The deck got finished. the plants went back. The new deck is not wooden - it is made from some sort of man-made material which is surprisingly smooth. Very pleasant to my bare soles (well, was - it is now cold enough so I am no longer spending much time on the balcony).

And... here is my pantry. Very proud of it. I know the glass jars are expensive, but - they are so well made that hopefully they will last for as long as I live, unless I break them. And then many years down the road, I will have happy memories of turning chaos into order. So I am happy.

Cleaning is still a big challenge, though. But at least I know where stuff is and I got into a cooking routine. Also, yup I spent money on organizing the pantry and having nice jars for dry goods, but I will save money by not buying convenience items. When I burn through the canned beans, I will go back to soaking dry beans overnight, as I used to do years ago. I have already stopped buying quick oats packets from Trader Joe's - I buy steel cut oatmeal instead. So eventually I will be spending less money on food and cooking from scratch more - a win-win.