Many things that I was well known for are no longer a part of my life, I have made so many changes to make life safe and also comfortable for my birds that many people who have known me for a long time have been really shocked at the every day changes they now see I have made for my birds lol.
I used to love jewelry of any sort and I would wear a lot of rings (all have sentimental meaning), hand carved wooden earrings and other fancy dangly earrings, hand made bead and crystal items along with other Native American jewelry of all sorts that were gifted to me, all are gone and packed away now, I wear no jewelry except for some boring plain sleepers and SS body jewelry.
I always loved pretty smells and 24/7 I had incense and stinky candles burning, I used to wear perfume every day, use scented sprays in my linen closet, have smelly plug in things in some rooms too and now I struggle to breathe when I walk into a shop or room that has this stuff to scent the air- I can't believe I used to enjoy trying to find oxygen through the stink of these chemicals lol.
I used to use a lot of house cleaning chemicals filled with scents and other bad things- these are not allowed in my house since I gained bird family members again.
No more open house for friends leaving the local pub (was right across the road from my house) at closing time, no more late night parties, visitors or charcoal BBQ's at the back door, friends pets are no longer welcome at my home (one or two exceptions have been made), dangerous kitchen items (teflon) have been removed or replaced with safe options much to my mothers disapproval (lol she needs her non stick fry pans to be able to cook). I even had the gas outlets for LPG heaters removed as they are not as safe as natural gas heaters so I did not want anyone forgetting and bringing home a gas heater.
These are just the main things that make it obvious I am the local crazy bird lady, there are so many more things that can identify me as that weird bird lady... I order special food items in that we do not normally have available here or I get comments on the healthy contents of my shopping trolley and I get asked what kind of yummy healthy things I am making and my reply is nearly always something along the lines of a foraging box/skewer, bird bread or bird breakfasts and then I have to explain when they ask what kind of fancy dish it is- some of the looks I get are simply hilarious
Phone calls are always fun, Burt really likes to yell out (repetitively) "hello" while I am in the other room on the phone and sometimes he does not stop saying it unless I put them on loud speaker and ask them to say hello back or unless he decides it is better to scream like he is being murdered then start up with the desperate calls of "mum" scream "wanna come out" scream "I love you" and that honestly causes some serious stress for some people talking to me so I have to explain it is my bird and I am sure more than half of them think I am lying and I am just a horribly negligent nasty mum to my little kid