I can’t believe I’m finally doing this. I’ve threatened to do it before. I’ve asked advice about doing this before. But, this time I’m doing it for real.

I’m shutting Georgia Mom down.

I won’t say I’ll never blog again, but for now I just don’t have it in me to keep this going. It seems real life has taken over and my "blog life” has been weeded out of daily/weekly/monthly routine.

Thanks to the few readers that have kept up with me over the years and been such an encouragement. This really was a lot of fun.

But, I’m off the join the ranks to living and leave this artificial world behind.  So, no need to check back in, refresh my homepage or keep me in your favorite’s list. I just won’t be there.

Could I be anymore melodramatic?

Why, yes I could :o)

So, if you know me in real life you’re just going to have to pick up the phone to call to see what’s going on in my life. And please do. I’d love to chat.

I’ll leave you with this….

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Philippians 4:8

Blessings,

Georgia Mom

I just got back this afternoon from the Beloved Women’s Retreat. Honestly, there is just too much to even begin to share in one post. Not to mention, I’ve got that Mack Truck Hit Me kind of feeling going on, so I’ll just cover the highlights (until I can get the red out of my eyes and see clearly again).

Here are the girls all decked out for the Red Carpet event Saturday night. All the women really enjoyed getting all dolled up. I even enjoyed putting on something fancy!

 

 

Here’s my list of great moments from the retreat…

1 – Having my hubby there (he helped run the sound). What a treat for him to be the preverbal fly on a wall at a women’s retreat.   I loved being able to go back to our room and share in all the fun and memories with him.

2 – Stephanie’s testimony Friday night and the look on the faces of everyone when they realized that the “Sunday School teacher” that had made such a profound impact on her life was our very own Denise (the dark haired beauty in the above photo).

3 – Amy (the red head in the aforementioned photo) going through different women of the Bible and sharing the influence that had. From the bad influencers to the good. There’s no doubt that women have the power of influence! They have it now and have had it from the beginning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

4 – All the Myrtle videos. My land, that was some funny stuff! When they post them online, I’ll point you in that direction. If you remember to put on your Depends, it will be well worth your time watching.

5 – I actually choreographed a dance number.  Well, not really but I got everyone to dance the same thing at the same time, so that’s kind of like choreography. Again, there’s video some where. I’ll point you there when it’s up.

6 – Victoria Teague’s story of her cousins daughter and her dog that went to Heaven. I’m going to get Victoria to publish that story and I’ll post it here. I’m not even a dog lover and I was crying like a baby.

7 – Watching the ladies from Vidalia imitate Kim, Amy and Denise. One of the girls said “big girls should only do ruffles when they are in a bag, with a foot long and a Diet Coke.” Hysterical!!

8 – Getting to meet and spend some time with my blogging idols BooMama. She was just as sweet, clever and funny in person as she is in her blog. What a treat to meet her!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

9 – Having the privilege, honor and blessing to serve with these fine Godly women.

The 2010 Beloved Leadership Team – Me, Sandi, Amy, Kim, Denise, Angela, Aimee and Amanda

 

 

 

 

10 – Color coordinating my outfits with these fine women all weekend.

11 – Watching an amazing artist paint this while Beloved sang “At the Foot of the Cross.”

 

Brian Keith is the artist and it was so powerful to watch this him work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

13 – The photo booth on Saturday night. I kept dragging everyone into that thing to get my picture made with them. What a fun idea!

14 – Spending the weekend, laughing, praising, learning, serving, singing, sharing, fellowshipping, laughing some more, and growing with some of the best women around. What a blessing!

Check back later for videos, when they become available.

Okay, even though I left my favorite pillow, that took me months to find, at the hotel, the bed is still calling my name. Tomorrow I go back to being a lowly homeschool Mom with 2 of the bed kids ever created. But, for tonight I’ll sit on this mountain top for a little longer and enjoy the view.

Blessings,

Lara

My friends were complaining to me last night that I never update my blog anymore. Now, keep in mind these friends know how busy I am. But, more importantly they were tired of seeing “Stupid, Stupid Girl” every time they pull up my blog. So, I’m taking care of that today.

I’m still ubber busy and have no time to update my blog, but at least when they click on my blog they will see a friendly message.

Tomorrow is my last day of teaching, so I suspect I’ll be back online soon.

