Meet Mr. Alfredo Noodle, or Alphie for short. Alphie constantly makes me laugh. He dunks his entire head in the water bowl to take a drink and frequently attempts to add me to the stash of toys he hides under the dresser.

Ferrets are happiest when kept with others, so I soon adopted Hershey. Hershey’s favorite hobby is burrowing under blankets, in drawers full of clothes or in the pit of dry beans I made especially for him.

The two quickly accepted one another.

When a friend contacted me for help rescuing a litter of newborn kittens, I took in Daphne when she was only a few weeks old. Daphne learned many behaviors from her brothers and acts more like a ferret than a cat. 

I have since adopted Pretzel as well. Pretzel loves tunnels. Even though he has several perfectly sized tunnels, he will try to squeeze into any cylinder and is known to get stuck. 

When the ferrets are not jumping around and causing chaos, they are sleeping.

I have also recently rescued another kitten whom I have named Chicken. Chicken is my spunkiest animal. She loves to play with her brothers and break into cabinets.

With three ferrets and two cats surrounding me, my household never lacks affection and is certainly never bland!

The photos in this feature were provided by the author.

Chick-fil-A has dominated the field of all things chicken for a long time, but when Popeyes released their chicken sandwich, the internet blew up with excitement. 

Though the chicken and seafood restaurant has been around for a long time, Popeyes was not as popular as Chick-fil-A, especially when it came to the chicken sandwich because that’s Chick-fil-A’s brand. However, Chick-fil-A should find some way to rebrand their sandwich because the new Popeyes chicken sandwich is worth all of the hype.

A chicken sandwich needs to be mouthwatering, crispy, juicy and spicy. Though the Chick-fil-A sandwich is delicious, it’s too sweet because of the peanut oil and breading. Notably, the spicy chicken sandwich from Chick-fil-A is quite sweet as well, not kicking at any point in time. The Popeyes chicken sandwich, however, has everything. Not only is it crispy and juicy, but the regular chicken sandwich has enough heat on it to add flavor and not light your insides on fire. However, their spicy chicken sandwich adds an extra level of flavor and spiciness you won’t find at Chick-fil-A.

Both places pride themselves on their chicken sandwiches, so it’s no surprise that they are on the expensive side for fast food restaurants. The regular Chick-fil-A sandwich is $3.75, and their spicy chicken sandwich is sold for $3.99. Popeyes regular chicken sandwich is priced at $3.99, and their spicy chicken sandwich is also sold for $3.99. Overall, the Popeyes sandwich dominates Chick-fil-A in pricing because the Popeyes sandwich is bigger than Chick-fil-A’s. The sandwich alone would fill you up, yet at Chick-fil-A, a side is necessary because their sandwich is quite small. Therefore, the Popeyes sandwich allows  you to save some money by ordering just a sandwich versus having to spend the full amount for the combo.

Because the Popeyes chicken sandwich is so much better than the Chick-fil-A one, the internet blew up with videos of people fighting over the now-famous sandwich. One account even involved in a fatal stabbing of a man over the sandwich. Popeyes’ chicken sandwich is extremely delicious, but killing someone over a sandwich seems a bit extreme. The hype of the sandwich caused it to go out of stock, which made a lot of people angry. The sandwich was on a two-month hiatus before making its return Nov. 3. 

You might assume that Popeyes would see a drop in hype for their sandwich, but even after being gone for two months, people lined up all over again to order the delicious sandwich. 

Though Chick-fil-A usually has an outstanding – and honestly surprising – steady stream of customers, Popeyes demonstrates that delicious and exciting additions can add some spice and revenue to a business. In other words, Chick-fil-A should take some notes.

Overall, the chicken sandwich is a classic, and Chick-fil-A will forever be a great chicken sandwich restaurant, but Popeyes’ new chicken sandwich is everything the Chick-fil-A sandwich wishes it could be. The flavor, crispiness and juiciness of Popeyes’ chicken sandwich is undefeated and will reign supreme until Chick-fil-A finds a way to introduce new flavor profiles into their chicken sandwich.