October Halloween Challenge

I challenge you to not buy any candy until the day you need it. Too late?

Okay, if you've already bought your candy, don't open it until the moment you need to hand it out. Too late again?

All right, all right - here's the REAL challenge:

By the way, good job to any of you who have accomplished either/both of the above challenges but assuming that most of us haven't been that disciplined, I'm focusing on improving the aftermath of the nutritional debacle known as Halloween:


Aww, makes me wonder
what little Grant will be
for Halloween!

Challenge: Get rid of any Halloween candy you have left by the end of election day, November 6. Give yourself/your kids a week to enjoy the spoils of All Hallows' Eve.... maybe even celebrate the outcome of the election (because Obama WILL be out... we hope, we hope, we hope) but come daybreak on November 7, the leftovers go promptly in the trash.

So make sure you've eaten any of the good stuff you want, then throw it out and clean up your eating for a few weeks before the next round of holiday goodies! I think we should enjoy our holidays, but we don't need to prolong the debauchery so that it becomes a two-and-a-half-month-long "chew-chew" ride on the (literal) gravy train. (Can you believe I just made that up... I know - waaaaay clever).


So.... you get 1 point if you wave bye-bye to your left-over candy by November 7.

And don't forget to vote!

The First Great Commandment (of Unlaziness)

Of all the fantastic messages I managed to hear during this General Conference, Elder Holland's words really struck a chord within me. I take this excerpt from his talk:

Elder
Jeffrey R. Holland

“’Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind.’ Jesus said. So we have neighbors to bless, children to protect, the poor to lift up, and the truth to defend. We have wrongs to make right, truths to share, and good to do. In short, we have a life of devoted discipleship to give in demonstrating our love of the Lord. We can’t quit and we can’t go back.

“To all within the sound of my voice, the voice of Christ comes ringing down through the halls of time, asking each one of us while there is time, ’Do you love me?’ And for every one of us, I answer with my honor and my soul, ‘Yea, Lord, we do love thee.’ And having set our ‘hand to the plough,’ we will never look back until this work is finished and love of God and neighbor rules the world.”

This resonated with me because to show God we love Him requires conscious effort from us in both our thoughts and actions. It requires from us a lifetime of service to our fellow man. It requires the discipline to overcome negative and complacent attitudes. It requires us to overcome Lazy in spirituality, attitude and action!

Let's show God how much we love Him!

Did anyone else listen to conference? You get a point if you did!!!

Overcome Spiritual Lazy(ness)

This man has probably never been lazy
a day in his life.

This is the first challenge in October; there will be another one coming. This one is for this weekend and involves General Conference so I wanted to get it out there, pronto!

CHALLENGE: Pay attention and select a principle/thought/teaching, etc. from any talks from this General Conference that you will incorporate more fully into your life to help you overcome spiritual laziness.

This challenge was inspired by a portion of Sister Carole M. Stephens' talk during the General Relief Society Broadcast where she talks about becoming more "spiritually awake" in order to fulfill our duties. This concept really hit home with me as I realized how easily I can become lazy in my spiritual attitude and actions. I really needed to hear her words: "It isn’t enough to just be on the journey (of life); we must be awake to our duty and continue with faith as we draw upon the comforting, strengthening, enabling and healing power of the Atonement.”

Since this challenge will be hard to quantify and thereby reward points.... how 'bout this: If you watch any part of General Conference, you get 1 point!!! This should be a gimmee for everyone, right???

So, pay attention to the talks and I would love, love, love it if any of you emailed or posted about the principles that stood out to you this session.

Overcome... snoozing during conference! (You thought I was gonna say Lazy, as usual, huh?)

Going For The Gold(en Sneaker)

Well, our family didn't exactly go for the Gold. But we did manage to get one medalist:  me! Yes, I am finally reporting in on the Olympic Challenge.  So, congratulations to me for earning a Bronze medal.  I wish I could've been a better example by winning the Gold... I feel a little like Michael Phelps.  Ahhh, the pressure!!!  I'm not perfect, people! 

But, don't forget: the challenges always continue! Just because I put a time limit on them for point-earning purpose doesn't mean you can't keep doing them!!!

I did find out from the survey that "Brilliant," was the favorite British phrase most of us picked up during the Olympics. I just don't see "Bob's your uncle" ever catching on here in the States.

So... here's September's challenge:

Do something active 6 days a week so that Sunday is truly a day of rest. Make yourself earn that day of rest! "Something active" can mean several things: a formal workout, an evening stroll, some yoga/stretching... even a quick set of 10 body squats and 10 kitchen counter push-ups.

JUST DO SOMETHING ACTIVE EVERY SINGLE DAY, except Sunday.

Point Value: 4 points if you do the 2 weeks left in September; 2 points if you do this for 1 week.

This is an easy one even if you haven't been very active up to this point.

IT'S NEVER TOO LATE TO START MAKING YOURSELF HEALTHIER AND HAPPIER... or earn "Not-So-Dumbbell Award" points!

Brilliant!!!

Black Bean Burgers

*I did test this out during the Olympics and am now finally getting around to posting it. Any of you who have tried out their recipe for the Olympic Challenge can still post it and get the points for it. But you gotta act now!

I am on a quest to find the ultimate black bean/veggie pattie. I've tried a few lately and I'd say that this is my favorite so far.

I think they key is to not expect a traditional "hamburger" taste. If you can thusly adjust your burger mentality, veggie and/or bean burgers are a yummy, healthy way to get a protein/vegetable-packed meatless meal. And the girls really liked them!

