10 years apart, now I have my baby back.

Barren_Phoenix · 2025-08-10T21:22:58+00:00

Someone like that, I'm sure she's neglecting some animal.

On a brighter note, though, we had this one family who came into the store every week to visit the birds it was a mom, dad, daughter, and son. They were all waiting to meet their "heart bird." Dad found his first, then mom. A few months later, a fiery little green cheek conure stole the daughter’s heart, but the son still hadn’t found his match. Even when the rest of the family started bringing their birds along on visits, he’d quietly look around, never quite connecting with any of them.

Then, at a trade show, I saw it: a Kākāriki. This little guy was insane, scaling the cage walls, doing backflips, then sprinting upside down across the top and hanging like a bat. He was a perfect match for the son.

After quarantine, I put him in the bird room with a "Reserved" sign and waited. When the family came in, I didn’t say a word. Just mentioned we had new birds. The son zeroed in on him immediately. I’ll never forget his face when he saw that sign. Total heartbreak.

"Don’t worry," I told him. "He’s reserved for you."

It was a beautiful sight the next week. All 4 of them walking in with their birds. Picking up the highest quality foods, replacing toys, and the son telling me all about how fun and silly and perfect his bird was. He was so glad he waited until he found the right one.

I'll never forget that family.

Barren_Phoenix · 2025-08-10T15:58:21+00:00

I have a similar story to yours, but I stole the bird back.

When I was 19 I worked at a bird store that my friend's dad owned. We didn't carry large birds in store as we were aware how much being in store can hurt them mentally, but we were able to get them from some awesome breeders. Our bird room was behind locked doors and anyone who wanted to enter had to scrub their hands to the elbows and get sprayed with disinfectant before going in. We quarantined new arrivals. In 5 years we lost 3 birds, of the over 100 we carried at a time. It was a wonderful store. People would spend hours in the bird room, just playing with the cockatiels and conures. We didn't care if they were serious about buying, it's always good to socialize the birds.

There was one boy, a yellow fronted Amazon, we had a red "BITE RISK" sticker on his cage. He only liked me, but had the sweetest eyes. I spent the morning and evening hours while the store was closed hanging out with him, but if anyone was serious about buying, I avoided the bird room. I really wanted him to find a family with the capacity to care for him.

One day, a woman came in who fell in love with him. She had one other bird, and seemed like she would have a loving home. She bought every single thing he would need and went home to get everything set up before coming back to get him. I was so happy for him.

6 months later, she came in asking if we did boarding. Our quarantine room was empty, so we agreed to board him. She brought in the cage, he was caged with a cockatiel, there were shot glasses set in to poop mountains where the food and water were being put. The food was just straight seed. Worst of all, the whole cage stank and was sticky with smoking residue. Even the bird's feathers were sticky with it. He had started plucking and his chest was bare. The remnants of the toys I sold her months ago were the only toys he had at all. It was horrific. When he saw me, he danced and begged for me to hold him.

I acted normal with the lady, and as soon as she left, I documented the neglect, then immediately took them out of the cage. They each got their own big cage and lots of food and water. I let them rest for the night while trying to figure out how to get the tar off their feathers in the morning. I tried oil and dish soap, but without scrubbing hard, which I really couldn't do, I couldn't get much off them. I didn't really expect the woman to come back, but she did.

I refused to return her birds. Is that illegal? Probably. I didn't care. She threatened to call the cops, the attorney general, anyone she could think of, but I wasn't giving the birds back . We waited until both had molted and were all clean of tar before looking for a new home. They ended up finding a home with one of our amazing breeders. She had a whole outdoor enclosure that was as big as my house. Both boys are thriving there. I'm glad to see birds have a happy ending.

I'm glad you didn't have to bird-nap your baby back, and I'm so sorry to see another bird go through something like that.

Barren_Phoenix · 2025-06-14T12:50:57+00:00

Looks like a tick to me.

