Like sugar and spice.

I feel good!

Oh, how sad it is that, 1) I thought that thought out loud while sitting here at my desk; and b) I was surprised by the fact that I actually feel good. But yes, here I sit, and I’m doing a bit of a self-evaluation. Taking stock in my body’s messages to me. Nothing hurts. I’m not particularly stressed about anything. I have energy.

This is big, people.

I went for a bike ride last night, while Calvin spent some time working on a new exhaust for the truck (and it sounds all tough and growly, now). I only rode for twenty minutes – up and around a nearby park (which has doubled in size since the last time I was there, let’s hear it for neighborhood improvement!) and back. I kept up a good pace and it just felt good to use my muscles and have them in proper working order. It felt so good (dun dun! so good, dun dun!) that when I got home I stretched, and then did some weight training. And today? I FEEL GOOD. I’m walking without a limp, FINALLY, can take the stairs with no problem, and no longer have that nagging ache in the backs of my knees or in my left foot.

I’m supposed to continue to take it easy on that stress fracture until at least the beginning of March, but biking does not put the same pressure on it that walking and/or running do. While I’m not up for any races or heavy-duty mountain trails, a half-hour or so biking at a good clip will do me no harm.

My goodness, I DO have that James Brown song stuck in my head, don’t I?

Anyway, you may have noticed that Calvin and I are kind of on a health kick lately. I’ve always tried to maintain healthy habits, with varying degrees of success. Calvin kind of got yelled at by his doctor recently, so now he’s putting a more earnest effort into his own health, too.

Here’s something I’m particularly proud of – Calvin has been EATING BROCCOLI AND CAULIFLOWER. AND HE LIKES IT. If you don’t know Calvin in real life, you might not understand just how HUGE this is. This is a man who does NOT eat vegetables. For YEARS I’ve been feeding him round after round of canned corn, lettuce salad, the occasional green beans, raw carrots and celery, and asparagus. That last one I introduced him to despite his protests, oh, years ago now, and he was shocked to realized that he liked it. So I’m not sure why it took him so long to be confident enough in my veggie-prep skills to try others. I mean, if you like asparagus, you’ll probably like a bunch of other veggies, right? Oh, well, I don’t give Calvin enough credit. I also exposed him to the wonder that is wilted spinach in garlic and olive oil, and he loves that stuff, too.

I blame his veggie phobia on his childhood exposure to canned asparagus and boiled brussels sprouts. Shudder. Because of that trauma, it is important to introduce Calvin to vegetables sloooowwwwly. It’s important that he gain confidence in the fact that I know how to prepare vegetables so that they, GASP, taste good. I’m just tickled that I won’t be the only one eating veggies in the house, now. My next goal is to somehow get him to stop dousing everything in gallons of ranch dressing.

We’ve also been eating more fish, more fruit, and are trying to manage portion control and alcohol intake. I also dug through our Big Box ‘O Vitamins And Supplements, and divvied up daily baggies for each of us to take every morning (HELLO HORSE PILLS OF DOOM). I, of course, have struggled for years to gain momentum and establish healthy habits to manage my health, my weight, my nutrition, and my exercise. It’s so much easier, and even kind of fun, now that Calvin is on board, too.

So, yeah. I feel good.

(Cross-posted at Snerkology.)