Life

Onwards and upwards – literally!

Posted by Andrea on January 12, 2010
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It dawned on me today that I haven’t posted since August 2009, I mean August 2009! It’s amazing just how lost you get in time when there is building work going on! After struggling to work in my dining room (a thoroughfare between the front lounge and my kitchen) we made the decision to convert our loft into a work office/studio and since then I simply haven’t stopped. Architects, builders, electricians, inspectors…. then there was the decorating – 6 weeks of it between Dad and I (what would I do without him!). Regardless, we are nearly there with the final painting to be done, a bit of carpet and the furniture to go in. Then begins the mammoth task of purging stock and supplies and deciding where to put everything – PHEW! Thank goodness a return to normality is not too far in the distance and BOY do I have one awesome space to work in!

Onwards and upwards then …

The loft01

The over-sized work surface above the stairs and the custom desk area. This has all since been painted and looks amazing!

The loft03The loft02

 

 

The side wall – wall mounted TV to go here (along with amazing wallpaper!) and the 3 large Velux window to the back which offer amazing views (and sunsets!)

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Shooter Sandwich

Posted by Andrea on August 1, 2009
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SHOOTER SANDWICH

1 loaf of white bread (unsliced)
4 rib-eye or fillet steaks, a bit shorter than the loaf
6 Portobello mushrooms
200-300g exotic mushrooms (I used oyster and Shitake)
4 cloves garlic
1 handful fresh herbs (I used marjoram, parsley, thyme)
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
Butter

Slice one end off the loaf and hollow out the middle, setting the soft crumb to one side.

Saute the steaks, seasoned with pepper but without salt, for two minutes per side in the olive oil. Remove to a plate. It is important that your steaks are rare so that they give up their moisture to the sandwich when pressed.

Reduce the heat and melt one knob of butter in the pan with the olive oil from the steaks. Saute the Portobello mushrooms with the smashed cloves of garlic until the mushrooms are soft and starting to release their juices. Transfer to the plate with the steaks.

Season the steaks and mushrooms with plenty of salt and some more pepper. Build layers of steak, Portobello mushrooms, wild mushrooms and herbs inside the loaf until you have used everything up – if any cracks appear in the loaf, patch with the crumb you reserved. Pour any juices from the plate into the sandwich with the liquid from the pan. Wipe the cut end of the loaf in any remaining pan juices and put it back on the loaf. Wrap the whole thing in three layers of greaseproof paper and tie up tightly with string.

Place the loaf on a chopping board so the steaks are lying horizontally. Place another chopping board on top of the loaf and weight it down – a plate with 3-4 food cans on top did the trick. Leave the sandwich (no need to refrigerate) for five hours.

Serve the sandwich by simply slicing through the whole stuffed loaf with a breadknife. The steaks will be juicy, the pressed mushrooms silky, and the whole thing full of concentrated flavour.

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The green, green, grass of home

Posted by Andrea on April 6, 2009
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As I was hanging the washing out on the line this morning I faintly remember the distant hummm of a lawnmower near by. It didn’t register at first until I was standing in the kitchen half an hour later washing up when the smell drifted in through the window and hit me with a garden spade….

..the sweet, fresh, undeniable smell of freshly cut grass.

I stood there and closed my eyes for a few seconds and was instantly transported back to my childhood. Memories of my grandfather painstakingly cutting, rolling and spiking his perfectly manicured weed-free lawn with it’s tennis court stripes and luscious dark green colour; my father emulating him as he attempted to do the same with our ‘footie pitch’ at home – the three of us rolling around in the cuttings til we itched uncontrollably, shoving hand-fulls of the cuttings down each other’s backs til my father yelled at us to ‘pack-it-in”;  coming out to play on the school playing fields during the summer after the lawnmower guy had been with his ‘ride-on’ lawnmower – lying down watching the clouds go by and inhaling the intoxicating aroma, gently lifting our spirits and rejuvinating us for afternoon lessons and me trying to emulate both my father and my grandfather on our bumpy, uneven, dog-run of a lawn whilst the girls run around the outside being chased by the dog…

They say that smell has the strongest memory and thank goodness it does for in that single moment countless happy memories came flooding back and when I finally opened my eyes I felt enlightened, uplifted and joyous ……LOL and with Tom Jones singing ‘..the green, green, grass of home’ playing over and over and over and over in my head…..

