Cleaning Up

My food closet was infested with Indian Meal Moths. Lots of them. So I threw away most of my food, saving only things in cans. Then I removed all of the shelving and put it outside where I poured boiling water into every crook and crevice. This removed some of the paint from the white shelves, but it was very satisfying to see all the nasty little worms curl up and die.

Unfortunately, I was left with closet walls and wooden shelf brackets that I couldn't pour boiling water over. I could squish the worms I could see, but they were hiding inside and behind things I couldn't remove from the closet. Then, my Mommy came to the rescue with four little words.

"I have a steamer."

I don't know why she has one, but a machine designed to steam clean any solid surface was put to work here on my wooded closet. Not a hard surface, but I really didn't care if it caused the wood to warp in any way. I just needed to be confident that the worms, moths and all their little sneaky eggs were gone!

Sure enough, the steamer worked like a charm. Every nasty little creature in that closet was eradicated by all that hot vapor.

After all of this was done and I waited a day to see if any creatures climbed out of their hiding places, it was time to put the shelved back in. My children kindly helped me with the end of the clean up.




This is Katie wielding a broom. She's very good at finding things that need to be swept.





But if you aren't careful and you stand still just a little too long while she is on duty, you may find yourself swept out the door!



Just look how efficiently she swept all the babies out of the closet!