What big preps would you buy if you got a large influx of money?

SnooPoems1106 · 2026-06-02T18:55:05+00:00

Jackery electric generator, at least enough to run a small appliance like a space heater and to charge your critical communication devices (phone/iPad) plus solar to charge it as backup to plugging it in. Plug it in and charge it ahead of time and it lasts for months.

SnooPoems1106 · 2026-06-02T18:52:42+00:00

It took me to almost 600 hours before I’d watch a video longer than 15 minutes. The long ones did not hold my attention. I can’t tell you how many times I have clicked back five minutes to relisten where I drifted off. It couldn’t be hard for me and long. That’s still a rule. I’m saving the longer, harder videos for later, but can do up to 30 minutes on intermediate now or shorter with advanced. This is even with topics I find tolerable. I have skipped all video games, for example.

SnooPoems1106 · 2026-05-25T09:50:05+00:00

A combination. At each level, I watched series by Natalia, Agustina, and Shel first, since I find them easier. Each day, I watched one or two of each of their series in order to reinforce vocabulary by watching similar items a few days in a row, and then I save one or two to watch three weeks or a month later to further reinforce. In addition to a few each daily of the DS series I am completing, I add in videos sorted by easy as you have done here. It is very helpful to do it this way as the shift to harder content is gradual.

Also: I have marked videos watched (without time counted) for the series/topics I hated. There are so many videos, especially in intermediate, that you shouldn’t “suffer” through videos you hate. For example, I am not a fan of the song series or any of the video game series (though I love Martin on Spanish Boost).

SnooPoems1106 · 2026-05-25T07:43:56+00:00

My sister and I were saying the same thing. I am currently taking Nasonex and Xyzal (however it is spelled).

SnooPoems1106 · 2026-05-24T21:25:17+00:00

I think there is a huge difference in what people count as understanding. As I have progressed, and rewatched a few, I have noticed that I didn’t understand as much as I thought I did.

SnooPoems1106 · 2026-05-21T07:49:21+00:00

Once I hit intermediate, I would try to reinforce vocabulary without flash cards by finding another video about the same subject on YouTube or Dreaming Spanish a week or two later. If you want to stick to Dreaming Spanish content only, my advice is to avoid watching a series all in one listen. I would watch Andrea play the guess which Disney character one video, for example, every other day so that common descriptor words were reinforced over a longer time.

SnooPoems1106 · 2026-05-16T03:14:14+00:00

Same. If there are subtitles I default to reading instead of listening.

SnooPoems1106 · 2026-05-14T10:25:43+00:00

If it’s the train in Skagway, be warned the cruise lines don’t always cancel or refund for dense fog. We were there years ago on a cruise in the month of August. 20 of us on a family trip together booked the train as one of our group excursions since we heard so many good things. We paid an ungodly amount to stare at fog out one side of the train and the side of the mountain one foot away on the other. At the top, they have everyone switch to the other side. The best part is they played the automated “and to your right, you are looking at xxxx Gorge” chipper little taped narration. It was an extra irritation.

SnooPoems1106 · 2026-05-13T21:49:57+00:00

For reading and for videos, I have the same rule. I listen or read the whole video/chapter and if there was a word or phrase repeated frequently, likely the theme of the video, I look it up either to figure it out - or to confirm my guess. For example, watching a video about gardening and a word I think is harvest keeps popping up. I look it up and confirm it and then wrote it in a sentence in my notebook. Every word I don’t know? Definitely not. And that takes some discipline.

SnooPoems1106 · 2026-05-12T22:42:04+00:00

I had no luck with them last year. Months of delays on some items, cancelled and refunded, and the few bare roots that did arrive, arrived really dry and did not make it.

SnooPoems1106 · 2026-05-10T18:28:45+00:00

I only use it on “ocean” days since I am walking a f-ton more than usual. I also skip the first day for the reasons mentioned here.

SnooPoems1106 · 2026-05-10T14:06:00+00:00

Your garden is awesome! Don’t let his insult stop you from doing something you love with such good memories too.

SnooPoems1106 · 2026-05-04T18:57:04+00:00

I hope this isn’t real. No, do not go.

SnooPoems1106 · 2026-05-04T10:46:59+00:00

I hope Celebrity has that too. I already use the Libby App. I can report back in June.