Lara

Let me start of by saying that my feet are freezing. Now, I could get up and walk to the other room for a pair of socks, but that will disrupt my train of thought.

Onto more important things…

I’m writing this post while my family enjoys the dinner I prepared. I’ve stopped eating dinner. Well, not just dinner, but I’m trying to just eat one meal a day. Hoping to keep my calories around 1,000 a day. If I were really transparent, I’m really just focused on getting through the day.

I started this the week of Thanksgiving and haven’t missed a day since. I finally found a protein drink my sensitive stomach can handle. These are my new best friend…

I really enjoy the taste, they are all natural (I can actually read the ingredients), they fill me up and most importantly they don’t put fake fiber in them so my stomach and process them.

They are 200 calories and 2.5 grams of fat….

 

I started this post a few months ago. I didn’t finish it (which is typical. I have about 10 posts that I started, but didn’t finish. They are all saved as drafts just waiting to be resurrected).

But, now I go back and read this unfinished post and think to myself “You stupid, stupid girl”. How could I think that skipping meals and not eating was going to cause you to lose weight?

I’ve been on a weight loss journey most of my life, but seriously for the past 3.5 years. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about it. Food consumes my life, but in the past 3 years it’s been “How little food can I eat so my body will finally start loosing weight.”  I was convinced my body was broken.

I know, I’ll say it myself “Stupid, stupid girl”.

So, over Christmas I had several friends (out of the blue, I might add) call and ask me to be their weight loss buddy. Most of them wanted me to join a specific plan with them. I didn’t want to join a specific plan. I had been eating 12-1,300 calories a day for months and I doubted any weight loss plan could help me. So, I turned them all down.

Then I had another friend call me. There was something different about this call. She didn’t want me to join a plan, she just wanted someone to hold her accountable and someone that would pray for her. This was an offer I could get excited about.

So, on January 2nd we got down to business. We started checking in with each other every day. We ask three questions… Did you have your Quiet Time with the Lord, how was your eating and did you exercise?

I got really strict on my 1,200 calories a day, I was writing everything down, having some great time with the Lord and finding a little bit of time to exercise.

She was doing the same, but she took a different approach to eating. She started the Sonoma Diet. It’s a low carb, lean meat and veggie kind of diet.

After 10 days she had lost ten lbs and I had gained one!

I almost threw in the towel. I was so discouraged!!! How could I be this disciplined about eating and still gain a pound!! But, my sweet friend kept encouraging me and finally one day something clicked - I’m going about this the wrong way.

Over the years I’ve had friends, lovingly tell me that I needed to do more than count calories, that I needed to lower my carbs. But, I went about my merry Lean-Cuisine-carb-lovin’ ways and didn’t consider that as an option.

I know… once again “Stupid, stupid girl!’”

Finally, it got through my thick skull that after 3 years of cutting calories, that that was not going to work. So, as an experiment I started eating more actual food and less processed foods. But I lowered my carbs to 30 grams a day and due to my stomach issues I decided to cut out all sugar and dairy as well.

To my amazement, 13 days later I’m down 10 lbs!!!  And my stomach issues have all but gone away!

I had the discipline and the commitment, but I was going about this from the wrong direction.

I guess having someone praying for me everyday really did help! It helped me see the light and get passed my stupid calorie counting ways!

Another friend of mine also jumped on the weight loss bandwagon and all 3 of us are down anywhere from 10-15 lbs in the first few weeks of the year.

Yipee!!!

I know this is just the beginning. I have much work to do, but I’m invigorated by my recent success and I’m charging forward, leaving the counting calories and carbs behind!

I’ll keep you posted on my progress. But, prayer works, so if you think about it, say a prayer for me!

Oh yeah… does anyone want a few packages of Mix 1 protein drinks? They are just sitting in my pantry going to waste.

Blessings,

Lara

I’ve always considered myself an average cook. I’m not a lover of cooking and I’m even less fond of cleaning up after myself.  My husband says when I get done cooking, it’s like the rapture happened while I was cooking dinner.  I’m just not one for cleaning as I go.

But, one of my New Year’s Resolutions was to cook more. This is a big deal coming from a person who has lived off of Lean Cuisine’s for 3 years.  But, I had stalled in my weight loss efforts, so I needed to try something new. Now, I’m focusing on eating actual food, but less carbs.