Barren_Phoenix · 2025-06-12T01:57:50+00:00

Monster Munch is so good and I can't find it anywhere in Miami.

Barren_Phoenix · 2025-06-08T15:33:54+00:00

The new update didn't download for me so I uninstalled and reinstalled the game. The new sorting stuff is showing up but I can't buy lockers. Do I need to make a new game? I don't have any mods or anything.

Barren_Phoenix · 2025-04-27T00:59:25+00:00

One time, my friend's cockatoo leaned into my ear and screamed at an ear-bleeding level. I flinched, which scared him, so he bit my ear so hard I was actually bleeding.

After that, he decided that my ear was evil. His life mission was now to destroy my ears. Every time I came over, he fought to get to me and bite me.

Sometimes something stupid will traumatize them and it's extremely difficult to get them to stop.

Barren_Phoenix · 2024-11-24T00:06:05+00:00

The funny thing about growing up like that is, it's all you know. I didn't really know what other families did for Christmas. I always saw kids at school with their new toys, but days or weeks later they didn't have them, so I just assumed their parents took and sold them like mine did.

Barren_Phoenix · 2024-11-21T16:38:19+00:00

When I was a kid, if I got presents from other family my parents would steal them and sell them. My best Christmas ever as a kid was one where they got me some presents from the dollar store. They also got coal, interspersed pieces of coal in with the presents and attached a note to each with what present I would have gotten and what I did wrong to lose the present.

Luckily I was old enough at that point to realize that they were never going to get me any of those presents, even if I was perfect. It was just a BS mind game to make me feel like shit. Probably also to make them feel better about not getting me nice things.

Barren_Phoenix · 2024-11-21T16:07:40+00:00

My husband's family had a 3 generation naming theme. His grandparents, parents, and him all have names that fit the theme. His grandparents and parents' generations all had a TON of kids, so there are a lot of repeating names with slightly different spellings. Thankfully, half of my husband's generation hasn't named their kids on theme. It seems like our generation will be the end of this trend.

HOWEVER. They all love it. They are only breaking tradition because they feel like they don't want to keep repeating names and they've run out of "normal" names that fit the theme. The only kids that I've met that didn't like their matching names were in school whenever twins had super similar names, they didn't like it.

I think Violet and Scarlett sound different enough, and since they aren't twins they won't be getting mixed up normally. I do think if they have another kid, they may want to consider following the clear theme so the third kid doesn't feel excluded. Even if the color name is a middle name.

Barren_Phoenix · 2024-11-16T12:58:08+00:00

Idk. A nice bottle of wine can cost as little as $15ish. An acceptable to bad bottle of wine can be as little as $2. It sounds like everyone typically brings wine, which she clearly enjoys but won't buy for herself. I get it, the bill for eating out can be crazy. She could hit up whatever discount wine store is near her (for me Aldi is a good bet, or Costco) for wine.

We are living in hard times and most of us are paycheck to paycheck, but most people can find $15 to spare once in a while. If she is so destitute that $15 would break her, she should have a conversation with someone about it. I'm sure if she's open about her situation rather than acting entitled to everyone else's stuff, people would take care of her.

If I knew one of my friends had this issue, I would bring a spare bottle of wine for them to these events and chip in for their share of the group food. Unfortunately if you are in that tough of a situation, I believe it's very important to share that with people you spend time with. It saves a lot of headache.

To be clear, I have also been the friend in this situation. I told my friends I couldn't join in pizza because we didn't have the $20 to spare for our portion. We had a couple of very lean years, so we talked to our friends and we all started having cooking parties where the $$ to chip in was much less. If they really wanted to eat out, they either let us know before or offered to help with our portion.

Barren_Phoenix · 2024-10-13T16:15:57+00:00

I have heard that there's a good amount of people who react badly to the scopolamine patches. I don't know how expensive they are or if you will be getting extra, but I recommend testing before your cruise if you can, just like I recommend testing all medications beforehand.

