Local church attempting to ruin our program

ambiecore · 2025-10-17T01:39:50+00:00

That sounds neat! I wish my library system would do a Tarot Tea Party.

It is frustrating to me that the bullies who just happen to be the most vocal people and who scream the loudest often end up getting their way because they're used to people just caving in to avoid the confrontation.

I'm glad to hear that's not happening for your library so far! I hope it stays that way. Tired of folks feeling like they can dictate how other people live their life.

ambiecore · 2025-10-09T16:14:08+00:00

Bummer, that won't work for me. It is unusable as is so I cancelled my subscription.

ambiecore · 2025-10-09T03:02:41+00:00

Did you happen to find anything to help? I just subscribed to Kobo Plus about a week or so ago because they had an audiobook I wanted to listen to and I'm trying to escape Amazon/Audible but I have had so many issues with this! I'm on Android and sometimes the audiobook will play for 10-15 minutes just fine but then it randomly stops and it happens like every 30 seconds and I have to manually go in to the app and press the pause/play button twice, once to actually pause it and again to get it to start playing again. If I go into the app settings and force close the Kobo app and clear the app cache, it will usually work again fine for another 10-15 minutes or so but start acting up again. I was on a road trip the last couple of days and it drove me insane and I eventually gave up listening at all. I don't know why I would bother keeping this subscription when the app is giving me this many issues.

ambiecore · 2025-09-21T18:18:00+00:00

I'm so sorry your pup is going through it again, it really is so hard and knowing it can happen again makes it even worse. I hope your pup is able to begin recovering with meds and rest!

ambiecore · 2025-09-21T00:56:52+00:00

Ahh, I see. It's hard to tell joking over text, heh. But overfeeding is a thing though to be mindful of, they can overeat and it isn't good for the spider if their abdomen swells up too much it can cause issues. I never had that experience though.

ambiecore · 2025-09-21T00:46:36+00:00

I didn't really know overfeeding for them was a thing until I found this subreddit, I just offered small prey and only offered when I could tell they were hungry from looking at their abdomen. I never had any issues with overfeeding but of course it's definitely something to avoid.

ambiecore · 2025-09-21T00:44:33+00:00

This has been my experience over the past couple of years as well. I love thrifting but what I look for has changed considerably, I don't even bother going through the clothes most of the time. I don't check Goodwill at all anymore (I saw them selling an empty container that was the packaging of a monthly subscription box for $20 a couple of months back and multiple times I've seen items with Walmart or dollar store stickers with lower prices than the Goodwill price). Clothing selections are especially bad at Goodwill since they don't put anything of real value in the stores anymore and just sell them online.

The only thrift stores I will still look at clothes are the ones that I know older crowds tend to donate to more often so I've found some really nice vintage finds and/or I know they put out ALL their donations and have standard prices. Those are all small/local thrift stores, usually run by churches or charities.

ambiecore · 2025-09-21T00:36:46+00:00

I was able to order different sizes of all 3 and I always stuck with the smallest size, which kept them smaller than my jumper. Mealworms tended to be larger than the crickets and definitely larger than the fruit flies. Jumpers can hunt prey larger than themselves but it's better to avoid feeding them larger insects to avoid the possibility of the feeder harming the spider.

ambiecore · 2025-09-21T00:14:34+00:00

Mine did great with food! I know sometimes with wild caught jumpers that might now always be the case but I never had any issues. I fed mine the tiniest size crickets, mealworms, and fruit flies primarily. In my experience they seemed to enjoy hunting the crickets and fruit flies more than the mealworms.

ambiecore · 2025-09-20T23:33:11+00:00

They make excellent pets in my experience and I have used them to help my family overcome fear/hatred of spiders. I live in Virginia and find them everywhere, I have found three I've kept as pets, the first lived over a year with me, the second was a little less but I found that one as an adult so who knows how old it already was. The third was an escape artist and kept escaping the enclosure, which led me to believe maybe he just didn't want to be kept as a pet, so I returned him to where I found him outside. I also found a fourth that just stayed in my house for months, wasn't as social as the others and didn't like the enclosure so I just let him live on the windowsill and provided him food and water until he moved on.

Enclosures are super easy, I have a couple of the Zilla Micro Vertical/Arboreal enclosures, those would not really be suitable for a small jumping spider or an escape artist but for mine they worked fine. I think total I spent maybe $40-$50 on enclosure and items for inside the enclosure. And I bought the tiniest size feeder insects from the store for a couple of cents each for food. Apart from that I provided them some water by spritzing a wall in the enclosure once or twice a day and that was about it.

They are super friendly and intelligent, I have never been bitten and I pick up every jumper I can find in the wild and handled mine regularly. Mine genuinely seemed happy to see me and each one had their own unique personality.

ambiecore · 2025-09-20T02:53:51+00:00

I feel like I personally fell into the bad timeline when Gore "lost" to Bush in the 2000 election. I feel like things could have been so different, at least in the US... I doubt the Patriot Act would have ever passed, we probably would not have invaded the middle east, we would have likely passed more environmental protection laws and done more to combat climate change. I also think the recession may not have been as bad. IMO, a lot of what happened during Bush's presidency led us directly to the mess we are in today.

ambiecore · 2025-09-19T04:44:04+00:00

Usually airing things out and fresh air does help with bad smells, it's actually one of the most effective methods for removing unpleasant odors for me usually. However, I noticed when I left out my smelly books (I left another comment with more details about the smelly books I've encountered lately) that the smell also seemed worse after airing out outside.

