Improvement

My back is much, much better today. I could walk at an almost normal pace, sit down without easing myself into the chair, and drive without wincing when I moved my foot from the gas pedal to the brake. I have high hopes that in the next few days I'll even be able to bend at the waist. Such dramatic improvement!

I'm doing well on my goal to keep a clean pantry. I don't even want to reveal how bad it was before. The first step is admitting you have a problem. Here's the damage as it was on January 2:



And as it is today:



I took an inventory of everything in the cupboards. The most interesting realization was that I had 15 varieties of salt:

• Mesquite Smoked Maine Sea Salt
• Black Cyprus Flake Mediterranean Sea Salt
• Alea Coarse Hawaiian Red Sea Salt
• Hawaiian Red Alaea Sea Salt (former bought in bulk at Whole Foods and latter packaged by faerie's)
  
• Slovenian Fleur de Sel
• Gusto Mundial Hibiscus Flor de Sal
• RealSalt All-Natural Sea Salt
• Morton Table Salt
• Morton Kosher Salt
• Fleur de Sel
• Saltworks Smoked Serrano Salt
• World Classics Fine Ground Sea Salt
• Bolivian Rose Fine Salt
• Lemon Coarse Salt
• Alderwood Smoked Sea Salt

Certifiably insane! I'm glad I didn't order any Guerande or Maldon sea salt as I wanted to last month. Completely crazy. I also have 8 kinds of honey and 7 types of vinegar, but only 4 kinds of peanut butter, which may be a record low.

Good progress on my other resolution as well - I haven't eaten out this month, or to be specific, I haven't paid for a meal out. I've spent $282.97 on groceries so far this month and feel confident I can ring in under $300 for January. And that total includes the cost of a dinner party I hosted for 8 people. Not bad at all for me. More details on the dinner party to follow.

The next project is to transform the other kitchen cupboards into a picture of organization that would make Martha Stewart proud.