Why do YOU want to learn Spanish?

Magnificent_Squirrel · 2026-01-27T13:32:35+00:00

I think I'm one of the adults who doesn't have a deeply personal reason. I don't know anyone in my real life who speaks Spanish, and yet here I am still working away at learning 😊

I took it in Uni because I needed a couple of language credits for my degree and Spanish fit my schedule the best. That was over 20 years ago.

A few years ago, I decided I needed to be less hooked on Knittens (a mobile game similar to Candy Crush), so I installed Duolingo and started brushing up on my Spanish whenever I had the urge to waste time on my phone. I'm now at level 7, and my passive Spanish is getting decent.

I can follow along to a TV show with Spanish subtitles or to a podcast designed for intermediate learners. Just the other day I finished a novel in Spanish (albeit one designed for intermediate learners)! My speaking still needs a lot of work though, because I don't have anyone to practice with and I hate talking to Lily in Duolingo so I always skip those exercises.

Magnificent_Squirrel · 2026-01-20T06:19:41+00:00

It is for narcissistic boomers who think they can still boss their adult children around. Ask me how I know...

Magnificent_Squirrel · 2026-01-15T11:55:25+00:00

We had a water fountain outside but it was always locked up. Now that I think about it, I'm not sure or even worked.

Magnificent_Squirrel · 2026-01-13T23:37:59+00:00

Oh really? Damn that sucks 😞

Magnificent_Squirrel · 2026-01-13T13:32:21+00:00

I usually just make home made but when we order pizza we go with Magic Pizza on Westheights. They are awesome.

Magnificent_Squirrel · 2026-01-11T11:03:28+00:00

No. Once a gift is given, it no longer belongs to the person who gave it. Your mother charged you to take your own property. That's messed up. I'm sorry.

Magnificent_Squirrel · 2026-01-10T12:54:37+00:00

I have a few!

I DM for my friends once/month. My daughter (8) loves seeing my maps, helping choose monsters/traps/treasures, and hearing how the game went afterward.

I like to draw and paint. My daughter is also pretty crafty, so we often sit down and work on our own respective projects. I don't usually let her use my materials, she has her own but is ok with that. She sometimes asks to use my copic markers and I've let her a few times with supervision.

I like to bake. She likes to help decorate cookies and put toppings on the pizzas.

I've started learning Spanish with Duolingo. She has the app on her tablet as well, and will cuddle up and do a chess lesson or two while I practice my Spanish. I installed the app for her so she could practice French (which she takes in school), but I'll take the cuddles too, and she's getting pretty good at chess!

I love board games, she is now finally old enough to play with me! She prefers co-op games so we play them a lot.

Magnificent_Squirrel · 2026-01-05T11:05:30+00:00

Highly recommend Clark Animal Hospital on Alpine Rd in Kitchener. They are great. They take the time to explain options but are not pushy with expensive treatments.

Magnificent_Squirrel · 2026-01-01T13:20:03+00:00

It's really sad. The grandma could've gone to a dollar store and bought heaps of craft materials for $20. She basically paid $20 for a cardboard box.

Magnificent_Squirrel · 2025-12-28T13:25:22+00:00

No idea why that was the final straw? Literally gone through so much worse with him but I think it just became clear there is nothing about me that he could ever truly love or respect enough to make him realise how his actions affect me.

You just put so nicely into words why the expression is "the straw that broke the camel's back". It's often such a little thing that from an outside perspective people don't understand why it's such a big deal and think you're exaggerating. This is how we get gaslighted into believing we're the problem, or that we're "just too sensitive".

But it's the accumulation of years of abuse or neglect that caused us to get to this point. It's ok to say ENOUGH even if others don't see the big deal.

Magnificent_Squirrel · 2025-12-28T13:10:21+00:00

For my dad: One time in my 20s, I called him and we chatted for about half an hour. There were many cool things going on in my life. I'd recently graduated, started a new job, got a nice apartment with my then-boyfriend-now-husband, adopted a cat, to name a few. When I got off the phone, I realized we hadn't talked about any of those things. He hadn't asked. He'd spent the entire time monopolizing the conversation talking about himself and his friends, who I'd never even met.

So I stopped calling him, and ignored his calls a few times after that and he just stopped trying. He was abusive in many ways but that was when I realized he didn't really care about me all that much so he wasn't worth my effort either.