So in my quest for higher cuisine, a friend of mine told me about an excellent website and I’ve been addicted ever since!

It’s called Plan to Eat. You enter your recipes and then you just click and drag your recipes to a calendar and then it comes up with a shopping list. I truly can not do it justice in my description. Just go check it out for yourself. You can do a 30 free trail (and they didn’t even ask for a credit card) and after that it’s only 37.00 per year. Well worth the money!

www.plantoeat.com

So tonight I actually ventured out and cooked something new. And I even went as far as to take pictures.

The recipe is Chicken Satay with a Spicy Peanut Sauce.

It was easy to make and very delicious!

I began with the marinade. If you look to the left you’ll see fish sauce. I actually bought fish sauce. I had only heard of it and wasn’t really sure what to think, but it was yummy!

This is a healthy low carb meal, that’s low in salt too.

Notice I got my chicken on sale. Publix had chicken breast for 3.99 a lb. I personally like to pay less than that, but a sale is a sale.

 

 

 

Another item I’ve never bought… Coconut Milk. I felt very exotic and well traveled as I shopped Publix. I felt sure people thought of me as some kind of culinary genius with these items in my cart.  I just know that’s what they were thinking.

 

 

 

 

So I marinated the chicken for about 2 hours, then heated up my good old faithful friend “George”. George and I go way back. We have developed a love for one another over the years and he’s been good to me.

He is and always has been a “lean mean, grilling machine”.

I grilled the chicken for 5 min. and it was perfectly cooked.

I love me some George!

 

 

 

 

I turned these little Satay’s into lettuce wraps. I took a piece of Bibb lettuce, added some shredded carrots, some Asian Slaw (it was a mix I got in the produce department. I haven’t gone completely mad!! I still embrace the 70% store bought idea that Sandra Lee pushes). And then drizzled a little of the peanut sauce on top. It actually turned out quite delicious and I’m sure I’ll make it  again!

 

Doesn’t that look really good????

It was really good.

The recipe is below.

You can thank me later after you’ve tried it.

 

Chicken Satay with Spicy Peanut Sauce

Ingredients

        3 tablespoons lime juice

• 3 tablespoons canola oil
• 2 teaspoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons fish sauce (see Ingredient note)
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 1 pound chicken tenders
• Spicy Peanut Sauce (recipe follows)

 

Directions

To marinate chicken: Whisk lime juice, oil, soy sauce, fish sauce and crushed red pepper in a shallow baking dish until combined; add chicken and turn to coat. Let marinate in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.

Preheat grill to high.

To grill chicken and serve: Thread each chicken tender onto a wooden skewer (see Tip). Grill the chicken skewers until cooked through and no longer pink in the middle, about 3 minutes per side. Serve warm or chilled with Spicy Peanut Sauce for dipping.

To prevent wooden skewers from burning on the grill, wrap the exposed portion in foil before grilling. (Contrary to popular wisdom, soaking them in water doesn’t prevent them from burning.)Ingredient note: Fish sauce is a pungent Southeast Asian sauce made from salted, fermented fish. You can find it in the Asian section of large supermarkets and in Asian specialty markets.

Spicy Peanut Sauce:

• 2 tablespoons smooth natural peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons "lite" coconut milk
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 2 teaspoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper, or to taste

Whisk together peanut butter, coconut milk, lime juice, soy sauce, sugar and crushed red pepper in a small bowl until smooth.

I should mention that this recipe came from www.Foodtv.com, it’s an “Eating Well” recipe.

Well, I have more good recipes coming down the pipe and I might just do this again. I don’t think The Pioneer Woman needs to see me as a threat, but I’ll do my best to turn out some good grub.

Blessings,

Lara

They had been predicting snow for a week.

We had a lot of time to prepare. We all checked out cabinets and refrigerators to insure we had plenty of supplies.  We made those last minute trips, to the the store, for bread, milk, and firewood (except my family! We have procrastinated and not had our chimney cleaned. No fire for us! Bummer!). 

And finally the day arrived!

On Thursday we watched the skies for those first signs up snow. I was busy doing school work and preparing to teach. I had to be ready for school on Friday no matter what.

But, in the middle of all the excitement I decide I need a nap.

