I wonder if askye would come and clean my kitchen so thoroughly. Because there's no way in hades my lazy ass is going to do it.

askye, if that doesn't give you the results you want, you can always try fly paper. Back in college, a roommate brought in a bunch of fruit flies on a basket of peaches she got from her grandparents' farm. She did not notice they were in the appartment. For a time, I kept spraying them, yet there were still swarms of them. I got really frustrated because she was not lifting a finger to fight these fruit flies (other than eat all the peaches). Finally I asked her if she knew of a way that would work better than the spray, and she suggested the fly strips. I'd never used them before, but I went to the hardware store and got some. About half an hour after I had put the first one up, it was black with flies. When she saw that, she apologized and told me that she had not seen them so she had thought I was imagining them due to the emotional upset of having spoken to my mother on the phone earlier that day.

...she had not seen them so she had thought I was imagining them due to the emotional upset of having spoken to my mother on the phone...

OK that's just bizarre.

Any Boston 'istas with a line on a cheap place to stay? Not for me - Iris' godfather is headed for podcamp there.

He seems to think $160 is cheap downtown. I choked on my salad.

go askye! that is my kind of cat vacuuming! today I have eaten breakfast. read here. folded laundry. helped matt a tiny bit in the garage. pet the cat. and gone to lunch.

some days I am very productive. Not today

I have little flies. They won't go away, I've cleared all the food that's out, I've been washing dishes and not leaving a scrap of anything anywhere. And still they are here.

If they are fruit flies, I've found that the best way to get rid of them is by putting some vinegar in the bottom of a 1.5 liter wine bottle. Wait until a bunch get trapped in there and then cork it and shake it, and then rinse the flies out. Repeat as necessary.

Windy I may try that.Megan I used a similar tip I saw on How Clean Is Your House (UK edition) where you fill a mason jar with apple cider, water, and some soap, put attach plastic wrap to it and punch holes in the plastic wrap.

I did a variation of that and caught some but some are still buzzing.

Behind/beneath the fridge is cleaned, I found some stuff that might be their food. I'll see. I wish I could pull out the cabinets, because of the stupid gap all kinds of splatters get back there and I can see drips and stains but can't clean them.

Also cleaned up around my desk -- no food there, but it was messy and I was tired and I found my tv remote! It was behind the monitor and the remote is so narrow and thin I didn't see it. Just last night I went to the manufacturer's website to find out how much a replacement would be ($15.95) and was thinking -- as soon as I order a replacement mine will show up. But there it was.

Zen, normally I'm very lazy and don't do this kind of cleaning ever, so I'm kind of surprised at myself. If I lived close I'd come help you clean!

The cat has been looking at me funny, she keeps sniffing around the kitchen door but won't go in. Tomorrow she'll really be looking at me funny because I'll be scrubbing down her litter box (which I've put off the last three weeks). I'm beginning to wonder if I've been taken over by a pod person, because I'm never this kind of clean freak.

I found out why today is not a productive day. I went out to play in the garden. I can't breathe when I bend over. So I have the same why is the asthma attacking me today? question that vw has.

I am going to remember that fly cure

I've been cleaning with a fairly strong concentration of Simple Green, but the degreaser I made up worked well, it got rid of some stuff that was still lingering after I cleaned.

It was 1 part white vinegar and 1 part hot water, some drops of tea tree essential oil (since I read it was antifungal and antibacterial) and some drops of sweet orange essential oil (for the fragrance) except I didn't count the drops.

And the last time I cleaned the drains with baking soda and vinegar I add some drops of sweet orange oil to the baking soda, mixed it all up, and then did my normal routine and it smelled less vinegary.

OK that's just bizarre.

Tell me about it - especially since I had been using Raid liberally in the kitchen for a couple weeks before that. Now, I had done some wacky things by way of stress release - like walking across the top of a very short (2-3 feet) waterfall - on the grounds that I was a college student and it seemed like a good idea at the time. But I should have suggested she get an eye exam.