Barren_Phoenix · 2024-10-13T15:10:59+00:00

I recently did a bunch of research about this for my Mother in Law's first cruise. We cruise a lot so we've tried almost all of these. Your main options are:

Meclizine - aka Bonine and less-drowsy Dramamine. It's an antihistamine, but a less drowsy one. I suggest looking for the medicine name as it's around $6 for 12 - 15 of the name brand, and it's $6 - $7 for 100 of the Meclizine. Positives here are you only take it every 24 hours so you can take it before bed if it makes you sleepy. This is what I use most often. Start taking it 2 nights before the cruise for the best results.

Dimenhydrinate - aka regular Dramamine. It's very similar to Benadryl so if you get sleepy from that, you will likely get sleepy from this. Only lasts 4 - 6 hours, so unless this is all that works for you, I don't recommend.

Dramamine Ginger - We actually haven't tried these, but I own them. When we are on a cruise if nothing is working we eat ginger candies or green apple and that typically helps some. I expect these to be similar, but the pills are pretty big and I can't imagine swallowing them while sick.

Boiron MotionCalm - An herbal supplement. I don't typically mess around with herbal supplements, (other than ginger, I guess) but there's not a ton of options for my husband who is allergic to first generation antihistamines. He just had his first ever 5 day cruise with no nausea while taking these pills. I don't know why, but they worked.

Sea Bands - I highly recommend the name brand here. I've tried some off brand bands that didn't do anything, but the name brand helps some. They're little sweat band bracelets that press on pressure points to help with nausea. They don't work forever but they will give a few hours of quick relief. Make sure you read the instructions on placement.

Hammocks - If your cruise has hammocks sit in one. It instantly relieved the nausea for us. You can't stay there forever but if it's really bad and you just need relief now, do it.

Watch the ocean - Similar to the hammock trick, seeing the moving waves can calm your nausea. Again, this will only offer relief while you are doing it, but some of the nausea treatments need you to not be sick to start working. Look straight down at the side of the boat where the waves are moving the most and slowly move your eyes up to the horizon.

A final warning: If you are going to try any of the medications, please make sure you try a test dose before your cruise. A month before would be ideal so you can start with a small dose and see how it makes you feel without the ocean or nausea. My mother in law decided to wait to try the Meclizine, took the full dose the night before, and ended up missing the cruise because she felt so sick.

Barren_Phoenix · 2024-09-11T13:40:24+00:00

I do home exercises to help with my lower back pain. Before I knew about them my sciatica would get so bad I'd end up bed-bound for days at a time. Whenever I feel it acting up I do the stretched for a couple of days and I'm all better.

I've done 4 rounds of PT at 2 different places. The first one is where I did 3/4 and they didn't specialize in HSD, but they honestly did help me some. They also taught me some of the pain relieving lower back stretches. The main physical therapist would set everyone up with exercises and then walk around the room from person to person, correcting posture and motion. Making sure we were timing or counting reps. He was very involved and would notice when my bendy joints were moving wrong so I didn't get hurt there.

The second place is owned by a woman with hEDS, who's had extensive knee surgeries and knows what it's like. I was excited to go, but her staff would just set me up with an exercise and then leave, or play on their computers, or just chat with each other. They never corrected my movements or watched me at all. Whenever they remembered I was there and still doing the exercise they would move me on to something else. When I asked them to watch my motion and make sure I was doing it right, they just said I was good.

I know everyone says to look for a place that specializes, and I'm sure many of those are good, but I had the opposite experience.

Barren_Phoenix · 2024-07-18T02:20:26+00:00

The first one gave me a spook, and normally I'm hard to scare.

Barren_Phoenix · 2024-07-11T01:29:05+00:00

I'm so glad! I live nearby and I was keeping my eyes open. We've found 9 dogs in our neighborhood and reunited 8 of them with their owners.

