Loads of energy and enthusiasm (it'll soon wear off!!). And can you....?

 I've woken up raring to go this morning (quite a rarity nowadays 😂).  Husband has gone to the gym and has a short list of things I need from the supermarket afterwards.  At 8 am I was showered, dressed and standing on a stool in front of one of the double wall cupboards, which had (already!) got messy, with things all higgledy-piggledy and some items shoved to the back where I couldn't reach them.  It's all sorted out now, I've used small baskets (I had a stack of them I brought home from the caravan) to put all my herbs & spices, various gravy granules and stock cubes, and pastas in.  So now everything is kept together with like for like, in baskets where I can easily see it all.  One job done.  I've also sliced a load of red onions and they're now slowly caramelising in butter and olive oil.....some for French onion soup to cook brown rice in, as I mentioned yesterday.  The rest will be to top a red pesto, cheese and onion flatbread I shall make tomorrow, to go with southern fried chicken for husband, and scampi for me, for dinner tomorrow evening, with coleslaw and salad.

I'm having a break with my second coffee, then will make a date and walnut cake - a big traybake one that I can cut into squares and freeze half of.  The freezer is now well stocked with batch cooked meals I've made this week, plus scones and cake.  I'm all cooked out now so will be eating out of the freezer next week.

There was an article in the paper this morning about how long you can balance standing on one leg - some doctor or scientist has worked out timings according to age groups.  Apparently, if you can maintain your balance on one leg for a good amount of seconds, it's very beneficial or shows how well you're ageing, or something like that!  Anyway, for my age group the time was around 30 seconds - I only managed 18 early this morning, although I've just done it again and got to 24 this time - in my defence I do have trochanteric bursitis in my hips and a regularly prolapsing disc in my lower back, both of which affect my balance and walking/standing.  Needs improvement though!  Husband has terrible balance issues, due to his health conditions and some of the medications he's on - he could only manage 3 seconds, for his age group it should be 18 or 19 apparently.  Hopefully, going to the gym regularly (he's been 3x this week, which he says he wants to do every week) should improve his fitness.  How about you, can you stand on one leg for a good length of time?  The article was in the Mail here, if anyone's interested in reading it.

I'm going to make a start on practising painting some Christmas cards this afternoon, it'll be my first attempt at painting with acrylics.  I've got loads of drawing and painting paper and card blanks, so plenty of scope for practise.  It'll just be a simple design to start with.