My Toilet Brush Blender

John has decided that he wants to get more than 5 a day into his diet. He’s been saying it for a while but now that January is upon us, the motivation levels are still high. It can be hard to fit it in when you’re busy running around town. John doesn’t eat fruit at the best of times, other than bananas really. Not that he doesn’t like it, I think it is just an effort for him to remember to get it in. But every time we go to a shopping centre, he loves going for a smoothie, especially ones with peanut and muesli in them. An obvious solution then was that the best way to pack as much fruit and veg in is to make smoothies.

Problem- we are a bit low on cash at the moment and don’t want to fork out for a blender, so we decided to make our own homemade one. Off to Morrissons we went in search of fruit, veg, yoghurt, juice, muesli and something tall to blitz them in (we already have an Asda hand blender £4.79). Morrissons is the closest supermarket to us but it is a bit anemic in the kitchenware aisle. We couldn’t find anything there, when lo and behold, I got the brainwave to look in the bathroom section. Yes ladies, I managed to use my baby brain to find a toilet brush and holder that would make the perfect size receptacle for making smoothies in (minus the brush).

We picked up several boxes of frozen fruit as well as fresh fruit. It’s much cheaper and it is great for Esmé too. Just a handful, de-frosted for a few seconds in the microwave is a great addition to her morning porridge. It’s also handy when we are down to bare cupboard day and have no fresh fruit in the house. Frozen fruit and veg is much cheaper than fresh and is of them same if not better nutritional value, as it is frozen within hours of harnessing. Also for those of you still breastfeeding, it’s a great way to down those additional vitamins and minerals as the baby pinches a fair amount of your own. Okay Home Economics lesson over.

Off home we trotted with our spoils. The toilet brush holder is the perfect height to make smoothies, without a single drop of splash back and all for the princely sum of £3!  And the brush, well we threw that under the stairs; I’m sure it will come in handy at some point. Ever since, John’s been like a giddy scientist experimenting with all sorts of homemade smoothies. He’s even blending in veg with fruit while retaining the sweetness. We both feel a lot healthier and have more energy. And there you have it- £7.79, a blender on a budget.

A tip for you- always drink smoothies through a straw to avoid the acids in the fruit staining your sparklers!

Why Mums Love Salt's Mill

I recently had a lunch date with a group of local mums to Salt’s Mill in Saltaire. For those of you unfamiliar with this venue, it’s a beautifully restored, 4-storey mill which houses a large collection of the artist David Hockney’s work, as well as an excellent children’s and adults’ bookstore, designer kitchen ware store, a bespoke jewellers, a diner, a café, an outdoor clothing range and an antique dealers. Retail heaven. Enough said.

Esmé saw her first Hockney there at the tender age of 1 week old as John and I raced around frantically trying to find Christmas presents. Madness I know, but having been put on limited mobility in the last 2 months of gestation (and moving house!), I had left myself 2 shopping days to buy the majority of our Christmas presents. And the one place I knew I would not find endless swarms of  eleventh-hour men frantically rugby tackling their way to the nearest shelves, was Salt’s Mill.

The mill is one of my favourite ‘Me Places’ in Bradford. The calm instantly descends when I walk in, and the first thing to hit my senses is the smell of the freshly cut lilies arranged in over-sized vases throughout each level. After wakeful hours on end at home with a newborn looking at the same walls, the sense of light and space is like a wheatgrass shot for the soul.

But the main reason I am recommending the Mill as a mum favourite, apart from the stationery porn (don’t get me started!), is the space. We arrived at the Salt’s Mill Diner with 5 prams and parked them all up around one of the round tables without having to “Sorry”, “Excuse me”, “Do you mind if I get past” our way through. Not only that but they must have at least 20 high chairs, Oxo highchairs no less- must have cost them a tidy sum, and we managed to pull 3 of those around us too. I cannot think of another coffee shop I have been to in and around Bradford that can so easily facilitate such a large group of mums.

There is also ample free parking to the rear of the Mill with a few hundred metres walk to the side entrance with pram access, which is currently being renovated to improve accessibility.

On the down side, the baby changing facilities are at the other end of the level, and Esmé managed to need 3 nappy changes in the 2 hours we were there! However, it didn’t bother me too much as it gave me the excuse to peruse the poetry section on my way there and back. I just had to remind myself I had come with friends.

(Don’t forget to treat yourself to the chocolate milk shake made only from ice cream and milk. One reason alone to make it worth the drive.)

www.saltsmill.org.uk

A Bit About Me

I’m writing this blog to connect with new mums like you. Mums who lie awake at night, our smart phones under the duvet, Googling our way through all the baffling idiosyncrasies of babyhood. Amongst all the how-many-weeks-is-he/she-nows out there inspecting you up and down, there is also thankfully a huge amount of mutual support, advice and encouragement. I’m here to add my constructive drop to the ocean. 

My name is Natalie Rees, I’m in my early 30s and over the past 6 short years (the older you get, the quicker they fly), I have come to call Bradford my home. Originally from a small town in Tipperary, Ireland, I moved to Bradford on a career break in 2006 to study and to do community outreach work. But in the words of Robert Frost: ‘Knowing how way leads on to way…’ I never made it back. Before the switch to copywriting, I had been working as a primary teacher up to that time and had just been promoted to Deputy head at the age of 25. It was a huge accomplishment for someone of my age. But having survived a house fire, which destroyed all of my earthly possessions, it really made me re-evaluate my outlook on life and what I wanted to do with it. I saw it as a way of existence ridding me of all the ‘stuff’ I had acquired, physically and emotionally, without having to cough up a 10 week smartly sum to my nearest New Age centre. I left the comfort and security of the known, packed my 15kg Ryanair baggage allowance and set off for Bradford. 

In 2009, I graduated from the University of Manchester with a Masters in Creative Writing in hand, married one of the reasons I planted my feet in Bradford, John, and our beautiful daughter Esmé was born on a snowy night in December 2011. I love to read, but I am admittedly a bit of a book snob. I generally stick to Faber and Penguin for my staple diet. You will often find me at Yorkshire poetry readings, bringing the average age and hair colour down by about 20 years. I also love walking in the countryside and forests and my latest addition to my ‘mild exercise’ regime has been a turquoise mountain bike (it was donated).  Three years’ ago I picked up the violin again, having learnt it for a year or two in my teens, with a goal to get to Grade 5. I proudly reached this tickable target last year. I think my skills will cap there. The theory gets too mathematical for my brain beyond that. Plus, my music producer husband says my sense of rhythm isn’t precise enough to take it further. But he is happy to spend many an evening tinkering around with folk songs on his guitar with me and I am happy enough with that.

Along with continuing to teach in primary schools across Bradford, I also became a freelance copywriter and steadily built up my client base over the past number of years. On maternity leave, I've decided that this is where I want to solely place my energies (it's been a long time coming), and I now work as a freelancer.

So that's the tip of the iceberg for now. Enjoy the blog!