Lemon Meringue Pie!

My dad makes THE best lemon meringue pies.  They are very tart and sweet.  And he grows his own lemons!

Well this weekend he brought a bounty of lemons (and oranges and grapefruit) to my house and then said, "Hey want to make some lemon pies?"

Sure I want you to make some lemon pies.  ;)

So he did.  And I happened to think--what a great scrapbook page this would make.  SO I quick grabbed my camera and starting snapping pictures. (Scrapbook page is not done, but I wanted to share the photos...)

I have to say.  Mirielle followed us around all afternoon begging us to 'please can we make the lemon pies now?!!'

'Please can we make the pies now??'

So we finally started and first comes the crust.  I took lots of pictures.  Mostly because I just wanted pictures of my dad's hands.  :)

Okay and now came the FUN part.  Squeezing the lemon juice.  Mirielle was in heaven!  Dad said to her "push on that lemon like you own it."  And she gritted her teeth with a huge smile on her face and said "I do own it!"   I laughed so hard!

Delaney got in on the action too!

Then we baked the crusts.

Then there was some mixing, whipping, cooking, stirring, and baking again and then next thing I know....

Sorry there was a LOT going on and I lapsed on the picture taking.  :)  If someone wants the recipe you can ask for it in the comments and I'll post it.

Hope you all are having a good week!
Meredith

Crazy Nails!

Here's a new mani that I only wore for a little bit.  It started out all "cool let's call this one firecracker nails" and ended kinda "looks like a slammed a hammer on my nails."

You're kinda anxious to see them now, aren't ya?

I was going for the reverse of glitter on the tips.  And I was going to do one nail, but then I thought it looked so neat I did all of them.  Then I wore it for a few hours and every time I caught sight of my nail I did a double take.  They looked a little too Halloween.

Here's the formula:  one coat Orly 'Spark', one coat Princessa 'Picking On Waikiki', accent with Sally Hansen 'Rockstar Pink'.

See ya later,
Meredith

Suess!

I have already shared how much I absolutely heart ::whimisical ideas by pam:: polish.  It is so lovely.  And has a wonderful formula and great staying power.

Today I am wearing Suess, which is the first of her polishes that I saw on the web.  Oh and now I own five of them and have a list for four more that I want.  It is possible to get your hands on these.  Simply email her (directions are on her FB page linked above) and in a bit you will be opening them up!!  It took about two weeks to get mine from the time I sent my email.  Not to bad for handmade polishes.


Anyway here's the polish--

And as usual I have to apologize for my sad little cuticles and sad little photo taking skills.

Until next time,
Meredith

Convention Re-cap {part one}

Chantilly Ballroom, Saturday

Well I am back at home!  What a whirlwind adventure!  I have to say that I really enjoyed getting to meet so many people so intent on sharing CTMH with friends!

And seeing all the exciting new products was not too shabby either.  ;)  For this post I wanted to focus on the people and the place.  First, the people.

Here's a picture of me, my upline Lisa Stenz and my new friend Susan.

Susan, Me, Lisa (L-R)

I have to say these women were just so sweet!  Lisa is a real jewel and I am so thankful to have her as an upline.  And Susan is just as wonderful.  As newbies, we helped each other find our way around and keep each other company.  We also are keeping in touch so we can bounce ideas off each other.

The following picture was taken at the Awards Banquet on Friday night.  Lisa received awards and was also appointed to the 2012 Advisory Board.  A great big Woo-Hoo to her!!

Paige, Me, Noelle, Christine, Vanessa, Lisa, Lisa, and Susan (L-R)

Now for some pictures around the hotel.  It had an Asian theme.  And I couldn't help but feel like a tourist in a museum carrying my camera around and snapping pictures of the artwork.  Here's some shots I got....

little heads that I first thought were bugs

figurines carved in what looked like 'pink' jade

the amoeba...it changed colors and shape, hung from the top of the atrium

giant elephant!

angry art 

kind of haunting

really haunting

good to know the hotel doesn't support mao

in the garden

a huge statue

Next time I'll post about some new products!
Meredith

Melted Plastic

Who knew melting beads could be so fun?

Well if you've been on Pinterest you have probably seen those melted plastic pony bead creations.  Here's the LINK to the one I looked at.  Scroll down the page to see a picture.  I read the comments and decided to try this with the kids.  Seemed like something they could all do.

And I may or may not have stepped on a pony bead and decided then and there that melting the little sucker into oblivion seemed like a good idea!

I chose to use mini disposable heart and star tins.  Each kiddo and my mom and I got a set to fill.  You are supposed to do a single layer of beads.  At least that's my understanding.  We have two gallon plastic bags of these beads....so, no, we didn't use them all up.

Next you just pop them in the oven for 20 minutes at 400 degrees.  That's it.

The little tins are really thin, so we tore them off of the plastic.  But if you were using a real pie pan or muffin tin they would just pop out.  They didn't stick at all to our tins--just where the foil of the tin got tucked into a melted bead.

Look how pretty the glitter beads turned out...

{And should you be wondering about that matching fingernail polish, it's Turquoise and Caicos by Essie}

And if you hold it up to the light it's very neat.

This really is a fun craft that even little kids can do.

And put a smile on everyone's face.

I am now thinking of all the possibilities.  I would love to do a beach themed Christmas tree this year, and I think using the greens and blues to make ornaments would be so adorable!  Or use some larger ones to help cover the window in the kid's bathroom.  It's a small window at the very top of the room, so I haven't decorated it yet.

I highly recommend this craft.  I didn't even find it that stinky.  It we had our vent hood installed it would have been even less so.  :)

See Ya Later Alligator!
Meredith

Waffles for Dinner!

One of my favorite dinners is breakfast.  And my most favorite is homemade waffles...and if I happen to have homemade deer sausage to go with it....yum!

The other night we did just that.

Here's my waffle recipe (taken from a very old cookbook):

Everyday Waffles


1 3/4 c sifted all-purpose flour
3 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
2 egg yolks, beaten
1 3/4 c milk
1/2 c salad oil or melted shortening
2 egg whites, stiffly beaten


Sift together dry ingredients.  Combine yolks, milk and oil; stir into dry ingredients.  Fold in egg whites, leaving a few fluffs.  Bake.  (in my iron, a 1/2 cup batter fills each side perfectly)




This last time I made these I added a dash of vanilla (about 1/2 t per doubled recipe) and it made them taste divine!!  Here's a picture of the batter with the fluffs....

And here's what the iron looks like -- ready to bake.

They really aren't that hard to make and well worth the effort!

See you soon-
Meredith

Something Pretty

I just can't seem to find the time to scrapbook, but I thought I'd pop in here to leave a picture of something pretty.  My husband brought these home to me the other day.  And they are still brightening my kitchen.  Enjoy!

Enlarge the photo and take a whiff!  ;)
Meredith