Monthly Archives: July 2020

Curve Balls

If there is one thing I have learnt in life it’s the harsh reality that nothing ever goes to plan.

When I was a little girl I had this idealistic plan in my head. The whole marriage, 2 children, ‘perfect family life’. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not ungrateful for what I’ve got and I have a wonderful marriage to my amazing husband. I just didn’t imagine that I would have to have a funeral for one of my babies, that I would fall in love with someone who already had a child and that I would end up disabled after my second birth.

For the record I love my Step Son with everything I have, I have helped raise him since he was 2 years old. We have a bond like no other and for that I am so grateful. He’s a wonderful boy and I am proud and grateful to have him as my Step Son, or as a friend refers to her Step Daughter as ‘my bonus son’! However, being a Step Mum hasn’t been without it’s difficulties over the years. That’s the part that wasn’t in my plan. The forever struggles of being a Step Mum, I don’t want to say any more as it’s personal but if you know you know.

I envisaged a career as well as being a Mum. I thought I could have it all and be great at it all, however life has a habit of throwing curve balls so to speak and you have to be ready to catch them.

I might not be working in my field of study right now but I did get my degree and worked for 15 years overall in Cardiology, Respiratory and Sleep. That’s something that no one can take away from me. If you didn’t know I am a qualified clinical physiologist specialising in respiratory and sleep.

I also thought I would be a ‘Pintrest Mum’ but it turns out being a Mum is a lot harder than it looks!! Who would have thought!!! I mean aint no one got the time, ability or energy to cook from scratch every day, organise fun activities for the family every day, planned trips as well as keeping the house clean, tidy and washing done and put away!!!! (Shit I’m exhausted just reading about it all!!)

I also didn’t plan to be disabled and need help off my husband to get dressed some days!! However it is what it is. I hate that I’m disabled I won’t lie. It’s robbed me of so much, however I have gained things too. Maybe I’ll chat more about it on another blog. However basically being disabled comes with challenges as well, it’s a full time job in itself just managing everything that comes with it;

Read these about pain

Meditate every day

Take time for you

Manage your stress

Pace yourself

Try and walk every day but not too much

Exercise every day……

This is everything that’s expected of me along with all the other stuff that comes with life as mentioned earlier with the cooking etc. Not to mention keeping up with your kids social calendar and events too. I’m yet to add in the whole school aspect yet with my youngest but that’s only a few months away now.

My point is (after babbling on for a while!!!!) life might not be turning out the way you planned, it might be harder than you thought. Life might be taking a different direction to what you had planned but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t going to awesome. Yes it might be hard and yes you might get loads of curve balls………but surely the curve balls just lead to better things in the end?

What do you think?

Much Love

Mrs Shep

Emma’s Bites – healthy meat pie

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Hey everyone. How we doing?

The weather here is finally getting sunny again which means I can start experimenting and trying some new recipes over the next few weeks!!!!

Anyway today I have a little twist for you. It’s Sunday which usually means Sunday dinner in our house! (Do you have a roast on a Sunday?)

However we’ve been getting a bit fed up of them and so to swap things up a bit today we are having pie, chips and veg!

However I’m trying too loose weight (when am I not!) so I made my own pie!

It doesn’t take long and all you need is;

Weight watcher wrap

200/250g of 5% fat steak mince

Beef stock pot (you could use a cube but I find these have more flavour)

Onions if you wish

Salt & pepper

Lea & Perrins

Sage

Mild chilli powder (you don’t have to use this I just wanted a little something extra)

Now I actually bought individual little pie dishes so if you have one great!

Otherwise you may have to improvise!!!

So first of all cut your wrap to size and slot in the dish you are using. I found that if I sprayed it with fry light I could mould it better (gently).

When that’s done pop in the oven for around 5 minutes to firm up a bit.

Next you need to brown your mince on the hob.

If you want to add onions add in here. Please note if you are adding onions and other veg you may need less mince to compensate or it won’t all fit in your pie.

Once that’s done add in around 50ml of stock. So not make up any more than this as all that happens is less flavour. Pie your stick in to the pan with your mince and mix for a few more minutes, if it starts to stick or evaporate completely add little drops of water every so often until you get the desired amount. Next add your salt, pepper, then about 1/2 tsp of sage and mild chilli powder and the same amount of lea and perrins. Stir for a minute.

Once that’s finished spoon your mixture into your pie base. Using the rest of your wrap ( I had to take some from another wrap to make my lid ) make your lid and press in around the sides. Spray the top with fry light and pop in the oven until your wrap is browned and firm.

There you have it, a healthier meat pie! Just serve with your favourite veg or salad and your favourite potatoes! We had homemade chips and peas with ours.

Come back next week for another #emmasbites or sign up to my mailing list to get notified when I have a new blog up!

Much love

Emma xx

Lockdown reflection…..

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So we are now on like what week 16 of lockdown here in the U.K (Feels like week 1,000 though!!!!) and things are finally starting to feel a little bit more normal now.

We’ve had 3 birthdays just in our house, missed two family members birthdays, had one Mother’s Day, one Easter, one Father’s Day and a whole lot more!

I can’t say the birthday celebrations get any easier. The more celebrations we have on lockdown the harder it seems to feel. Never ending to be honest.

It’s also hard to actually find a way to make any of these celebrations feel special and different to any other lockdown day! Although Ste if you are reading this I did have a lovely day and you where amazing. I just missed being able to go anywhere.

I can’t say we’ve been on much of a health kick either, well I definitely haven’t!! Although Ste has taken up running and cycling again. Great for him. I am a little jealous though I was never into fitness but now that choice as been taken away I want that choice back.

As for doing some work with my son at home, we’ve not done too bad. Twinkl has been a godsend, Alfie has made some great progress with things. We’ve touched on various topics from space to the human body and honestly I’ve loved it all. When lockdown started I’ll be honest I was terrified of how I would cope. I’m not a crafty Mum, I haven’t got a ton of ideas floating around in my head of things we can do at home. I have limitations on what I can do due my illness as well, so knowing all this I have to say I honestly thought I would do the worst job of parenting in lockdown ever.

However……….I do feel like I’ve done ok. Don’t get me wrong we’ve had our bad days just like everyone else. You know those days where everyone cries, people shout, nothing gets done and no healthy food was considered. However all in all we’ve made some ok memories and I’ve helped Alfie have a head start in learning.

So yeah, I might not have had a massive health kick, learnt yoga, taken up a new language. I haven’t lost a load of weight, we didn’t camp in the garden either. (Our garden is so small!)

However, Alfie can write his name. We’ve discovered new places to walk near our house, I’ve learnt I can be that Mum that looks like she’s got her shit together and sorted crafts etc for us to make (god bless Toucan Box!). We’ve had picnics, fakeaway nights, cinema movie nights. Alfie has practised lots of drawing and colouring and he’s got really good at it, we’ve decorated the kitchen, cleaned up the garden, raised money for charity, grown a new plant, done some tic tok videos, had an at home photo shoot, had many a homemade afternoon teas, had pirate day, celebrated VE Day, learnt about dinosaurs and had lots of fun in the sun in our garden. Alfie has also learnt how to ride his bike!!!

So yeah, lockdown may not have been life changing for us but we are getting through it and we are doing ok.

I would love to hear your lockdown reflection in the comments below. Is it what you thought? Have you learnt anything about yourself?