Snidely, I got a wonderful, thoughtful thank you note from a man not long ago. He is someone we don't know well, but when he was younger he was hired to drive for someone we are related to by marriage when that gentleman was beginning stages of Alzheimer's. A faithful companion and caring personal employee. He's no longer driving on the freeway himself, and twice DH has called him to see if he'd like to be picked up for an out of town event. He accepted, and followed up later with very kind handwritten note (beautiful handwriting). I found it gracious and thoughtful. Suzieque, you may not know it but you've already been generous with your neighbor. You've provided him with an opportunity to show his son its important to be a helpful part of his community. A lesson DH learned very young, and still follows today with neighbors and an elderly former neighbor. And she does try to repay him, but knowing her limited means it will frustrate him if she buys him something. Her cinnamon rolls he will happily accept. I don't think you are creating a circumstance of expectance if you occasionally treat them though, gift card for a movie or coffee bar (where they usually have Italian fruit sodas appropriate for fathers and teens both). A thank you note other times is more than enough. DH will still talk about being a boy and having his mother send him to the next farm to put in hay for the widow there. I don't know if you are familiar with the process of cutting, baling, loading into the truck then into the barn, but it's hot, dirty, prickly work. He was paid in popsicles, his mother wouldn't allow him to complain or take more ;) He laughs about it even now.

I also have never seen refrigerators that did not have reversible doors, and they are quite easy to change, although it does require two people and possibly a special type of Allen wrench - like the star-shaped ones. My fridge has French doors on top, a central drawer (which I love) for meats and cheese, and then a bottom drawer for the freezer, which I don't especially like, but it does have two small upper drawers for things that are used often, and that's what I use the most. I have a small counter between the fridge and the stove, but most often I put foo on the peninsula, which is close enough to the fridge, but not so close to the stove/oven that I cannot use a large pizza peel with the oven.

With only two of us, it takes a while to get a load of towels and washcloths together. I picked up a smallish steel white enameled hamper/wastecan that has two rounded decorative rubber bands, one at the bottom, one at the top next to the rolled steel rim. It is rather old-fashioned looking, and you would expect it to say its purpose in fancy print on it, like, "Laundry" If the washcloth is still wet, I either hang it from a towel rack until it is dry, or hang it on the side of the can.

I keep all my makeup in a caddy in the master bathroom but carry it, with a magnification mirror, to a bedroom window that gets natural light. That way I don't wind up with a clown face when I go outdoors! (The master bath doesn't have a window, and I didn't want to get one of those makeup mirrors that change to natural light since I have a wall of bedroom windows with all the natural light I want.) It's an excellent system.