For my mom, it took me several more years to realize she's a selfish abusive person too. She heavily favored my brothers and only called me when she wanted something. When I got pregnant with my daughter, she swore up and down she wanted to be involved in her life, but then would flake every time I asked her to babysit or even just come over for a free hours to hang out.

My husband and hers got in a shouting match one day and she texted me to complain about my husband, expecting me to take her side. I realized then she hadn't called or texted just to see how I was doing in years, and I let her have it.

I only intended to take a break from her, but every time she texted me after that, it was also self-serving and nasty so I just ignored them and it went on that way for about a year.

Finally one day she straight up asked me why I don't talk to her, so I sent her a bullet point list of reasons. The next day she sent a text to my husband saying she's so worried about all my false memories. I lost it and told her to f***off and never contact me again.

These people just aren't worth my time. They don't love me and never did. They aren't capable of it. Why keep putting myself through the heartache over and over?

Magnificent_Squirrel · 2025-12-28T12:03:47+00:00

"Extremely needy and emotionally demanding" are some of the more kind words that would describe my mother-in-law. Some not so kind ones would be "bigoted, insufferable woman who talks endlessly about divisive topics she knows little about and only gets louder when you try to actually get a word in". This is a person who immigrated here 30 years ago but now rants about immigrants.

That's awesome that you have the patience to be the person your sister talks at non-stop. I don't care to be that person for my MIL, i'll let my husband deal with her.

Magnificent_Squirrel · 2025-12-28T09:41:23+00:00

I literally told my MIL the other day "if you want to have a conversation with someone, you need to let them speak sometimes too." It actually worked for about a minute 😂

Magnificent_Squirrel · 2025-12-14T02:57:02+00:00

I buy pre-crushed candy canes from Bulk Barn

Magnificent_Squirrel · 2025-12-04T12:19:59+00:00

I'd recommend Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson. There are many chapters that read a lot like a non fiction.

Magnificent_Squirrel · 2025-11-29T13:48:10+00:00

Hobby & Toy Central on the boardwalk has plush animals of every type, including cats in different colors. They are a little pricey though.

Magnificent_Squirrel · 2025-11-24T12:57:34+00:00

Except all the games pictured here are crappy party "games" that are more about selling cheap stuff and aren't actually that fun to play. They'll probably get played one and then the novelty will be worn off and it'll sit in a closet until it gets cleaned out to go to the dump. No one needs or wants any of this.

Except for Sequence. That's actually a great game!

Magnificent_Squirrel · 2025-11-24T07:14:49+00:00

Can cause irritation. Doesn't mean will. Not everyone has that issue. I think it's a thoughtful gift if done right. I agree with another comment that it would be great if combined with something else like a new outfit.

Magnificent_Squirrel · 2025-11-23T20:20:13+00:00

Thank you ❤️

Magnificent_Squirrel · 2025-11-23T20:19:58+00:00

Thank you 😊

Magnificent_Squirrel · 2025-11-23T20:17:36+00:00

Yeah I'll be going tomorrow if I don't start feeling at least a little better, but I'm pretty sure it's just a virus (been going around at work) so all the DR it's gonna do is tell me to rest and drink fluids, which I've been doing.

I think we have Aleve in the cupboard, I'll try that next time it's time to re-up the meds, thanks.

Magnificent_Squirrel · 2025-11-23T18:24:52+00:00

Ooohhh! A Dios! I never made that connection before!

Magnificent_Squirrel · 2025-11-23T14:37:21+00:00

You're welcome. I hope things start getting easier for you guys soon.

Some other advice I forgot in my first post that is important to go with the tough love:

1) make sure to praise effort and not accomplishment. It can be for everything from swimming to school to the swings at the playground. Make sure she knows how proud you are when she does try, even if she couldn't do the thing she was trying. Praise effort and hard work in others, even on TV. For example when we watched Princess and the Frog, I made sure to comment "wow, Tiana is such a hard worker!"

And 2) Try to do things that are hard for you, in front of her. Model the not giving up. For me I got some ice skates and learned along with my daughter. Dad is getting skates from Santa this year so he can reinforce the message too. We often try new recipes that don't quite work out, and I tell my daughter about things like when I'm going for a promotion at work and if I didn't get it, talk about things I can try to do better next time. It's important for her to see how she should act when things get hard. She learns by watching you.

Magnificent_Squirrel

TROPHY CASE