Retro Cosco high chair refurb #2...

 

Do you remember my first high chair refurb?  If not, click here.  It was a garage sale find that OnlyDaughter grabbed for me a few years ago, back when we were getting several grandbabies who could use high chairs.  I needed one for my house when the littles came to visit.

I just got another high chair to do a couple weeks ago.  I kinda like these projects.  JJo bought this high chair from Salvation Army Thrift Store for $2.  This one is a fold-up style, not nearly as heavy and sturdy as my first high chair project.  The seat and back of this one were covered in a black plastic table cloth.  I tossed the covering back on the seat so you could see how really UGLY it was.  I tore the chair down and stripped off the foam, but I could not remove the legs because they were riveted on.  That meant I had to tape everything before I painted the metal seat.  I repainted the chair back and tray too.  First I had to sand and strip the rust from the chair's seat and back.  The chrome legs and arms were in pretty good shape, but I used Bar Keeper's Friend on a damp rag to remove any rust or dirty spots.  I was thrilled at how well it removed rust and cleaned it up.  I used Bar Keeper's Friend on the rusty metal seat after I sanded it, and it worked very well on that too.  Good stuff!


For painting I used Rustoleum enamel metal primer and white enamel spray paints.  I finished the metal parts off with two coats of clear enamel spray paint to preserve the paint underneath.

I ordered Marine Vinyl from Amazon for just $11 per yard (including shipping).  This is the stuff you want if you ever want to replace vinyl seats on retro-style furniture or chairs like this.  I found that heating it with a blow dryer or heating it in the hot sun, gave it a nice smooth finish while applying it.  One thing I learned with this project since I didn't have anything to staple the vinyl to is to use Loctite Permanent Spray Adhesive (professional).  This was a life saver for me.  Since I knew the original high chair didn't probably have any cushy foam on the seat and back, I decided to use foam board.  I traced the seat and back onto the foam board, cut it, checked it, then used a lightweight quilt batting to put on the top of the foam board.  Then I laid my chunk of vinyl on top of that, flipped it over, and used the spray adhesive to glue the edges down on the backside.  It took plenty of fiddling and readjusting to get it just right, but it was SO much easier than using E6000 which I tried first.  I discovered you need the quick drying time of the spray adhesive to make this trick work!  Since there was nothing to attach the seat to, I used the same permanent spray adhesive to glue it down to the metal.  I stacked a bunch of encyclopedias on top of it while it dried so I was assured of good contact.  And it worked.

So, there you have it!  Number 2 High Chair Refurb!

Recycled denim skirt...

  

I made a skirt!

I snatched a pair of Bee's jeans that had huge holes in the knees.

I chopped off the jeans just above the knees and

used the good part of the legs to made the insert

in the back and front.

Here's a good tutorial how to do that.

I really liked the simple A-line skirt that she made in the tutorial,

but I knew Bee would like ruffles more.

I found some cute ruffle skirts here and here!

 I ended up hemming this and putting two rows of ruffles

right over the top of it, overlapping one row over the other.

It worked like a dream.

I added a matching fabric belt.

This was so fun that I want to go on a holey jeans snatching mission!

I think all of my grandgirls would enjoy one!

Today I've been finishing up another project.

I'll show you soon!

Corn!

Sweet Corn is ripe and being picked daily at one of the the local farms near our HomeTown.  This is the best sweet corn -- tender, white and yellow corn that is juicy and sweet as can be!  The farmers have a roadside stand where they sell it out of the back of a pick-up truck by the dozen.  Today JJo went to town and called to say that they were still selling corn and how many dozen ears did we want for freezing?  JLynn wanted 7 dozen and JJo and I each wanted 4 dozen. 

I went about shucking the corn outside in the sunshine, and then moved my work indoors.  I use my German grandma's recipe where I cut all the raw corn off the cob first and then boil it with salt, a little sugar and water.  I cool it and then measure it into freezer bags.  It's so simple!  And it's so wonderful to enjoy the taste of delicious, fresh sweet corn when winter rolls around.  I sacked up 29 cups of corn today into 2 cup and 3 cup bags.  There's still time to freeze more corn and still time to eat more corn-on-the-cob until it runs out! 

