Apartments, Parrots, and Microwave Helper

I've been looking for apartments lately, which is fun but also kind of depressing; I'm realizing how little money I will have once I truly start living on my own. I have to admit, though, the thought of organizing, decorating, and accessorizing my own place continues to override the stress of how much it's going to cost me. And maybe that's a good thing...I think so many of these "grown-up" steps are so scary that we don't enjoy the adventures in them. So maybe it's good that I choose to think more about how cute it's going to look than how sad it will be that I'll barely be able to afford something the size of my bedroom at home. Anyway, I think I've got a couple winners...one sounds too good to be true, so I need to make sure to get out there in the next couple of days and see if it's really as good as it sounds, and if so, I need to snag one!

I went home to my mom and dad's for the afternoon yesterday, which was really relaxing. My car got its first bath and wax, and I don't mind saying it looks GREAT! My parents' next-door neighbor has four pet birds of the exotic variety, and she takes them outside in these huge cages on wheels so they can be outside while she works in the yard. Mom and I went over so I could be introduced to them all, and it was quite a show!

The first one was what seemed to be a sort of cross-bred parrot, and it had just recently come off of the endangered species list and was becoming more common in the pet market.

"She'd bite your finger off as soon as look at ya," said our neighbor, "but hopefully she'll come around in time."

The next one was a gray parrot with a bright red tail, and she was the one who talked the most out of the bunch. Some of the things she said to us were, "What?" "How 'bout that?" and my favorite, "Pretty cool." While she was handling the gray parrot, our neighbor explained that the best way to train a parrot was to give them attention when they did something. She explained that many people use treats as incentive, but all the birds really wanted was our attention and praise.

This became more evident once we moved on to a huge, gorgeous gold and blue macaw who, when our neighbor said, "Show 'em your wings," proudly spread out her wingspan to show us her glorious deep blue feathers. She looked just like a kid saying, "Tada!" Our neighbor asked her to wave, and she flapped her wings.

"What?" said the gray bird, in a tone like, "Oh yeah, so impressive. Whatever."

"Here's my mess," said our neighbor, showing us the last bird, who was in a cage that sat on top of the gray parrot's cage. The little bird had a beautiful bright red head, but her neck was in a clear tube-like veterinary collar, and connected to the bottom edge of the collar was a red felt circle, like a little cape. Under the felt was a bare, pink little belly. Our neighbor told us that this parrot had been handed off to her by someone else who had said, "Take her! She's free." The little parrot was a mutilator, our neighbor explained; she picked at her own feathers until she plucked herself bare. The felt cape kept her from reaching most of her feathers, so her tail and wings were finally growing back in with bright scarlet, deep blue, and even flecks of emerald green.

"I took off the collar for a little bit yesterday, but she ended up doing this," said our neighbor as she lifted one of the little bird's wings. Underneath, it looked like little chicken bones. "The thing is," said our neighbor, "if she would just stop picking herself apart, she'd be the prettiest one of the bunch."

Being the kind of person who sees metaphors in everything, I immediately imagined these four birds as so many girls I've known growing up. There are the ones who feel endangered, and won't let anyone get close without getting their fingers bit off. There are the talkers, who get tired of letting others have the spotlight. There are the gorgeous, larger-than-life ones who make others jealous just by being themselves, the way they were created. And there are the ones who mutilate themselves, or pick themselves apart, when if they just let their feathers grow in, would be the most beautiful of the bunch. And all of us just want some attention and praise for the things we do.

On a completely different note, here is a consumer review for all you single dwellers out there...I love Hamburger Helper and I saw that they now have Microwave Helper, which is a single serving of their normal dishes. The box said meat is included. I wondered how this could be, so I got a box. It was good, but just so you know, the "meat" is very sparse and looks kind of like little hamster terds. It doesn't TASTE like that, it just looks like it. The microwave dishes are good, just don't expect to get a meaty meal out of it.

That's all I've got! I've been super busy working (I'm a real live waitress now!) and just had the craziest week, so I've got some catching up to do. More to come!