Hello again!
I said I'd try to come back more often, so I'm trying to stick to that promise and remind myself in daily life that we should not hold on to too many things that are left unused here. Instead, I'm trying to find ways to get rid of things by donating them or selling them if suitable. This also goes the other way, to be honest, such as when buying pots of olives coming in mason jars (not the same brand but the same type of jar with lid) I will not just throw them out but first find another purpose for them, such as preserving food. I don't have a pressure canner yet but I will first use them to get rid of bags of nuts for example, which are a pain for the eye to see in the cupboards.
Deep pre-holiday cleaning
With the summer kick-off starting with a 10-day holiday for my boyfriend as well, we have taken serious measures to do a deep cleaning. I guess we were already in the right flow when in search for the cat pee we kept smelling. Thankfully it turned out not to be located in the bedroom but in front of the window outside. A stray had marked his territory there. By the time we found out, we had cleaned the bedroom many times, lol. I guess it can't hurt.
Now the last days before my boyfriend's holiday was there and I wanted to have the house in order before we were heading out for daily trips and are too tired to do a deep cleaning. We took care of all rooms spread over two days and kept them tidy since.
Laptop issues
The laptop of the girl tutoring (and now also babysitting) our daughter has been the topic of conversation several times. I salute her for prepping worksheets for my daughter without having a laptop to work with because the one she used was shared with her little brothers and was very old. It was not workable and we talked about the old laptop we have several times to gift to her.
Last week she came to babysit for a few hours in the evening and my boyfriend asked her to take a picture of the specs so he can look up a few things if she wants she can bring it for him to clean it. There was not much time though as she was not home and didn't have it with her. So we talked about the old laptop again and he said if it's ok with you (it was my old laptop) I can empty it and install a new Windows and Office so she can take this one.
I'm fine with that as I have his old laptop (which is an upgrade from the old one and a pro version) and we both know that not too long from now we need to buy him a new computer so that one he has will be passed on to me. Which is another upgrade and the new have my current laptop as the spare one. I don't see the point in keeping the older one unused so it's good to help someone out who will probably be very happy with it.
Surprise, this is yours!
She came to babysit Friday morning and her day didn't start too well thanks to a stomach bug. A little later than planned she arrived here and my boyfriend surprised her with the laptop. She had tears in her eyes and said she felt as if someone on the street just gifted her a lot of money. It's not a small gift, we know, but to us, this is an old laptop and our daughter never uses it anymore anyway since we have a tablet at home.
She asked us why and besides it being left unused, it's also that we appreciate her help a lot. She's managed to help our daughter so well with the school that her third-term grades were so much better than we think she deserved a thank you. She'll be back in college herself next year so it will come in handy and hopefully, she can keep using this one by herself.
Paying it forward
We have paid her for her hours, obviously, but I can't describe how grateful we are for her help in words. I don't know how our daughter would have picked up the school stuff without her help. We surely didn't expect her to end her third term with these grades and she sure made our and our daughter's life in terms of school a lot easier and less stressful. A perfect moment to pay it forward, and we're happy we did. The grades didn't come in until the day after we gave them, I sent them to her and she was proud of our daughter, I hope she also feels proud about herself because she should.
I hope to find some more items to donate in the next weeks when I clear out another cabinet.