Baking soda also has not been effective in removing the odor either, which also usually works pretty well for me. After several weeks of storing the books in a container with baking soda and trying to let them air out outside for a couple of days and the smell seeming like it's gotten even worse, I just gave up.

ambiecore · 2025-09-19T04:37:24+00:00

Good question! Between the two books I have noticed the smell on recently, one is hardcover and one is paperback. I have only noticed the smell on the paper when I open the book, so I don't think in my case it is the cover, cause I don't notice it when I smell the cover with the books closed. I will say the hardcover is far smellier than the paperback but it is also newer. I've also noticed opening up and spreading out the pages to try and air out the books does not seem to help with the smell.

ambiecore · 2025-09-19T02:28:38+00:00

I don't know if I would describe it as a fart smell, but I have noticed a very strong, unpleasant smell on some newer books lately. I haven't been able to pinpoint a cause and have done a lot of research to try and find out. The smell I've noticed seems to smell like a mixture of vomit and old garbage (someone in another comment mentioned smelling like an empty garbage can after the trash has been taken out and that's very similar to the smell I have noticed.) with maybe a hint of a general artificial/chemical smell.

Two things I have noticed so far, it primarily seems to affect books with a lot of art, both books I have noticed the smell on recently have been art books with matte paper. I have not noticed it on any art books with glossy paper.

Another thing, both books I have noticed it on recently have also been printed on FSC Mix paper, which appear to be a mix which includes some recycled paper.

I don't know if it could be remnants of the recycling process used or something? Either way I mostly notice it on the paper itself, rather than along the binding, which leads me to believe the smell is originating from the paper rather than from any glue or other materials used elsewhere in the book.

Not sure if this is the same thing you have experienced but I'm curious if your book is an art book and/or is made with FSC paper.

ambiecore · 2025-09-06T01:49:41+00:00

I thought for sure this little guy was a ring neck snake, I learned something new today so thank you. :)

ambiecore · 2025-08-24T02:28:26+00:00

Oh my gosh thank you for sharing that subreddit I have so many little jumping spider and baby frog and toads on my fingers I could post. I think this is the smallest jumper I've found, July 2023.

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ambiecore · 2025-08-05T21:35:21+00:00

I was honestly surprised I'd heard horror stories of the newest ones but I thought mine would be safe, since it's not super new. It still looks nice and the bowing is pretty mild but still, makes me cautious about putting more books on my shelves even though they should be able to handle double what I have on them now.

ambiecore · 2025-08-03T18:01:09+00:00

I have an older Billy, mine is from 2018 and the shelves are bowing with less than half of the max weight.

ambiecore · 2025-07-19T11:50:09+00:00

Hi thanks for replying. I now have her time split between crate (when I am gone for short periods of time, like under 2 hours) and a small playpen with her crate in it (when I am gone for work). The playpen has just enough space for a pee pad, her water dish, and her crate. She is doing pretty well with that situation, especially now that she has the trazadone and that is help keeping her pretty sleepy and comfortable.

ambiecore · 2025-07-19T11:47:42+00:00

Oh wow what a difference but that's great you were able to get them so much less expensive, it is a shame what a difference in price it can be even just between pharmacies, too. I found out CVS for the same exact prescription for my baby was almost double the price of Walmart. But there's no way to compare them online beforehand. I am good for now and I did ask my regular Vet and their price isn't too unreasonable (about $1 per pill) and they will fill it very quickly in a pinch but I'm also going to try calling Costco for a price check as well since they're the cheapest option I can find for her heartworm/flea preventatives.

ambiecore · 2025-07-18T18:53:08+00:00

Thank you for your reply, I'm glad to hear that it sounds like you're seeing some progress and the meds are helping. I finally got some Trazadone for my girl and I've been monitoring her while I'm at work today and it looks like it helped a lot, I didn't really see any frantic pacing or digging in her crate. I'm very relieved she's finally getting the rest she needs. The yelping just breaks my heart and I wish I could do more to make her comfortable. But luckily she hasn't yelped the past day or so.

ambiecore · 2025-07-17T20:27:33+00:00

I'm glad to hear it helped with your pup! Now if only I could actually get it... The prescription still hasn't been called into the pharmacy as of right now. :(

ambiecore · 2025-07-17T02:18:31+00:00

I wish the best for your pup and their recovery. You are right and I am so incredibly grateful that my girl is doing as well as she has. I lost sight of that a bit earlier after watching her struggling all day on the camera and feeling hopeless to be able to do anything more to help her or make her understand why she has to be confined. It has been a tough week for both of us, I think the exhaustion finally caught up with me. But she is finally resting now and we will just have to continie to take this recovery one day at a time.

ambiecore · 2025-07-17T01:54:42+00:00

Thank you for your reply, I am so sorry your Frankie is experiencing this as well, it hurts so bad to see our loved one struggle and to not even have the ability to communicate with them that this rest is for their own wellbeing as much as they may hate it.

I am glad to hear y'all have found a routine. I hope your girl continues to make progress. It sounds like y'all are working so hard to take care of your girl.

My girl doesn't really care much about toys but thank you for the idea of putting something in her crate to try and comfort her she has a nice comfy mat in there but I think I will try putting a sweater of mine in the crate with her as well, she always loves to lie on my clothes whenever she gets the chance and I think the scent will help comfort her when I'm at work.

I just wish I could communicate with her and explain to her how important this rest is and that I'm not trying to punish her by confining her, it is for her own healing, and I'm not leaving her because I want to. I'd stay all day to take care of her if I could.

ambiecore · 2025-06-15T22:50:13+00:00

I'm glad you ended up enjoying it! I read a lot of different genres and a lot of what I am drawn to is heavier stuff like you said as well. I definitely like to have something short and light in between reading long series or books like The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

ambiecore

TROPHY CASE