God bless you Tom!

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Fighting back…

Posted by Andrea on April 2, 2009
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After a very long absense from the track Amber finally got back into training again this week. Since her illness last year (LeMierre’s disease – a post on this coming soon) she hasn’t had the energy or the inclination to train and of course there has been the school production of School Will Rock You which has taken up most of her free time and her energy.
IMG_0380

Her enthusiasm was obvious and her track buddies were all so pleased to see her but it hit her hard just how unfit she was (and to think this time last year we were celebrating her semi final place at the National Indoor Championships). Whilst practising sprint starts she commented on the fact that she was coming in last – a position she is not at all used to (shown above in pink) and she is now finding it hard to accept that she no longer dominates the track the way she did, her road to recovery and previous fitness will be hard and she may never run the way she did before.

My heart sank as I watched her expressions change as the reality hit her. How long will it be before she starts to find excuses to go? She has already stated she doesn’t want to compete this year, so low is her confidence; but her enthusiasm prevails, it keeps her off the streets, active and staying healthy and from a parents perspective, especially after what she has been through, things could be a lot worse!

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End of an era

Posted by Andrea on March 25, 2009
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There were so many things I had planned to write about this week. There was the fact that the Deadly West Brom Winger had scored a fantastic hat trick at the weekend in a 16-0 thrashing of some poor team who probably wished they hadn’t turned up; or there was the on-going saga of my Wii fit experiment that left me crippled for the week after just 2 days doing the yoga moves or even Mother’s Day which saw me sitting in casualty on Sunday evening after taking a nasty fall and sustaining a suspected broken right wrist – what a nightmare that was! (Turns out it was just a sprain but painful nonetheless).

No, today I am going to pay homage to the end of an era.

My grandfather’s younger brother, Ernest Godfrey James Shill passed away last weekend and with him went the last of a generation. As I sat next to my father in the crematorium today I couldn’t help
wiping the tears from my eyes as I thought about the people he had lost
and the emptiness he must feel. My grandfather, Robert passed away some 12 years ago, my grandmother, Kathleen just 2 years ago; my uncle, his only brother Leslie over 20 years ago. I gazed around the room at people I hardly knew, family I hardly knew, family who I had only ever remembered seeing at funerals. All connected but all so unfamiliar.

I don’t remember meeting Ernest or should I say “Curly’ – no-one ever knew him as Ernest. I learnt he had been a gun dog handler, a lover of country and western and big band music and he left behind him a wife, several children and 14 grandchildren. He had been one of 4 children all now sadly gone (I knew this as I have been researching our family tree on ancestry) and his father, Godfrey, my great-grandfather, I had been told by my father, was a lovely man. Having said that my grandfather was a lovely man, a real character with a wonderful manner and jovial to the core.

So it was with a saddened heart that I left the crematorium and said my goodbyes to people I hardly knew. I also dwelled on our family history, our family name, the SHILL name. My father, proud as he is of his 3 daughters, knows that our name will soon die out. My sister Maxine is unmarried and still bears the SHILL name but she will be the last Shill descendent from our known ancestors: Robert Shill (b.1796) and Sarah Shill (b 1791) and it is sad to think of it this way. Our future lies with our children, The Daniels’, The Hay’s, The Brady’s – all I can do is document it and ‘scrap’ it for them and their children so that our names and our histories will always be remembered long after we are gone.

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Are Wii Fit yet? – DAY ONE: Benchmark

Posted by Andrea on March 15, 2009
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Day 1 is always the worst – the realisation of just how unfit you are can be really uncomfortable. I finally took the plunge, took the Wii board out of the box and got myself weighed in (I took my body measurements myself)Wii-fit-20080402033455209_640wWii-fit-20080402033438991_640w

Here are the vitals:

Age: 42

Height: 5′ 7.5″
Weight:  9st 4lbs
Bust: 37″
Waist: 29″ (ouch!)
Hip: 37″

Visible ‘jelly’ – considerable on belly, hips, thighs and uh-hum…bum!

