Bin-ging
My dad has this metal container where he keeps his coffee paraphernalia and vitamins and things. It's right by the sink, and naturally it gets wet at times, and yesterday mom noticed what appeared to be a rust stain on our counter from it. She got in a snit about it, so guess who was in the market for a new counter container? There weren't any at the grocery store, and I knew I had coupons for Bed Bath & Beyond, so once the groceries were stored we headed there. I thought one of the containers I had in the pantry would work well, but he didn't care for those; too deep, plus he didn't like the handles. He ended up getting something shorter that I think was meant as a drawer organizer, but it was a bit roomier than the previous container, so that should be fine. However, I've been meaning to get another container for the pantry to corral our pasta boxes, so I got one of those. Dad ended up paying for both, which was nice, so I gave him the better coupon. Since I was there and I've needed a new shower curtain liner for ages, I used the not-as-good coupon on that.
Upon returning home, dad moved his stuff into his new container, which seemed to work out well. I set about reorganizing the pantry and used both my new container as well as the old metal one that had been on the counter; for the latter, I put in some of mom's Weight Watchers items. I'd ended up redoing the two main shelves we use in the pantry, in part because the basket I'd gotten prior to hold chips, I'd put it on the side that gets blocked by the pantry door, which folds, and therefore you couldn't easily pull the basket out. That got lowered a shelf and put next to the drawers that hold granola bars. The pasta bin got placed on the upper shelf on the right for easiest access; then came the two older bins, formerly on the far right; and taking up the rest of the space was my three-tier can holder that can expand. I hadn't expanded it previously since there wasn't room, but the pasta bin isn't as wide as the chip basket, plus we have plenty of cans, so there you go. It looks a lot better and it's okay if the cans are on the far left, because you don't pull out the little shelving unit at all, just the items on top of it. Down below, my drawers are on the right, next to the chips, and next to the basket is the metal container with mom's stuff in it. The rest of the stuff there is loose, with paper plates and plate holders in front of it for the time being. I'm hoping to do something else with that but I'm not to that point yet.
The other thing I did in the kitchen had to do with the stupid fruit flies that have taken up residence. Ugh. I'd set out some apple cider vinegar in a tall cup, hoping to entice them to drown, but they're too smart for it apparently. We have a fly stick and dad suggested moving that into the kitchen; it's in the eating area on the floor currently. It turns out we have a couple boxes of different fly traps, meant for larger pests like rodents, that are flat and sticky. Since the fruit flies like to hang out on our range hood and the side of one cabinet by the sink, I set those up there. They're kind of unsightly, but I'm hoping they'll do the job. Naturally, the flies are standing *next* to the traps, but maybe we'll catch a dumb one or something.
Upon returning home, dad moved his stuff into his new container, which seemed to work out well. I set about reorganizing the pantry and used both my new container as well as the old metal one that had been on the counter; for the latter, I put in some of mom's Weight Watchers items. I'd ended up redoing the two main shelves we use in the pantry, in part because the basket I'd gotten prior to hold chips, I'd put it on the side that gets blocked by the pantry door, which folds, and therefore you couldn't easily pull the basket out. That got lowered a shelf and put next to the drawers that hold granola bars. The pasta bin got placed on the upper shelf on the right for easiest access; then came the two older bins, formerly on the far right; and taking up the rest of the space was my three-tier can holder that can expand. I hadn't expanded it previously since there wasn't room, but the pasta bin isn't as wide as the chip basket, plus we have plenty of cans, so there you go. It looks a lot better and it's okay if the cans are on the far left, because you don't pull out the little shelving unit at all, just the items on top of it. Down below, my drawers are on the right, next to the chips, and next to the basket is the metal container with mom's stuff in it. The rest of the stuff there is loose, with paper plates and plate holders in front of it for the time being. I'm hoping to do something else with that but I'm not to that point yet.
The other thing I did in the kitchen had to do with the stupid fruit flies that have taken up residence. Ugh. I'd set out some apple cider vinegar in a tall cup, hoping to entice them to drown, but they're too smart for it apparently. We have a fly stick and dad suggested moving that into the kitchen; it's in the eating area on the floor currently. It turns out we have a couple boxes of different fly traps, meant for larger pests like rodents, that are flat and sticky. Since the fruit flies like to hang out on our range hood and the side of one cabinet by the sink, I set those up there. They're kind of unsightly, but I'm hoping they'll do the job. Naturally, the flies are standing *next* to the traps, but maybe we'll catch a dumb one or something.