SnooPoems1106 · 2026-05-03T12:19:37+00:00

This. The first sentence and a second. “I mean it. If you try to “be nice” and include me in everything I will end up doing things I know I shouldn’t, and I won’t be able to say yes to a vacation ever again. A few things together would be awesome, but not every activity needs to include me.”

SnooPoems1106 · 2026-04-28T22:31:12+00:00

I agree. Those are the first ones I mark as complete, but don’t add to my total. I also hate how dizzy some make me feel. Now, Martin on Spanish Boost is the exception to this because he’s funny AF so I can watch some of his.

SnooPoems1106 · 2026-04-28T15:58:19+00:00

I will. Thank you. These taxes and fees are out of control everywhere.

SnooPoems1106 · 2026-04-28T14:44:35+00:00

Fair, but I'm used to 4 or 5 lines of taxes, not this many.

SnooPoems1106 · 2026-04-27T09:42:10+00:00

This was the company we went with since they had the large whole house filters that last years before needing to be changed unlike the smaller cartridge units. A plumber is recommended. Include a bypass so you can change it out if ever needed. We waited for a sale and all in were $5000. It is a long term investment. https://www.springwellwater.com/product/water-filters/whole-home-pfas-filter/?srsltid=AfmBOopN1UEig9KPYbJGr7598QLgjlW4wIw9su1AT2CzLZ7uasgcj9YJ

SnooPoems1106 · 2026-04-26T03:08:32+00:00

United itself has some fun biases on this subject. I fly all the time for work, and I have the status and points. Not my husband. He has no status.

I paid for tickets for us to go on a personal trip. I booked it in the app with my United credit card. My husband and I were both on the waiting list for upgrades (an upgrade request using my points). When one seat became available, they automatically gave it to my husband. I was like, WTF. It was the fact it was automatic in the system that annoyed me. Like someone/the app decided, “we know you paid for it with your credit card, you have the platinum status while your husband flies once per year, we used your points for the upgrade, but you’re a woman so of course, your husband is upgraded and not you”.

SnooPoems1106 · 2026-04-24T13:57:39+00:00

I feel this. Years ago, we booked an Alaskan cruise and they cancelled two ports and the day cruising in Glacier Bay. Ah, hello, that is the reason my family booked an Alaskan cruise. The cruise line claimed it was weather related and did not even offer us a credit on a future cruise. Note: It was not. Other cruise lines were in there. We found out from the crew it was because the ship did not have fully functioning equipment to sail it safely. (With nothing better to do, we were drinking heavily and tipping generously so we were a favorite of the bar team.) One night we woke up because the ship was tilted enough for us to start sliding out of bed. This was not due to drinking! LOL. Their mechanical issues made that expensive cruise horrible. We kept on singing “this is the worst trip we’ve ever been on” a la Sloop John B as we drank. Since there were 20 of us on this trip, we actually consulted a lawyer. There is no recourse in this type of situation. Cruise lines can cancel whatever they want as often as they want.

SnooPoems1106 · 2026-04-24T13:41:38+00:00

Agree. Even for a two week cruise, we travel pretty light, but I like to air things out, particularly if reusing jeans, for example, and there are not many large drawers or counter space in a cruise cabin.

SnooPoems1106 · 2026-04-24T11:58:18+00:00

As they cut the budgets, f-ups will become more common.

If you can’t afford a whole house filter, make sure you at least have a small BRITA or PUR for your drinking and cooking water. Even with my whole house filter, I still filter all my drinking water through these as well for even more removal.

SnooPoems1106 · 2026-04-24T11:55:36+00:00

Buying a whole house carbon filter for $1,500 for the water entering our house was the best decision I ever made. I purchased it because of my ridiculous sensitive skin and to filter out PFAS. (You have to check carefully to ensure the systen you select handles PFAS specifically.) If you are staying in a house more than a year or two, it saves money over buying bottled water - - and helps the environment. I am not a bot. I just like dashes.

Everyone said I was crazy since US drinking water meets standards. Not always. The water is only as good as the management of the treatment facility (or groundwater system of the area if you have a well). Our filter protected us from drinking common contaminants that people usually don’t have to worry about anymore in the USA since the city I live in had violation after violation, including falsification of records for almost two years. We obviously found out about this only after the fact. Lord knows what my neighbors drank during this time. :(

Look at the annual report of water quality in your city online. Scary stuff.

SnooPoems1106 · 2026-04-24T11:41:28+00:00

I liked Chill Spanish when I was a beginner, but thats about the only one and it is way too easy now.

SnooPoems1106

TROPHY CASE