back and let him go. If you refuse it's your decision and I will not blame you for it." The companions agreed, "We will give him his money". So the Prophet (SAW) said to Zainab, "We have freed the one you have freed, O Zainab." Then he (SAW) went to her and told her "be generous to him, he is your cousin and the father of your children, but don't let him get near you, he is prohibited for you." She replied, "Sure, father, I'll do as you say".

She went in and told her husband, "O Abu El'Ass, didn't you miss us at all? Won't you become a Muslim and stay with us?" But he refused. Abu El'Ass then took the money and returned to Makkah. Once he returned he stood up and announced, "O people, here is your money. Is there anything left?" They replied, "No, Abu El'Ass, there is nothing left, thanks a lot." So Abu El'Ass said, "I testify that there is no god but Allah, and Muhammed is His Messenger." Then he went back to Madinah and ran to the Prophet (SAW) as he said, "Dear Prophet, you freed me yesterday, and today I say that I testify there is no god but Allah and you are His Messenger." He asked the Prophet, "Will you give me the permission to go back to Zainab?" The Prophet (SAW) smiled and said, "Come with me"; he took him to Zainab's house and knocked on her door. The Prophet (SAW) said, "O Zainab, your cousin came to me and asked if he can return to you". Just like 20 years before, her face turned red with bashfulness and she smiled.

The sad thing was, a year after this incident, Zainab died. Abu El'Ass shed hot tears because of her death and drove those who were around him to tears. The Messenger of Allah (SAW) came with eyes full of tears and a heart full of sorrow. Zainab's death reminded him of the death of his wife, Khadija. He told the women, who gathered around Zainab's corpse, "Wash her three times and use camphor in the third wash." He performed funeral prayers on her and followed her final resting place. Abu El'Ass returned to his children, Ali and Omama. Kissing them and wetting them with his tears, he remembered the face of his departed darling.
May Allah be pleased with Zainab, the Prophet's daughter! May He reward her with Paradise for her patience, endurance and struggle!

Abu El'Ass would cry so profusely that the people saw the Prophet himself weeping and calming him down. Abu El'Ass would say, "By Allah, I can't stand life anymore without Zainab".

He died one year after Zainab's death.

***
Taken from twitter.com/BackonDeen

-----
Neeza Zaini
www.fb.com/NeezaneedleS

Attack by the fungus..

My sewing room!!!


Kemas session. Ouch!!!


With someone not feeling well and being clingy like a baby koala. Double ouch!!!



Rabu, 28 Disember 2011

Marketing ..

In my point of view.



You want to sell thing, you need to promote stuff.

1. Don't spam the timeline either in Fb or twitter. Its annoying especially person like me who view the social network by phone. All you will get it either Hide or Unfriend.. by me. Sorry.



2. Tagging is ok (for me it does help in spread the news) but please keep it once. You don't have to tag every single item with that same particular person. Again, its annoying. Rule #1 will reapply here.



3. Make your own Facebook page and promote your stuff there. Beg your friends to like and share your page. Makes giveaway. It helps in increase the number of page-Likers.



4. And do not double post; you don't have to promote on ur Fb page then in your personal Fb. Its confusing and ya, annoying. You can do that for the first few time at the beginning when you start your page but once the follower reach 100 stop do that. Time is precious. Focus on the stuff to sell rather than just promotional. Customers will come naturally. Believe me.



5. Sell good stuff with good value. If you're Muslim always make self-reflection. We manage to sell because Allah swt help us and the rezk is barakah. Mebe when we fail to sell is time to look back. We might have push it hard till we neglect our right to serve Allah. Eg: We push to sell from one house to another, sitting hours in front of the computer searching for buyers (and pray at late hour- hujung waktu) or like me, sewing till late night and miss Fajr (Astaghfirullah) or mebe to busy we even forget when the last time we read the Quran. Its time to look back. Yang baik is from Allah swt and obviosly yang buruk comes from us . Wallahualam.

-----

Neeza Zaini

www.fb.com/NeezaneedleS

Selasa, 27 Disember 2011

Wrapping up 2011

Alhamdullillah. 2011 is Such a great amazing year.
I know some people might said that every year is as same as the previous. We live today, so make full use of the moment, while yesterday is a past and tomoorow is a present, which we're not sure either we'll be able to make it or not. But as for me there's nothing wrong in making  plan and looking back the past to improve.

So, here's what actually happened in 2011:
Mother in law past away, I lost my Bold Blackberry, I decided not to sew any more baju for adults, and I quitted my life-secured-job . Those are the 'bad news', but somehow, we moved on.. Father inlaw remarried, I bought new 'cheap version' of Blackberry, I focussed on sewing baby-carriers and decided to go serious in this as I have found my niche! And what more important is I can said that I've found happiness. We found happiness. We might not live in luxury as previous (before I resigned) but as my husband said, life is more meaningful. There's ample time to jemaah at Surau every Maghrib and Isyak, and we get to sit and discussed about Islam (taaruf) most night, and I no longer whined 'tired la' (as according to what my husband said) compared to when I was in rat-race. Alhamdullillah. I am glad that this whole thing has make us closer to the Creator, Allah swt. Alhamdullilah.