On another note, I'm happy to report that I'm now getting 6 pullet eggs as of today!  They're kicking it in gear!!  Yay for new laying hens!  They also enjoyed nibbling on the discarded cobs today.

35 Years....

We're celebrating!
(Thank you God)

35 years married.

Best friends and lovers.
You Take Me The Way I Am.
...............................
 

We went for a Canyon Drive,

ate at our favorite place, 

and went to the movie, Ben-Hur.

You should go see Ben-Hur.

Canning peaches...

It's that time of year again when the Colorado Peaches show up in big trucks.  OnlyDaughter, JLynn, and I bought a case each of beautiful peaches.  We eat as many fresh as possible, make pie, and the rest we can for the winter months.  Today was the day that we decided the peaches were soft enough to process and preserve.  The girls came to my house for the canning bee.  We got all our stuff organized:  Ball Blue Book (1987 version), clean jars, rings, lids, hot water, wash tubs, sugar, pots and pressure canner, magnetic lid grabber, jar funnel, chopstick (for removing air bubbles) and knives. Between the three of us ladies along with eight children scampering here and there, we got the job accomplished.  Three cases of peaches and 26 quart jars later, we were done!  With time to go outside and play!

To quote my dear mother-in-law, 

"Many hands make light work,"  

And a good day was had by all.

Amen.

The first pullet egg is laid!

 I don't know who did it.

It could be this lovely pullet hen...

 ...or one of these white beauties.

One thing is sure, it was a perfect, tiny, white egg 

that could only be laid by a Pearl White Leghorn.

All the other hens are either brown or green egg layers.

My dear mother-in-law used to ONLY ever buy Pearl White Leghorn chicks.  She knew their reliability and egg-laying efficiency.   I think she was very frustrated with me when I brought home brown egg-laying chicks after she retired from taking care of the chickens.  I remember one time in particular when I asked her to gather the eggs for me while I was gone, and do you know what she did?  She brought in only the white eggs and left all the brown eggs in the nests.

Isn't that hilarious?

It is noted on the Murray McMurray Hatchery website that the Pearl White Leghorn is hands-down the best egg layer.  They start laying earlier than other breeds -- around 4 to 4.5 months of age -- and they lay eggs longer than the other breeds do.  My mother-in-law knew that they were high-powered egg layers and that they performed well in harsh, cold climates as well as hot climates which is what we have here in The Land of Extremes. They also eat less feed than heavier breeds which makes the feed to egg ratio a little more economical.  I'm excited to have the Leghorns back in production this year and the evidence of their productivity is already showing itself since our first egg came at about  4 months of age!

Last year I bought several different varieties of hens:  Buff Orpington, Barred Rock, Rhode Island Red, and White Rocks.  I had a American Auracana left over from the year before.  I have to say that this year was our worst year ever for egg production.  It seemed that they were poor, erratic layers.  For a few weeks we would get lots of eggs and then the next week we'd get half that amount.  It's  very frustrating when you are trying to feed three and sometimes four families with the eggs!  This year I have 22 Pearl White Leghorns and I anticipate 22 eggs per day when they all start laying which should be very soon!  

Have you ever noticed when buying "organic" or "free-range" eggs that they are always brown?  It is a misconception that the "healthier" eggs are always brown.  My white eggs will be every bit as "country fresh" and "free-range" as any other egg that has ever been produced here. 

Do you eat free-range eggs or farm-raised eggs?  What do you think of the comparison between eating a farm-raised egg verses a factory-raised egg?

One more thing to share and then I'll let you go.  Last week I learned about the best way to  hard-boil farm fresh eggs.  First off, I have never been able to make pretty deviled eggs using my home-raised eggs.  My wise mother-in-law always said to let them age a week or more before hard-boiling them for an easier peel. Well, who has a week to wait for that?  So I did a little looking around on Pinterest for a method to make the best hard-boiled egg with ease-of-peeling qualities.  And the verdict I came to was to steam the eggs.  Here's the link from Fresh Eggs Daily.  It worked for me beautifully!  I hope you'll give it a try, particularly if you use very fresh eggs.  OK, that's it.  May your eggs be perfectly cooked, however you like them!  By the way, how do you like your eggs?