BMI: 20.35 (not bad eh?!)
Centre of gravity reading (COG) :  Left:  49.36%   Right:   50.64%

Wii fit age: 36 (woohoo!)

EXERCISES:
Ski jump – 4 attempts (310m – currently have the family record…love it!)
Slalom – 4 attempts (average)
Putting the balls in holes – 3 attempts (completed all levels on 3rd go – woohoo!)
Tight rope – 1 (completed first time- check me!)
Running – 5 minutes (nearly killed me)
Step Aerobics – 5 minutes (I have no rhythym at all)
Hula Hoops – 3 attempts (I’m so bad at this!)
Yoga (nearly fell over attempting ‘The Tree’)

TOTAL TIME SPENT: 34 minutes
MOOD: Completed knackered – Oh my g*d what have I started!
FOOD: Dinner was a disaster – a chip buttie, soooo unike me!

Oh well, there’s always tomorrow…

Wii Fit Images courtesy of www.IGN.com

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Are Wii fit yet?

Posted by Andrea on March 14, 2009
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We had talked about getting a Wii fit for sometime. Friends had bought one for their kids and had bragged about how much they used it and how good it was and well, we kinda thought we should get one… you know fun for the kids, good for us ( yadda yadda) but nothing appeared at Christmas and I admit I was thankful when the idea seemed to have been dropped.

Then Karl came home on wednesday after taking Greta shopping, ordered me to close me eyes and hold my hands out.

My mind raced…week in Barbados…spa weekend…dinner at Simpsons…I’d have settled for a jar of Ginger Rush from Origins …..but no, it was a Wii Fit! I have to admit I was kinda pleased but also a little gutted  – dinner at Simpsons would have been divine!

We got it out the box and it soon became apparent that the adults weren’t going to get a look in. Greta and Amber were on it staight away and completely hogged it so it wasn’t until yesterday that either Me or Karl finally got anywhere near it.Wii fit

Now,
I’m not a big lady by any stretch of the imagination, in fact I’ve
spent most of my life hovering between an 8 and a 10 (that’s UK not US)
and a friend was seen recently literally jumping up and down after I
showed her my ‘jelly belly’ declaring how happy she was that Andrea had
finally joined the rest of us in the fight against the bulge.  I’ve
always been pretty fortunate too in that I have a fast metabolism, have
a low fat ratio and I get ‘fit’ really quickly once you get me going.

However,
having a baby in my forties, starting my menopause and spending all
day in front of a computer without even having to leave the house has
finally taken it’s toll. Where I could burn calories in my sleep (I am
not kidding here!) I know pile on the pounds. Something was going to
have to change.

So there I was staring at the kids running, jumping, swinging their hips, and laughing their heads off and a little idea struck me. Could this thing really work? Could this game really strengthen my back, tighten my muscles, reduce my waistline and give my heart a good enough work out to really make a difference?

Well, we’re going to find out. I am going to be upfront and honest about my weight, physique, lifestyle and eating habits. I am going to publish my BMI, body measurements, physical activity statistics and a list of what I’ve eaten on a regular basis. I’m also going to detail what I’ve done on the Wii and when I’ve done it.

So, if you’re up for a laugh, subscribe or bookmark me and let’s find out if Wii really can get you fit.

 

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Producing the goods

Posted by Andrea on March 9, 2009
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I have many nephews (5 to be exact) and 1 niece – all of which are Superstars in their own rights AND in their own ways. They are all great characters (it must be the Shill genes…) but every now and again one or even two of them leave me in a state of shock or wonderment at something they have achieved, gained or experienced.

Take Tyla for example. Tyla is NOT your average 14 year old. His appearance strikes you immediately – a skinny kid with a massive afro (frequently seen embedded with an afro comb) and a huge cheeky grin. Yes, he possesses all the usual teenager issues and attitudes BUT this is a kid, for example, that will put himself up to play netball  ’coz the girls dig it’  and not only play, but play well! His speech can drive you to distraction so laden is it with hip-hop slang, Chav speak and lazy english you could mistake this lad for an ignorant, vacuous yob until you spend more than 5 minutes talking to him and realise he’s doing it deliberately to wind you up, get your attention and amuse himself; attention, I may add, you gladly give because he is so amusing.

