For nearly a year now I have been struggling with trying to stand in the kitchen long enough to prepare - cook - and serve meals. It took me having a crying meltdown in front of my new Endocrinologist about 5 months ago for *us* to come up with a solution - of sorts.

My screaming, piercing with icy hot/electrical like pains in my feet to my knees and my fingers from the second knuckle down to the tips with the same pain is caused mostly by my glucose numbers being too high. When I hurt, I have NO appetite. I know I should eat a minimum of two full meals a day, but other than eating two or three breakfast type bars - injecting accordingly and drinking an 11 oz can of V8 juice for my first meal - I just don't want to eat.

So in 6 months, I lost 10.4 pounds. My sugars have been all over the chart. I either sleep all the time (no pain) or I am awake all the time (am hurting like crazy).

My Diabetic Counselor Nurse gave me a new insulin chart for when my numbers are high because I hurt and am NOT going to eat a meal. I test my sugars, check the chart and then inject my fast acting insulin. So if my numbers are 199, the chart says to inject 10 units of insulin IF eating a meal. I would double that to get the pain to subside.

This last two weeks I have been feeling much better for short bursts of time. I have hired a cook who will come twice a week to cook big meals for us. She is also my housekeeper. One day a week she will spend 4 hours vacuuming, cleaning the bathroom, putting clothes away, etc.

It took a month to find a cook, in that month I slowly and surely inventoried/cleaned out my food cupboards and the kitchen freezer.

Learned that Bear Creek Instant Chicken Noodle Soup with Best By date of 2009 is nasty when rehydrated and cooked. Idahoan Loaded Baked Potatoes with Use By date of 2013 is also nasty when cooked. Knorr Pasta Sides Alfredo Noodles with Best By date of 2003, 2012, 2015 are - - - - drum roll - - - nasty, nasty, nasty. I even had some Kroger brand Mushroom Rice Side - couldn't find a Best By/Use By date so I tossed the three of them.

Tossed the 12 Ramen packages. The packaging felt sticky and sounded extra crinkly. Husband detests them anyway and I can no longer eat them - super high in carbs.

I tossed the 3 to 6 cans of Peas, carrots and mixed vegetables. No dates on them, didn't want to take a chance.

Then yesterday, after we ate our brunch I inventoried the kitchen freezer. Emptied the Rubbermaid containers of food I couldn't identify. Tossed the zip bags of hamburger, salmon roasts, and a few other types of meat I couldn't identify. One half of a 2-pound bag of cooked, shelled, tail on med. shrimp that was so severely freezer burned they all were completely white.

We still have enough bone-in pork chops, two pork steaks, and about 1.5 pounds of cubed pork loin for a pork stew. One bone-in Rib Eye Steak (that is for Hubby) and four 4 ounce Salmon Fillets that are manufactured fast frozen & super vacuum sealed. Oh, and 6 Rubbermaid containers holding 8 oz of meatloaf patties that I mixed up only 2 weeks ago, and a Rubbermaid container of 96% ground beef weighing 1 pound that remarkably is NOT freezer burned.

Hubby wants me to transfer his Frozens (Banquet Pot Pies, Safeway Select Breakfast Muffins, Healthy Choice Rice Steamers, etc.) from the small freezer in the laundry room and put them in the kitchen freezer where it will be more convenient for him. Problem is, the small freezer is in desperate need of defrosting. I want it moved outside on the porch so I don't have to keep mopping up the melted ice. Being outside I can just tip it and toss the frozen chunks into the yard. It is on a 36" high stand right now - needed to raise it up so Hubby & I could have easier access. It weighs a lot - more than what hubby and I can handle together. The upright freezer needs defrosting too, but I can 'walk' it empty of food out to the porch.

Only have the small storage cupboard in the dining room and the large one in the master bedroom left to inventory. The majority of the food in the large cupboard is in #10 cans. Some can be left alone - salt, navy beans, etc. Others really need to be re-packaged in vacuum sealed packages. There are a few #10 cans of powdered butter, powdered whole eggs, powdered scrambled eggs. Those need to be opened and re-packaged in vacuum sealed packages.

The lesson learned is Keep better watch on the Best By/Use By dates. Rotate all of the food. Don't care how tired I am, leave the putting away until I am not tired and hurting and Rotate!

It is time for me to hit the Dollar Tree store looking for small clip boards. Each cupboard and the hall *linen* closet need one, to write down the last item taken/ running low on XX items. There is plenty of space between the surface of the door and the inside shelves for a small clipboard to be hung.

Hope this newfound energy, desire & ideas to organize carries on to getting my "office" area cleaned-tidied-junk tossed before the middle of July.