The difference between 1 and 2

This is Jacob's friend Maddy. She just turned 2 and is the recipient of the little tote bag I made in a previous post. It's amazing to me how much children develop between 1 and 2. Maddy walks, talks, screams and can feed herself a cupcake. Jacob can sit up, babble and smile at people he loves. She even looks about twice his size.

6 quirks

The Rules:
You must post the rules, list 6 random quirks about yourself, then "tag" 6 bloggers who will then list their quirks. (I've never done one of these, but it sounds fun)

1. I was a recycler before it was hip to do it. I used to be embarrassed of my can collecting dad, but I've sort of become him. I have relaxed a bit since Jacob was born, but I'll still pick up a water bottle if I see it.

2. I like to drive older Toyota Corollas. My very first car was an '83 Corolla, and now I have a '91 Corolla wagon. They also both had to be stick shift.

3. I've never dyed or permed my hair, and don't wear deodorant.

4. I'm pretty crazy about going to estate sales. I love seeing other people's junk and trying to think of a new use for it.

5. I love to read, but I find that if I am not reading a book from the library I have a hard time finishing it. If I get a book from the library, I'll finish it by the due date and get it back.

6. I'm thrifty to a fault. I have to clip coupons, I actually use gift cards, I look for deals online and on craigslist all the time. It's almost a game to see what kind of deals I can get.

Blogs I am tagging...I don't think I even know 6 people to tag, but I'll try to find a few.
Sarah, Flo, Carolyn, Tami, Becky, Jen,

Refuge House quilt 1

We have a quilter in our midst, and she has inspired a group of girls from church to dust off our sewing machines, or get them out for the first time in order to produce some quilts to cover the beds of the girls at Refuge House. The picture on the far right is what the finished quilt could look like. Our church has recently decided to start and maintain a home for girls who have been rescued from the sex trafficking industry in the the Philippines. If you want to know more about this particular ministry, you can find out more here.

The goal for our quilt project is to produce enough quilts to cover each bed in the house. Here is the first square of our first quilt. Even after our first night of quilting together, we were amazed by how well women can work together and how it is possible for people of all levels of sewing ability to find a way to contribute in the quilting process. Here's to bringing back quilting bees!

Jacob and Mugsy

We get a lot of comments about how big Mugsy is. He does look pretty big when he and Jacob are together. Jacob's last measurement was 29". He's a growing boy. He and Mugsy get along well. At first, Mugsy was kind of jealous of the new baby, and he even tried to climb into my lap while I was nursing Jacob. Sometimes he still tries, but they are getting to be pretty good friends. Mugsy doesn't scratch or bite Jacob, and he even permits Jacob to pull his tail or ears for a while before moving to another location.

On another more frustrating note. I have been trying to get the cloth diaper thing going for a while. I finally got my Charlie's laundry soap, and prewashed all of his diapers. I also did a few loads of our own clothes in the process. Recently I have noticed that Jacob has been breaking out into a rash, and it has only been when he's wearing newly washed clothes. I think that he is having a reaction to the new laundry soap. After talking to a few people, I have found out that some babies who have really sensitive skin will break out into a rash when they change laundry detergents, even when both are hypo-allergenic. I had never heard of this happening before, but I'm wondering if anyone has advice about what I can do. I can try washing his diapers in his 7th Generation that we were using before, but I'm afraid that they won't get as clean when I have to wash dirty diapers using that detergent. Ahhhh!!!!! I was almost ready to go.

Happy un-Birthday

I'm so sad that these shoes don't fit. They were my birthday present, but I got them on eBay, and wasn't sure if I should get this size or the larger size. Well, I picked the wrong size and these beauties are not worth the pain they inflict on my toes. So, back up for auction they go. At least I can remember them on my blog, and look back and see the cute shoes that I almost had.

Small tote

This is a reversable tote that I made for a little girl we know. It's loosely based on the BTRS tote bag. All of the material is from estate sales, or second hand, and the handles were tied around a pottery barn bedspread that we got a few years ago.

It's garden time!

Here is our garden finally back in shape. There are a few remnants from last year, the herbs and eggplant. A rose bush that we thought we got rid of suddenly popped up out of nowhere. The lime tree is finally making its presence known.

Here is our great compost bin. It's all Nate's doing. In fact, the garden is mostly Nate's doing. He had the big plans and put them together. We have tons of great compost for the garden.