Shelley Maxwell

My situation is rather...special.

You see, I live with my mother, and my father when he's home (he's a trucker). I'm 22 years old now, starting university in Montreal.

Recently I learned that my mother is cheating on my father on a regular basis. She feels no remorse. This woman has already been emotionally abusive to me my whole life, and been very controlling and manipulative. I feel bad around her all the time.

I want to move in with my brother next month, and then get an apartment with two friends after I've settled out of the house. My brother won't charge me rent, and my friends are extremely reliable. However, when speaking with my dad (who semi-knows what's going on) he says I won't be able to handle working, schooling, and living outside the parental home. He won't stop me if I go, but it concerns me that he feels this way.

What do you guys think? :P

I've just rescued a funny little peach-faced lovebird, but likely due to nutritional deficiency she is not in the best health.

I just got her home, and I've noticed she's doing something very odd:

She crouches on a perch, with her head lower than her rump, and seems to be straining very hard. Like when Bolt thinks he has laser vision.

Is that her trying to poop? That's what it resembles most, but she seems to be able to poop otherwise, even if it is a bit liquidy and abnormal.

Once I've got her health sorted out she's going to be switched onto pellets. Thank goodness.

When I was ten, I bought a pair of lovebirds from the pet store. Beautiful little dears, but naturally they bonded to each other instead of me, and I was too immature at the time for the responsibility anyways.

12 years later, I'm much older and only one bird remains as the male met a terrible fate at the beak of his angry mate (they liked it rough, I guess you could say), and the female is all alone. She's been relocated to my room, which has nice big windows and she has her own personal alcove with a big cage.

Problem is, she's a huge seed junkie and has had a nesting box for her whole life. She's been essentially neglected by the prior caretaker, and I've stepped in.

How likely is her health to change if I alter her diet gradually from the dollar store budgie seed she was fed by my mom to quality pellets? How difficult will it be? Will she ever adapt at all, or is she 'too old for change' as my mom tries to tell me? Oh, and should I definitely invest in a UV lamp like my niece suggested?

In addition to this, when she sits she's very puffy, and she often vomits black/white gunk. I've no clue what's up, as I'm the only person who seems to witness this. Also, any tips on teaching her how to play with toys would be great. I'm planning on hand-taming her over the long-term.

I'm starting University (Canadian) in the fall, and I really want to move out on my own. There are a large number of factors influencing this decision, the foremost of these being that my mother is one of the overbearing manipulative controlling types, and I can't take her ridiculous behavior anymore. (she tells me how to dress, when to do what, whether I can or can't do something, whether I'm capable of something, whether my future fiancee will dump me)

So here's my plan: I will work full time all summer to save up the $5000 I need for a full year's tuition and supplies. Then I will work 20hrs a week during my studies to pay for rent and any interest on the Student Line of Credit I will take out as a backup (4%). I'm looking at a 1-room apartment that costs $450/mth, utilities included, in a safe area ten minutes from school. I will spend only $200 on new items for the apartment due to freebie gifts from home and friends.

I have five cats that have to come with me because my mother is abusive to them and I can't leave them behind.

Note also that I am 22 years old. =)

So what do you all think? Think I've got the right idea? Have I missed something?