TylaNow, last year was a bad year for Tyla. Sometimes this cheeky chappy just doesn’t know when to say no or when to put the brakes on his jovial ‘bad-self’. His friendship with several other notorious pupils keen to exploit his need for attention and acceptance coupled with his somewhat challenging attitude towards authority saw him get several suspensions and a near expulsion from school – one more offense and he was out and he had only just started the New Year! Now, this isn’t a bad kid, just an intelligent, bored kid with a real need for attention and recognition – he was just looking for it in the wrong place. His poor mother, along with the rest of us, held her breath ’til the end of the year when the slate would be wiped clean and he could start afresh.

And start afresh he did!

New teachers and a fresh start have seen him adjust his attitude, knuckle down and produce the goods… and oh has he produced the goods. Last Thursday his Mom popped in for her morning cuppa armed with a thick bright orange, dog-eared school book, a big grin and a request from Tyla to ‘show Aunty Andrea’ something special. The book it turns out was his Maths book from this year (September 08 – March 09). At first I was a little bemused but as I slowly turned the pages I realised that I couldn’t see a single cross anywhere in the book.

Not a single WRONG ANSWER in the entire book!

In fact, it was completely full of right answers, merits and ‘good skills marks’. Tons of them!IMG_9846b

I have never seen anything like it! Neither has anyone else I have shown. I was so proud of him and so pleased for his poor Mom whose relief was evident.

A couple of years ago I rewarded his brother financially for producing a straight A’s school report so when I finally got to see the big man himself and commented on his maths book, his answer was simple, cheeky and to the point …

‘More birthday presents for me then Aunty Andrea!”

Yes, Tyla, most definitely more birthday presents for you!

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Time flies… when you’re behind

Posted by Andrea on March 2, 2009
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IMG_9368bWell, we certainly knew Spring was on it’s way this weekend when I awoke on Sunday to blue skies, glorious hazy sunshine and a chorus of birds. It put me in such a fantastic mood I was up and out the house before anyone else had even begun to stir.

My good mood wasn’t to last too long though as after a few minutes driving around it dawned on me that it was the 1st March  – the FIRST OF MARCH! What happened to January and February?
Is it me or does time fly ridiculously fast the older you get?  The first of March already!

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You see, March is an odd month, it comes with the usual promise of endless weeks of rain, that awful realisation as you peel off your wintery sweaters that you ate too much during the colder months and for us, the start of the silly season. Yes, I said the ‘silly season’ – it’s when the birthday’s start.
Months of them
weeks of them
one
after another
after another
after another
until the end of September.
Have I made a single card yet – uh, no! Have I bought a single present yet, uh – another no. Have I even consulted my BBB (birthday book bible) to check who is first? Uh, that’ll be another no. All my good intentions of ‘getting ahead’ and being organised this year have already disappeared and I’m only 9 weeks into the year.  Where does the time go?

This thought ruined my good mood. (Nothing that a large slice of carrot cake and a double latte couldn’t fix though – now, where’s that sweater?)

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Pride and prejudice

Posted by Andrea on February 23, 2009
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As parents we are guilty of believing in great things from our kids – if they show the slightest glimmer of talent for anything we instantly allow ourselves the daydream of great success, prominence and fortune. Writing name for first time

My youngest DD has been showing signs of being quite the little superstar. At the tender age of 3, she has an incredible memory, can learn and recall songs effortlessly, add small numbers together and today, to my surprise and elation, she wrote her name – unprompted and from memory. The piece of paper I held in my hand clearly showed her name. Apparently they had been practicing their letters in nursery today and when they had all finished and were packing away, she had sat quietly on her own and drawn the 5 letters that make up her name. Her pride was so evident (as I am sure mine was to the staff who beamed back at me, triumphant in their teaching).

I know I am prejudiced (surely I am allowed this small foible) but the fact remains we could have a little brain box on our hands. There is also the small matter of her interest in all things medical resulting in her recent announcement “I’m going to be a doctor Mummy’ – at which point in a split second I envisaged Oxbridge, graduation, gowns, hats, medical school, hospitals and er…George Clooney as Dr Ross in ER…

uh-hum…. no pressure then!

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