Black Bean Burgers

Ingredients:

• 3 medium carrots, grated
• Half a medium onion, finely chopped (I grated mine since I was already grating the carrots)
• 2 tsp cumin
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp onion powder
• 2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 cup kale
• 1/2 cup packed cilantro leaves
• 2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
• 3/4 cup whole wheat bread crumbs (I used ground unfrosted mini wheats - those with wheat/gluten issues maybe could try crushing rice chex???)
• 1 tsp salt

ONE: Spray a skillet with cooking spray and place over medium heat. Add the onions and carrots and saute for 2 minutes. Stir in the cumin, chili, garlic, and onion powder and continue to cook until the veggies are soft. Remove from heat and set aside in a large bowl.

TWO: Place drained beans, kale, and cilantro in a food processor and pulse several times until beans are mostly mashed but a few chunks still remain.

THREE: Add the beans, mustard, bread crumbs, and salt to the bowl of veggies and stir to combine. Scoop out scant 1/3 cup portions and form into patties.

FOUR: Heat the skillet you cooked the veggies in over medium heat and spray generously with cooking spray. Place the patties in the skillet a few at a time and cook 4 minutes a side until lightly browned and heated through.

TO FREEZE: Before cooking, form the patties and place them in a single layer on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. Place in the freezer for about 20 minutes to flash freeze the outsides and then place them all together in a freezer bag. Defrost overnight and cook according to the directions above.

After cooking, follow the same directions as above and reheat in the microwave.

NUTRITION INFO:


Per Serving (1 burger) - 124 Calories (7 Calories from Fat), 1g Total Fat, 0mg Cholesterol, 463mg Sodium, 22g Carbohydrates, 6g Dietary Fiber, 4g Sugar, 6g Protein, 75% DV Vitamin A, 13% DV Vitamin C, 5% DV Calcium, 36% DV Iron

Sharon's Note: Adjust spices to taste. I, personally, cut the cumin and chili powder in half. I also used my George Foreman grill which worked nicely.

Training To Be The Next Gabby Douglas

Okay, so Gabby would laugh hysterically at our balance challenge and the fact that I was having a hard time even demonstrating the exercises on the video! But while none of us will be flipping and twisting on a 4-inch balance beam like our Olympic gold medalist, I think we'll all benefit greatly by adding a little balancing work to help balance us out!



Sorry for the wait! Click the link below to watch my impressive balance performance (hahaha!).

As a reminder: The challenge is to do any or all of these exercises 2-3x/week. Do on each side about 10x each. Any of them can be made more difficult by closing your eyes. Highly recommended: Stand close to a counter or chair for safety!

http://youtu.be/sourb7KCJTg

I hope the other challenges are keeping you busy! I will send out a survey monkey at the end of the Olympic games to see how everyone did!

The Real Olympic Challenge!

Olympic Creed:

The most important thing in the Olympics Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.

I think this is applies perfectly to our own Olympic Challenge: I know many of you don't even bother with the bonus challenges because you think, "why bother; I haven't done many/any up to this point, and any points I get won't help me win." But, the important thing is to just take part! Fight with us to overcome Lazy!

You MUST see this video, by the way, it gives me goose bumps every time! Click on the link below to watch.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/HBu14q1dNP0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Olympic Challenge:

Complete all 5 challenges during the duration of the 2012 Olympic Games (July 27 - August 12).

Point Value:

Gold Medal: Completed all 5 challenges: 10
Silver Medal: Completed 4 challenges: 8
Bronze Medal: Completed 3 challenges: 6
Honorable Mention: Completed 2 challenges: 3
Way-To-Go Mention: Completed 1 challenge: 2

Physical Health Challenge: Do any (or all) of the balance exercises in the video 2 x/week. Do 10 repetitions on each side. Note: you can make any of them WAY more challenging by closing your eyes. Also, I highly recommend standing close to a counter or chair so you don't fall over!

(Please note: The video will be coming demonstrating the above exercises. Keith has not had a moment to spare to help me with this and I can't do it without him! Pathetic, I know. So work on the other challenges for now!)

Nutritional Health Challenge: Try out a new healthy recipe and share the results on the blog (good or bad!). Use one that's already been shared on the blog or search for one of your own. I know this is a goal for many of you but I've enjoyed it so much, I want ALL of us to do it.

Spiritual Health: Add a little more gratitude to your attitude. Pay particular attention to the gratitude portion of your prayers. Use this thought to help you: What if you woke up today with only the things you thanked God for yesterday?

Mental Health: Limit the amount of time your TV is on to 2 hours every day. Not how much you watch it, but how much time it's actually ON. The only exception is if you are watching the Olympics. No joke. This might be a tough one for many of us, but this is an excellent anti-aging practice for our brains. (Read this link if you need convincing: http://longevity.about.com/od/lifelongrelationships/tp/Turn_Off_TV.htm) Use your free and quiet time to exercise your brain (these might help: http://www.brainmetrix.com) and/or work on any of these Olympic challenges!

Emotional Health: Compliment at least one person each day. Mix it up: family, friends, strangers. Try to do it verbally and in person, but I'll even count texting, emailing and phone calls.

Please note: you don't have to do these challenges perfectly! In the spirit of the Olymic Creed, just take part! You will earn your points if you honestly attempt to incorporate these challenges during the next 3 or so weeks.

"Faster, Higher, Stronger" - in all aspects of our lives!