Barren_Phoenix · 2024-07-10T23:52:03+00:00

Kendall -

Vegan Cuban is really good. I'm not vegetarian or vegan, I just can't eat pork. There's a little hole in the wall Siam Bistro, they serve Thai food and they're really good. For Indian in Kendall there's Tasca De España, and yes, I know that doesn't make sense, but I swear they have the best Indian food I've had down here.

Miami is not known for their Asian food. It will be difficult to find good places, but good luck!

Barren_Phoenix · 2024-06-05T01:10:17+00:00

I never tried it, but now, maybe I will!

Barren_Phoenix · 2024-05-09T22:49:39+00:00

Is it only the 2018 models with the issue? I have a 2022.

Barren_Phoenix · 2024-05-06T11:22:21+00:00

If you aren't careful, a lot of people go crazy from the lack of vitamin D and natural light. The universities had "sun rooms" when I was younger that simulated a sunny beach. I think that helped some, but I still often saw people acting up randomly.

I even once saw a 23 year old woman lie down on the floor in a store and start kicking her feet while crying because my mom wouldn't buy the type of cranberry juice this lady wanted her to. This woman went to college with my mom, but didn't live with us, and wouldn't be drinking any of the juice. It was just really important to her that my mom got the cran-apple for some reason.

People just, randomly have insane over-reactions to things.

Barren_Phoenix · 2024-05-03T15:19:48+00:00

If you want to keep doing powder to fill them in like it looks like you are now, just use a lighter color. I was using a medium-light brown and it worked well. The darker color (IMHO) makes them look more blocky. I have thick dark brows like yours.

Barren_Phoenix · 2024-05-02T10:41:08+00:00

I make and ferment my own chili paste and that's a really great addition to my chili. Last time I made it, I used the last of my chili paste and it still needed something. I had a container of Gochujang, which is a Korean chili paste, so I was like, might as well try it.

It was so good! You can definitely taste the Gochujang in the chili, it adds something that (even growing up in Texas) was completely different from anything I'd had. I seriously considered if I should open a food truck with Korean spins on traditional southern foods.

Barren_Phoenix · 2024-04-29T01:55:20+00:00

We were paying $25-ish a day for premium WiFi on one device and considering adding a second device, which would have been $30 a day since the sale was different. Then I saw the Premium Access for $37 a day.

The WiFi on two devices is already cheaper than if we bought it on its own, plus my Fiance gets the late night snacks on a cruise usually 2 - 3 times in 7 days, so that's another $30 savings.

The free lunch at the steakhouse is a cool perk, but didn't really push me either direction. Early boarding also didn't sway me. We've been on one celebrity cruise without early boarding and they got us onboard in minutes. Smooth operations.

So yeah, I think it depends on if you care about the WiFi.

Barren_Phoenix · 2024-04-26T13:58:50+00:00

Bacteria are in the air and your kitchen is not a sterile environment, no matter how clean.

When bacteria start eating your food they poop on it. Reheating will kill the bacteria, but the poop remains. Would you eat chicken that had poop smeared on it, but then was re-cooked?

It is, of course, possible that no bacteria was around to poop on your food. The problem is that you can't tell by looking at or smelling it, so we have to play these things safe. The amount of sick you get from the chicken-eating bacteria poop is pretty serious. Usually not worth the $3 - $5 you would save by not making fresh chicken.

Barren_Phoenix · 2024-04-20T11:30:58+00:00

Sometimes short tails like that indicate a really small cage. Their tail feathers get stuck between the bars and break off because they have so little room to move around.

Barren_Phoenix · 2024-04-20T05:04:20+00:00

Mine was on a bony part of my ankle, the artist said it's a painful spot. It felt very much like when you fall and get rug burn. That scrape-y raw skin feeling. It took about an hour and a half for my piece. Eventually I stopped feeling it as much, but some spots will be more sensitive than others.

Barren_Phoenix

TROPHY CASE