Jar Love #6: Fruit Fly Pest Control

Jars are pretty. They hold pretty, pretty things. And pretty nutritious things. And then sometimes, they hold not so pretty things, yet they prove for the millionth time to be pretty darn useful.

Check this out.

For the past several months we've had a problem with flies. Tiny, red, pesky flies. Just buzzing around our house, particularly the kitchen and the bathroom. They were irritating to say the least, but they made me paranoid too. Is my house dirty? Are my cleaning skills not up to par? Do I have a problem?

Finally one day I got so fed up I went online and researched the little buggers. Turns out I did have a problem and that problem was called "fruit flies". Fruit flies are attracted to produce that is sitting on your counter. So I put the produce away.

But the flies didn't go away. So I did some more research. Fruit flies can be attracted to food remaining in your garbage disposal. So I was extra diligent in making sure the disposal was clean. And the counter was clean. And the kitchen in it's entirety was clean.

But the fruit flies remained. In my bathroom too. Which was void of produce and garbage disposals anyway.

Grr.

Finally I read that cider vinegar in jars placed in areas that are fruit-fly-infested will do the trick.

Jars, you say?

I prepared my jars, placed one in the bathroom and one in the kitchen, and in one week's time my home was fruit-fly-less! And still is!

In case you have the same problem, you will need:

jar

cider vinegar

aluminum foil

Pour cider vinegar (and it must be cider vinegar! Apparently the smell resembles rotting fruit, aka fruit fly crack) into jar. You don't need much. Just enough to drown the little buggers.

Place aluminum foil over jar opening. 

Poke ONE hole into foil. (When I first did this I poked several holes and soon realized the flies were just coming and going as they pleased. My husband had the insight to change the foil and poke ONE hole. This way the flies go in, but can't quite figure how to get back out.  Not the smartest link on the food chain.)

Place jars in kitchen and bathroom.

Change out cider vinegar every couple of days.

After a week you ought to be free of your fruit-loving pests! 

Jars save the day again!

Speaking of Cleaning: Men vs Women

Speaking of cleaning...

A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I sat at the dinner table with my sister and her husband who were visiting for Cee's birthday party. As we made future plans, I suddenly realized with horror that Joe's upcoming work travels would take him away for two weeks, right up until the day before Dee's baptism.

"Oh my gosh! I'm going to have so much to do, especially with you gone!", I lamented.

"What's the big deal? It's not like there's hardly anything to do. We just show up at the church, dunk the kid, and eat," was Joe's (serious) response.

"Big deal"?! "Not anything to do"?!?! ARE YOU JOKING?!

I was gratified to look across the table and see the same slack-jawed, gaped-mouth face of dismay and disbelief that was planted on my own face, reflected in my sister's face.

But she's a woman. She gets it.

My husband? He's a man. He obviously does NOT "get it".

Let's see...

There's the spiritual preparations, like having some important heart-to-hearts with Dee to make sure he understands what he's agreeing to in making the choice to be baptized. Etc.

There's the actual baptism to plan. Who's going to say the prayer? Lead the music? Give the talks? Etc, etc.

There's the luncheon after the baptism to plan. How many are we feeding? What are we eating? Now how does that fit in the budget? When can I go shopping with minimal children? Do I need to make alternatives for my food issue kids? How am I going to time everything so that all the food is done at once, but I'm not standing in the kitchen all day? Etc, etc, etc.

And the house. It needs to be cleaned. The basics like vacuuming and bathrooms. But then there are fingerprints all over walls and food smears on chairs. "Booby trapped" cupboards might be opened by unsuspecting victims. I still haven't put back all my decor since taking down Christmas stuff. The laundry cannot be allowed to linger. And what is that rotten smell in the kitchen? Etc, etc, etc, etc, etc.

Are we having any overnight guests? Did we remember to invite Grandma? What's the weather going to be like for out of state travelers? Is Dee's suit clean? Does he actually have any (still) white underwear? etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, ETC!

And this is all on top of the regular day to day stuff! AND ALL TO BE COMPLETED IN MARRIED SINGLEHOOD SINCE THE REALLY HELPFUL MAN OF THE HOUSE WILL BE OUT OF TOWN FOR THE TWO WEEKS PRIOR!!

A mom's head could explode.

But a dad's...?

Well, he's just there to "dunk the kid".

He would be perfectly happy if we ate chicken nuggets while sitting on the (maybe vacuumed?) floor.

Sure, he may have the priesthood power, but I've got the power of perception and paranoia.

He will help Dee "wash away his sins". And I'll wash everything else.

I'm not complaining. (Well, maybe a little...) I'm definitely not getting all feminist-frenzied. (Oh good gravy! PLEASE let's not go there.) Nor am I belittling my efforts or burdens as a woman. And I'm not trying to disparage all the hard work my husband does to support and nurture our little family.

This is how it works--and by "works" I mean WORKS...mutually, collaboratively, harmoniously. We all play our parts and "with our powers combined" it will be a great day!

Organized Chaos

On New Year's Day I made a subconscious resolution.

I will clean my bathrooms once a week.

Of all my household chores, cleaning the bathroom has to be the worst. It's just so...involved. Stinky chemicals, all that wiping and rewiping, keeping rags separate so as not to mix "toilet germies" with "sink germies",  making sure the kids aren't getting into anything hazardous or wet in the process.

And just when you get done with the sink and toilet, you see that stupid ring around the tub. Ugh.

The way I cleaned bathrooms before was...I just really didn't. At least not that often. At least not unless I knew company was coming. Gross. I know.

So, I decided to be ambitious and make it my goal in life to have a clean bathroom, at least one day out of each week this year.

 I declared Wednesdays to now officially be known as "Watercloset Wednesdays" and so far in the year 2013, I'm 4 for 4! Go me.

(That's probably about as many times as I cleaned my bathroom in 2012. Ha...ha...)

Now that I have relatively clean bathrooms, the rest of the house begs for attention. But Wednesdays are already jam packed with all that bathroom cleaning, so now we also have...

Make-up for the Weekend Monday
Toy Room Tuesday
Watercloset/Wipe Down Switches and Knobs with Clorox Wipes Wednesday
There's Gotta be Something that Needs Cleaned Thursday
and
Fancy Free Friday

You  might think I'm joking, but my housework has never felt so manageable. I used to try to follow the Fly Lady cleaning methods, but after getting a bajillion emails from her every day (Seriously. A BAJILLION!) I marked her as "Spam". Turns out the only thing I wanted to "fling" was her.