So, what I looks forward to 2012 is:
Maintain those that are good
I am going to be a teacher!!! Hehee.. So, orders have to sacrifice a bit. I might taking less orders than I used to take. Talking about orders, Alhamdullilah, Thanks dear God, the rezk that You give is sufficient and I am so happy. And I am glad that the customers are happy too. And the best thing is, I can say that my parent are now support what I am doing now. When I broke the news that I am going to resign from Kementerian Kesihatan, from the Public service, letting off my secured-pension, Dad was kinda shocked. And Mom was confused.. and.. mad. No, they don't nag me, but I know they are not agree with my Big decision due to their 'they-have-nothing-to-say' responsed. But now, I somehow believe that Dad and Mom respected my decision. Mom was like asking me to put the carriers to be sold in her friends shop and also freely promoting the carriers to her friends (asking their kids to wear their grandkids). Hehee.. And ya, talking about selling stuff in shop, oh my.. This, I am not sure either to put in my 2012 plans or not. I know I have turn-down few offers from vendors. I like to maintain the exclusivity of NeezaNeedles handmade carriers, I love to get to know my customers well, and getting the feedback from them. Ok, we KIV this. Hehee.. inshaAllah, with God-will, I might as well push on this.
And finally, we plan to add members of the family. Hehee.. No, I am not pregnant yet. But I hope to get pregnant in 2012. 

Ok, I think I've write a lot. Thanks Allah swt for amazing 2011 (been featured in Metro, twice!!!) hehee.. Alhamdullilah. Thanks for the support - families, friends, customers, strangers. And I wish you reader a Happy 2012. :) 

p/s: I know we have another 5days to hit 2012 but I am just very excited :D



 

Jumaat, 23 Disember 2011

Isnin, 19 Disember 2011

Sabtu, 17 Disember 2011

Weekends..

Last week. We went to Museum Alam Semulajadi at the Precinct 15. They having the Crocodile Exhibition. Adult need to pay RM2 per entry while kid is free.







****

Today. We went to Paya Indah Wetlands located in Dengkil. A good, near and free place to bring the kids. We had fun!!! The kids got to feed the Hippo, see the crocodiles and chase a peacock. Hehee..








I hope you guys enjoy ur weekends as I do :)

Jumaat, 16 Disember 2011

Self sewing

Finally. After a long pause.
A huge pillow case with zipper. One. But took almost a month - due to procastinating. Busy busy-me. Ah, lame!
Hehee..

Rabu, 14 Disember 2011

Wall of art

In my case, its the wall of stickers. Only applicable to this part of wall. No other places or I might turn green. Hehee..

Selasa, 13 Disember 2011

Plastic cap snap button

This. Better hundred times than the metal snap prong buttons. Like!

Also known as Kam snap button.

Isnin, 12 Disember 2011

Dental revisited

Somebody need to get her teeth fixed.

Hopefully we will have a very good sleep tonite. Hehee..

Sabtu, 10 Disember 2011

My babywearing man

Is more to an onbuhimo-guy. No meitai, never a wrapper, once a ringslings and occasionally in our pink Ssc ergo.

This is fun!

One of the books that we bought is on how to make an animals out of a balloon. So we've been playing with this until I successfully make a giraffe. Woo hoo..

Book is rm8 will all included!

So, anyone want to organize a birthday party? Can invite me for balloon maker. Hahah.. Giraffe only for the time being. :p

Khamis, 8 Disember 2011

Gramedia sales books

To those who asking, these are the books that I bought. All these for Zahra. Price is satisfying. (I didn't go to the Big Bad Wolf Book fair so can't give any comparison).

The horse with color pencil is Rm13. The book with oil pastel is Rm10.

Sticker books ~ Rm15 each.
Bought Charlie and Lola sticker books too at same price range.

Activity books range Rm2 - RM12.

Sale will be until end of month or all books sold, which come first.

Yup, this is Gramedia located at Mines Shopping complex.

I personally said for those yang ada anak nak masuk skolah better go. Stationary is so cheap!

Hope this help. :). And ya, they accept credit card. No fuss to bring cash. Hehee...

Books

Very cheap books. Gramedia Mines closing down and they sale everyting that is in the shop at 50% (stationary stuff) - 70-80% (children book).

That's our catch. Mostly activity books. I don't buy any reading book as Zahra still can't read yet.

Total damage ~ Rm250 for 22 books include the Barney bag.

Rabu, 7 Disember 2011

Apabila Imam tertambah rakaat...

Ok, this happened a few weeks ago, when we went jamaah for Isya'. The Imam was accidentally repeated the tahiyatul awal at 3rd rakaah. I must said that it was such a blur moment. I remembered listened to the ceramah by Uztaz Azhar said that if Imam was wrong the maamum are responsible to re-correct him by say out loud 'Subhanallah', and makmum shouldn't follow the Imam too. I was at the second row so I just stand for the final rakaah, and no longer following the imam. But some maamum did continued following the Imam.

