MacGyver skills

Does anybody read this blog anymore? Just wondering.

This week, Kat and I morphed into MacGyvers. I have been having a huge problem with fruit flies in my apartment. The thing is, I clean on a regular basis. The trash goes out every other day (sometimes daily). I clean the counters with Lysol. I don't leave fruit laying around. My mom sent me some great fruit fly trap ideas. We tried one, and the next morning, not only did we find that the fruit flies hadn't fallen for it, they were mocking us by chillin' on top of the Lysol can. Seriously? It was a mystery and was about to kill me.

Kat did some investigating and discovered that many of those pesky little fiends were coming out of the drain. We decided the drains needed a good cleaning. Problem: I didn't know where to buy or want to attempt Drano without a Ukraine-living veteran for support and guidance. What if the pipes exploded? Or completely backed up? Ergo, I got online and researched. I found a "green" and chemical-free solution:

Ingredients
1. 1/2 cup of baking soda
2. 1 cup of vinegar
3. 1 gallon of boiling water

Kat realized immediately that these are the ingredients you use to make "volcanoes." The idea is very similar:
1. Funnel the baking soda into the drain.
2. Pour half of the vinegar into the pipe. The two ingredients begin reacting and bubbling, breaking down the build-up inside the pipes. Cover the top of the drain so that the volcano reaction stays inside the drain, working its magic.
3. After the bubbles slow down, pour the remainder of the vinegar down the drain and repeat the step above.
4. Wait for fifteen minutes, then pour the water down the drain. Ta-da!

Update: Our drains (kitchen and bathroom sinks- we're going to tackle the shower drain today, I think) are draining oh so much better. The Enemy has been forced to retreat somewhat, but we're still on a Fruit Fly Killing Campaign until the last one has disappeared! If you have any brilliant ideas, do tell.