Change is good

So I said in my last real quick post that I was going to post about the changes in my life. Well it has been a month since I left NC and moved to IL and I keep thinking that I need to put up something about the changes in my life. Well, first and foremost the big worry was how was Pele, the cat and Logan, the dog were going to get along and if it was going to be pandemonium in the house on a regular basis. It has gone really good. We kept them separate for a while with a solid door in between them, then we moved on to a baby gate so that if Pele wanted to come out and see us she could and also so that she could escape if she wanted to get away from the dog. After a bit Pele, decided to venture over the baby gate. The two had already met with Logan on a leash and it went Ok, Logan was more interested in Pele than Pele was in the dog. After Pele decided to join us and have to deal with the dog, it was a bit funny. She would run around behind barriers that were conveniently there since GG and I hadn't put all of my junk away yet. So Pele could go from under the table, to behind some boxes to up onto the couch and not really have to deal with Logan at all. But even then, she would hiss at him, giving him a warning to stay way from her. She has also hit him several times and it seems kind of hard right on the nose when he gets too curious. He wants to sniff her and she doesn't like it, so she warns him off. After being hit a few times and hissed at, he figured out that maybe he wanted to stay away from this fury thing that was mean to him. This has continued on for the past two weeks or so even after we have gotten a lot of stuff put away and so Pele doesn't have her hiding places anymore, she hisses at him, he tries to sniff her occasionally, but generally they just stay out of each others way. They are not yet snuggling together on the floor, Pele still is not sure she likes him yet. But generally, the possible pandemonium never happened, Logan has been really pretty good about it, he has never really tried to hit her back or growl at her or lunge at her in any way. GG has staid that a few times he has boxed at her, but seems to be playing and this is immediately stopped just to make sure he knows this is not OK because even if he is just playing, he has such a weight advantage he could really hurt her. Logan has adjusted well to the new house and really loves GG, he sleeps on the floor on her side of the bed and has even barked at me when I was coming home and she was already there. He does try to protect GG at times.

As to my adjustments to the change of address and having to live with someone else, it is an adjustment. GG and I are doing really well I would say, going from having not spent more than one weekend ever together in the same geographic place to now having to be in the same house all of the time. We don't fight and don't really seem to have any major pet peeves that have driven either of us totally crazy or at least not from my side of things. But I still have to adjust to living with someone else. Adjusting to doing dishes by hand, I had a dishwasher in my old apartment, I had started to wash things more by hands even before moving here, but now that we have to it is a bit challenging at times. Also, adjusting to have other people and even a cat that I have to share the bedroom and bathroom with, waiting for someone to finish taking a shower, we only have one bathroom, or sharing the kitchen with someone else. Now this has actually been really good for me as I try to eat more vegetarian diet and GG has a lot of cookbooks for us to look for new recipes for. She also knows more about food that I do and so has really helped me find new ways of cooking lentils, rice, beans and green vegetables. We have also really gotten into going to farmers markets and getting fresh veggies and then cooking with them. It is like a modified locavore diet. We are doing really well and I am glad that I made the massive change to IL, but I miss NC at times. I know it will get really cold here in the winter and I am not looking forward to that. I miss sweet tea and biscuits. I miss the south in so many ways, but there are things that are worth leaving your comfort zone for and this was definitely one of them.