Jennifer Lyon
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Tuesday, December 20th, 2011
Motivation…I Has It…Sort Of

I cleaned out my pantry.  Am I motivated, or what? Well…according to Wizard, I had a little help in the motivation department.

This is Wizard’s new joke:

“The ants come once a year to help Witch clean.”

Haha, Wizard, see how I’m laughing? Last Thursday I was doing some baking. I opened the pantry and saw a line of ants.  So in addition to the baking, I took everything out of my huge pantry and killed the ants. I had stuff everywhere on all my counters while I scrubbed the pantry twice (because I’m weird). Fortunately, I’d caught the ants when they were just getting started. They had found an old, opened, honey container on the top shelf, shoved way in the back, that I had totally forgotten about.

We have a big ant problem in the neighborhood I live in, so this is an ongoing battle. Wizard says they force me to clean out the pantry once a year.

Okay, yeah, maybe I had a little help from the ants in the motivation department…

But I still cleaned the pantry.

And I’m still ignoring the refrigerator but I might do a half-hearted job on that once I get home from grocery shopping tomorrow. Maybe.

9 comments to “Motivation…I Has It…Sort Of”

  1. Viki S.
    December 20th, 2011 at 3:39 am · Link

    Ha Ha – things like that get me motivated too. In fact I keep looking at my pantry and say to myself that I really need to clean it. The boys have had KoolAid in at least 5 years so why do I have all these envelopes of the stuff. I think I’ll wait until after Christmas. But you have my spark turning into a flame ;).



  2. Shiloh
    December 20th, 2011 at 7:50 am · Link

    I got a new refrigerator for my birthday last month, so I was forced to clean my old one. It was totally worth it!!! Then 2 weeks after I got it the Turkey was thawing and leaked everywhere! Total panic mode! Nasty Turkey juice spreading e-coli in my BRAND NEW REFRIGERATOR = crazy cleaning lady!

    As for the pantry, it gets cleaned every Halloween. I go through looking



  3. Shiloh
    December 20th, 2011 at 7:52 am · Link

    I got a new refrigerator for my birthday last month, so I was forced to clean my old one. It was totally worth it!!! Then 2 weeks after I got it the Turkey was thawing and leaked everywhere! Total panic mode! Nasty Turkey juice spreading e-coli in my BRAND NEW REFRIGERATOR = crazy cleaning lady!

    As for the pantry, it gets cleaned every Halloween. I go through looking for old candy that might be hidden in odd places. The hubby likes to hoard his pick of the candy, I would never do something like that! I swear! :wink:



  4. B.E Sanderson
    December 20th, 2011 at 8:15 am · Link

    The ants here never motivate me to clean out the cupboards – because they never seem to start there. Instead, they get me scrubbing the floors and then doing the whole ‘dishsoap barrier’ thing. If that doesn’t work, I break out the poisoned peanut butter looking stuff. I hate ants in the house.

    But hey, at least you got the pantry clean. Good luck with the fridge cleaning. You’re a braver woman than I.



  5. Silver James
    December 20th, 2011 at 8:24 am · Link

    What is this “cleaning” of which you speak? This is not in my vocabulary. I don’t like ants, though, or *SHUDDER* cockroaches! I keep bay leaves in my cabinets and pantry to keep them out. And I put ant traps at the windows where the critters seem to sneak in. I usually go through my pantry around Thanksgiving during all the food drives. I clean out stuff that I’m not going to use before expiration dates. Usually. I won’t mention the six pack of beer I found under the toilet paper. That was a year out of date. I’m sure I have yeast growing in my pipes now from emptying them down the drain… ;)



  6. Jen Lyon
    December 20th, 2011 at 12:48 pm · Link

    Viki, I had that old Koolaide for a while. I think it got tossed on the last ant invasion.

    I can’t believe I motivate anyone. I used to be so diligent about cleaning, but in the past few years, I don’t waste my energy until I’m motivated by outside forces :-)



  7. Jen Lyon
    December 20th, 2011 at 12:52 pm · Link

    Shiloh, I would have cried at the turkey juice! I’ve had that happen, and chicken too. I have to take it apart to clean and it’s a pain. But awesome on your new fridge!

    Hubby hiding candy makes me laugh! I use to freeze my chocolate cuz I like it froze and I know Wizard doesn’t. Then my kids discovered frozen chocolate and candy bars is good and my whole evil plan was ruined. I’d open the freezer and find THEIR candy in there with a note “MOM, DON’T EAT.” Sigh.



  8. Jen Lyon
    December 20th, 2011 at 12:56 pm · Link

    B.E., I wish they’d stay out of my cupboard. They are super industrious little critters since my pantry is not on an outside wall. The whole neighborhood has this problem and exterminators have been no help. I think it’s the hills we live on.

    Wizard does a powder barrier around the yard that helps. Have to watch Bailey dog though.



  9. Jen Lyon
    December 20th, 2011 at 1:00 pm · Link

    Silver, cleaning is an evil word, I don’t recommend using it carelessly :-)

    LOL on the beer! That I’ve never found. I don’t drink beer, but Wizard and our boys (as adults, not minors!) do when swimming and stuff. I’ve never found any aged-out beer laying around so they are clearly not slackers in the beer department.



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