So around 1 PM, I got the girls busy doing something and I went to find my nice, warm, cozy bed.

Usually, if I take a nap, I sleep for 7 min. No more, no less. It takes exactly 7 min. for my body to refuel and give me the energy I need to get through the day. On this day, as usual I closed my eyes and slept for 7 min.

After 7 min. I woke, but not feeling refreshed. I closed my eyes again and slept for an entire hour!  I guess it’s taking me a while to get back into a routine after being off for 3 weeks.

When I finally got up, it was snowing!

Big, juicy snowflakes were falling from the sky. And after about 2 hours it actually started to stick!

I spent the rest of the day checking for school closings!

You see, we live in one county, we go to school in another county, but our school follows a different county’s school closings. Do you need a flow chart to understand this? I do too!

The county I live in closed school for Friday around dinner time. All my neighbors knew they had the day off before they sat down to eat! The county we go to school in, closed their schools right after dinner time, but the county that our school follows didn’t make that decision until 11 PM! Argh!

So, I checked their website about 50 million times all evening and finally before bed I got the word that we were having an official Snow Day on Friday!

We all slept in and it was glorious!

The downside to homeschooling (even attending a homeschool academy), you still have to homeschool in Snow Days. 

I spent most of the day cleaning my way to the top of my mountain and laundry. I even cleaned out and organized the laundry room. I found time to clean and straighten most of my entire house!

I also did a lot of cooking. We were trapped inside and the kitchen was open and in full swing. I made hot Panini sandwiches for lunch. And baked fish and steamed broccoli for dinner. Not the best snow day food, but it was healthy and kept us going.

Finally around 4 PM we decided to venture out. Kids had been out all day, but the high on Friday was 27 degrees. I’m sorry, that’s just too cold for me! But, we did bundle up and go for a walk. My sweet neighbor was home and I did get to visit with a grown up for a while and after about 45 min. out my girls were cold and wanted to come in.

I did snap a few photos…

Here’s our house. 2 days later and our driveway still looks just like this. It’s not going to get above freezing for at least the next 4 days!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She’s holding ice, by the way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had fun, even it was short lived.

Today is our second day of the “Big Snow of 2010.” We don’t plan on leaving the house all day! I have a feeling by church tomorrow, I’ll be ready to get out of here!

Good thing we are having so many Global Warming issues. I’m really tired of all this cold!

Blessings,

Lara

2010 is only 6 days old and it’s already kicking my booty!

We got all the Christmas stuff put away (I’m just as happy to put it away as I am to take it out!) and school started back yesterday. But, with one big change…

I’m now the teacher! Yikes!!

What was I thinking???

It went really well, but it was nerve-racking teaching math to 16 2nd graders, when you’re learning it at the same time you’re teaching it! Does that make sense? Not surprising, it didn’t make sense to me either.

I didn’t take the teacher’s manual home with me over Christmas break (big mistake) so I was figuring it out at the same time I was explaining it. I think they made it through and after working through several problems I feel sure they all understood. So, what more could I ask for?

Today I’m trying to homeschool my 2 girls and get ready to teach on Friday at the same time. It’s not going well.

This is going to be more of challenge than I thought! I have the lesson plans, but they are sketchy and not very specific. So, I have to go through and make sure that I not only so I get everything taught in the time allotted, but that I have enough material to fill the time as well. I think that part will get easier as time goes on. Prayerfully!

At one point yesterday I look up at the clock and think to myself “this is perfect, I have 7 min. left and I’m about to finish up”.  Only to quickly realize I have an hour and 7 min. left to teach! So, I did some major stretching and filled up the entire hour. I’ll plan better on Friday.

I say all this to say, I’m really not sure how much I’ll be able to update my blog while I’m teaching. I’ll try to when I can, but life is going to be really busy over the next 8 weeks!

But hey, we might get snow on Friday and I’ll have an extra day! That would be great!

God Bless,

Lara

Wow, that was a huge tree they took down. And the provident hand of God was all in it.

The tree started off like this.

Now, I’m no “tree hugger”, but I also don’t dislike trees. I think they are one of God’s greatest creations. They provided oxygen, beauty and shade. They have a very unique purpose and I’m thankful. But, when there is a tree this big, way too close to my house and could potentially destroy my home or even worse hurt on of my family members, it must come down. Sorry Green Peace, I’m about to commit a cardinal sin.