Suddenly, Hamza was crying out loud (some kids teased him) and as I confident that he is clean (as he just take his shower before we leave) I just carried him through out the salah. But it was really a chaotic moment and suddenly I cant remember what to do after my tahiyatul akhir, should I remain sit, waiting for the Imam to give salaam first or continued to give the salaam ?? What I did was, give my salaam, and as Hamza wanted to be fed, I walked home (leaving Hubby behind), and at home I took my Isya' pray again. Too confuse with the whole situation.

And later that night, I asked Mat about the incident in surau, and he said that I should do mufarakah. I must admit that I know nothing about murafakah, and I googled and found this:


http://soaljawab.wordpress.com/2007/05/07/imam-tertambah-rakaat-bolehkah-mufaraqah/


I written this so that the knowledge can be shared with you guys out there.. Yes, this is so new for me.. :)

ps: Yup, we can carry our child during salah, in condition that he/she is clean (hadas besar atau kecil). If not, our salah is invalid as we are not properly clean eg. menanggung najis. Wallahu'alam.





Metal snap prong buttons for sale


Metal snap prong buttons for sale. 30 set per pack. Drop me email neeza79@yahoo.com to purchase. Do add Rm3.50 for postage. TQ.

Tutorial how to use the button:
http://www.neezaneedles.com/2011/05/how-to-install-snap-prong-button-using.html
http://www.neezaneedles.com/2010/02/how-to-install-snap-prong-buttons.html

Sabtu, 3 Disember 2011

Jumaat, 2 Disember 2011

Khamis, 1 Disember 2011

Happy One Anniversary..

Its December...
Alhamdullillah.. NeezaNeedles Babywearing Handmade approached a year!

Sekejap jer masa berlalu.. A year, and the biggest achievement I can say is I've sewn more than 100 carriers (onbu, mei tai, buckle tai, merak), 122 to be exact, with 71 came from Merak alone. Thanks for the supporting guys..

I never thought that I'll be in this type of business - babywearing making. I like wearing my baby and often go gaga on babywearing gear but to sell one, rasa macam tak mungkin because at that particular time I wasn't sure about the market and I dont want to compete with Snuggbaby or Jumpsac or Aidafiqs as they're my friends. [I believed I'm not a competitor to those brands, just being here to give some color to the market and to provide variety.. :)].

I remembered my very first customer- Nurul Huda, who emailed me asking me to make her a meitai.. At first rasa macam betul ke nak suruh buat meitai ni.. and I made two (instead of one- so that nanti dia bole choose which she likes most) and managed to sell both two via this blog. Thanks to Izan for becoming the second buyer.

After successfully sold two of the very first mei tai, I made another 4. And this four is unlike the first two, it is very HARD to sell!!! It seems like none want to buy. And as at the same time I am at my in-law in Terengganu, I dont really think much about the carriers as I was a bit busy on making 2 dozens of kid baju kurungs for customers. My friend then gave birth and I gave her one of the meitai as a gift. Then I started to think back about the carriers. How to push to sell?

Since at in-law, I have quite ample time, I began to read marketing blogs. And this is what they're suggesting:

1) Be in niche.
In the other word, join forum. I did join the Malaysian baby-wearing forum but not that active. Frankly, I have problem on joining forum. Not that because of other people, but it is mostly because of me. I am very easy to be persuaded. I joined at the beginning, and resulted I bought Ellaroo wrap and Ergo SSC. These are not cheap and I found out I less using it, so I back off from the forum. Tak tau kalo stay lama lagi apa lagi damaged nya. In fact, very recent I like to hang out at the MBW facebook group and resulted from that, I bid a didymos indio at eBay. Luckily being outbid. And now, I stay far from that group.. huhuh..

2) Promote yourself.
Be known. And the best is to be in the media. So, I contacted a few journalists to be in the media and one of my email got answered. Unfortunately, instead of writing about my hobby, she wrote about my day-career. I was kinda frustrated (thats one reason why I dont announced it at public on the day I got published) but Allah swt amazingly have set a rezk. Some of baby-wearers noticed about the article and did contact me to purchase the ready-made meitais. And I also been contacted by one of MCDP members as at that particular time, they're having an event and asking me if I would like to join as vendor or contributor, and seems there's still ready-made meitai un-sell, so I gave one to them as part of some prizes for a contest/lucky-draw. And I dont know that MCDP is one big NGO-Malaysia-cloth diaper-society, and right after the event, some of them contacted me to purchase mei tai. And I remembered that Marsha is my very first customer for the buckle-tai. And I started to make and sell (at least a carrier a week) until another journalist approached me (this is I believed God-sent) to cover story about me and my handmade babywearing gears.

And the rest is all history. Thanks to Allah swt, first and foremost for this un-expected opportunity, answering my prayer - I wanna stay home taking self-care of my children (thats the main purpose) and He gave me a little job to do in between.

Future planning:
Seriously, I got none. For the time being I am quite comfortable with what I'm doing and what I have. Few vendors did contacted me, asking me if they can sell Merak at their shop. That's one big honored I must say. But NeezaNeedles is very small, managed by one person, that is me.
Insya Allah, one baby step at a times. However, I am not ready and not welcome to sacrificing my family and my time to Allah swt just to expand the business.

Ok enough rambling. Lets get back to work.. Hehee..