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Joined 14 days ago
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Cake day: March 18th, 2025

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  • My spouse and I were broke grad students with a baby on the way. We needed a car. Someone in our tiny town was selling a 1992 Accord for $1000 (this was in the early 2010s). We bought it and put in another $1000 to get it to run.

    The only problem? It was a stick shift. I didn’t know how to drive standard; at the time, my spouse didn’t drive at all. I tried to learn, but I was so nauseated from my pregnancy that I nearly puked every time the car lurched… which was often. I never did get the hang of it. Eventually we bought a newer automatic car and traded the Accord in for a whopping $250.

    These days we could weather a $2000 mistake without too many problems, but back then… yeah, that one hurt.





  • I lived in Ottawa for four years, actually, and my husband for over a decade – but I haven’t been back since 2013 and our kids have never visited. I’m actually really looking forward to revisiting some of my old stomping ground with them!

    We haven’t really filled out our itinerary yet, so I don’t mind suggestions on things to do with the kids in particular (all elementary school age). So far we’re thinking touring the Hill & Peace Tower, the Museum of Nature, whatever the Museum of Civilization is called these days, and maybe one of the river/canal boat tours.







  • I had a second-hand bread machine that served me very well for several years, until one day when it started vibrating like crazy and threw itself off the counter mid-knead. The whole lid smashed into about seven pieces and the dough went all over the floor. We still refer to it as “the time the bread maker committed suicide.”

    Anyway, that’s how I ended up making all our bread by hand for the next four years or so.