 

 

The crew showed up early on this very cold morning and the “climber” got right to work.

 

I wouldn’t want this guys job. That tree is almost 4 stories tall. And he spent all day in that big tree with a running chainsaw. Not my idea of a fun career!

 

 

 

 

They worked for hours! The guy in the tree would cut down the limbs and the guys on the ground would run up with chainsaws and cut it all up. Each piece had to be hauled down our hill by hand.

It made me tired watching it!

When they finally got to the base of the tree they discovered something interesting.

Wood Rot!!!

The 70 year old Oak tree was rotting from the inside out! The further they got down the tree the larger the hole got. Pretty soon the hole was so large the workers could stick their entire arm through it.

 Here they are staring in disbelief. The guy in the brown jacket (he was the boss and a very nice guy BTW), told me he would have never guessed that tree was rotting on the inside.

I knew the Lord was making me feel uneasy about the tree for a reason!

So thankfully the tree came down and I can sleep at night on windy nights.

Right now the tree looks like this. It got dark and they are going to have to come back and finish up. Hopefully when they are done, there will be no trace of the tree. I think our “woods” still looks nice and having that tree gone only made a slight dent in our forest.

 

I’m sure you found the taking down of our tree riveting entertainment! I had you on the edge of your seats for sure!

Personally, I’m glad that was the most exciting thing that happened all week! During this crazy Christmas time, it could have been much worse.

I also thought I’d share what The Bear was doing all day while the guys were working outside the kitchen window.

We started this tradition last year. The girls make everyone ornaments. We really try to come up with nice ornaments that people might actually want to keep (my niece made them last year, but they involved a Diet Coke can and string. Needless to say it didn’t make it on the my tree again this year.)

Bear worked really hard on these and they turned out great! I’ll post a picture of MayMay’s later.

I hope you’re all enjoying this Christmas season. I’m ready to head to some place warm!

Blessings,

Lara

I’m done with school for 3 weeks! Yippee!!!

I’m currently in the middle of helping The Bear make Christmas ornaments for family, I’m cleaning out my tiny, cluttered pantry and watching guys in my back yard cut down a huge tree. And they are making a HUGE mess! I’ll post pictures later.

It’s an exciting day at my house.

Thankfully, the only other thing I need to do today is find Dunkin Donuts coffee. That’s a MUST!! I had just enough to get through this morning, but there’s always tomorrow. And I’ve got to get stamps to mail my Christmas cards. They have been addressed and ready to go for a week, but I have no stamps. And really couldn’t tell you the last time I used a stamp. How much are they now? I couldn’t tell you.

Well, I’m off to finish working on the pantry and praying for the guy at the top of the tree. I has to be 3-4 stories off the ground. Please don’t fall on my house (the tree or the man!). That would make for a really bad Christmas.

Hope you’re enjoying this blessed season.

Can I share my new favorite song and video?

If this doesn’t bring a tear to your eye, then your heart is made of stone.

Blessings,

Lara

I only have 1.5 days left of homeschool work before Christmas break.

I have 1.5 home days, 1 field trip day and 2 school days. Then I’m done for 2009.

These 1.5 days are pure torture!

There are only about 3 days a year I can’t stand homeschooling.  1.5 days before Christmas break and 1.5 days before the end of the school year.  The rest of the school year, I’m right as rain with homeschooling.

You see, my mind is done with school! I’m ready to get my shopping done, enjoy parties, sip cocoa by a roaring fire, frolic and dance to Bing Crosby and eat Christmas cookies til I puke. The last thing I want to do is sit at my kitchen table for hours squeaking out those last few pages of work.  It’s torture I tell you!

But, as soon as my youngest gets back down from decorating her ornament from Australia, we’ll be back to work. My oldest has 5 tests and a paper due before our last day and she’s been WAY more focused than me. Praise God for her and her super disciplined self. If it were up to me I’d be at the Dutch Monkey Doughnuts enjoying a Fat Mint (a raised mint chocolate doughnut) with shopping bags piled up to my ears and a completely empty wallet.  Thankfully, it’s not up to me!

Yes, these last 1.5 days will be torture. Pray for me!

Blessings,

Lara