I think we are going home tomorrow! This has been a long trip to Texas, but a good one. My husband's parents have been easing up on him with the critical stuff. They've always been super sweet to me, but kind of hard on him. Most of it is in Farsi, but I can tell when his energy dives after they've said something.
His mom surprised us with clothes. We have the bedroom we always stay in, and this time we found clothes for us in the drawers and closet. Here's the weird thing, she got the same styles and brands that we normally bring! I know she has done our laundry a few times, but I didn't realize she studied it!! Even the underwear and socks brands! Nice but a little weird.
I guess it is more nice than weird though, right? I do all the clothes shopping for the two of us since my husband doesn't really care what he puts on. He has good style, but he just has zero interest since he knows I will pick things that make him look good and be comfortable. It's like he just gave that up to me when we moved in together. It's nice that she wants us to be comfortable here.
we have had a good week here though. I am doing my online classes while he is directing his assistants for work back home and also bringing in new work here. He has had several meetings and says there is a lot of good work here and things in Texas are very profitable. So that is good. He likes that I am not home bored without him all day because his mom is here and his brother is around and both of them have taken me places. I like having a big family around.
The only thing I don't like here is my hair. It is humid here and it just changes everything!! I never put product in my hair, but it seems like it would be a good idea here. Husband does not like product. He likes to mess with my hair without messing up his fingers. :) Oh well!! It's a good week!
We are in Houston! It is raining off and on here but no flooding in this area. We came in last night and went for a bbq dinner with my husband's family. It's crazy! They bring these paper-lined metal trays with meat and we just help ourselves. It was good and the sauce was this tangy pepper stuff. I had turkey and some grilled vegetables.
My time is off. Last night when we got to his parents' place I was sitting on the couch between husband and father-in-law with everyone talking in Farsi. I yawned and FIL put his arm around me and hugged me then I fell asleep against him. Turkey+warm couch+happy family+language-I-don't-speak = me passed out.
When I woke up, my husband was carrying me to our room and then I was wide awake until 1am! (11pm California time).
Luckily we got to sleep in. My guy was up late playing video games with his brother.
Today we are supposed to go see a museum! It is supposed to keep raining, but just lightly. His parents neighborhood is fine, no flooding. But just down the road...
On the Hayden front, I am close to finishing the next chapter. It will be the first chapter I have finished in over a month. Life has just been so busy lately.
The Lukas redo on Wattpad seems to be taking off! That's really cool, but now I am getting into the dirtier chapters so it needs a lot more editing and cleaning up before I can put it up there without having to label it as mature. I want to avoid that and make it more mainstream.
I am getting inspiration for a Houston-set story. This city has such a different vibe from SoCal. I like it. This area has tiny roads with huge homes on big, heavily wooded lots. It's a much shadier city than LA. Not so much blinding sunshine. The humidity though...
We are going to Texas next week to visit husband's family! Fun! It might rain! I can't wait to see some rain.
My father-in-law called me today on facetime on his lunch break. He loves facetime, so does my husband. Weird! :) We talked about the visit and then he mentioned Thanksgiving and Christmas and us going there with them.
I told him, "Well I want to, but I hate leaving my dad alone on holidays like that." My dad's family is all here, but he likes me to be a part of it and of course I want to spend holidays with him too.
The father-in-law looks thoughtful for a minute and then says, "Of course he is welcome here. He is family. My child is his and his child is mine. We are family."
He didn't sound so much like he meant it thought. I know my husband's parents both really like me and his father loves me like his own child, but they aren't too excited about my dad. I'm not sure that would be the best holiday for him.
I told him that my dad likes them and said they are very welcoming (that is kind of true, but I think my dad was just being polite). That made husband's dad smile. He said he should make more of an effort to get to know my father.
When I've talked to my husband about it, he said it's not that they don't like him, but they don't like the circumstance of my mom leaving. To them, that is a crazy concept. My parents should have married and stayed together. It's not that my dad didn't want that, but my mom didn't. She got pregnant young (with me) and they were kind of put together when she was not ready to be a wife and mother.
So I don't know. My husband said he would like to spend thanksgiving and christmas with his family, but that he will go where I go. He said if we want to spend thanksgiving here with my family then that would be an acceptable compromise, but in the past we spent all holidays with my family and his family was back in Iran. Now they are here so he thinks it would be ok for us to spend both with them.
I can see his point. My dad would kind of be a stranger in their house in Texas. He doesn't know people there or have friends there. So that might be weird for him.
I haven't even talked about this with my dad. He may not even want to go. Just some thoughts...
Lukas is taking off on wattpad! It started last week after a long lull in posting new chapters. It just kind of got discovered and I started getting new readers and messages about it! Crazy! Then I added the two latest chapters and they took off quickly. That's exciting!!
The crazy thing is that now females outnumber males 2 to 1 as Lukas readers. For some reason, it is taking off in Germany, Indonesia, and Egypt! New countries are Ghana, Guyana, Finland, and Saudi Arabia is still holding strong as well.
How crazy is that? My stories are getting read all over the world. That is incredibly humbling! So far all the comments are positive. I know that in the coming chapters I will get some flameback from people. That's the downside to getting a bigger audience, right?
Personal life is good. Husband is coming home soon and taking me out for dinner with some of the gay gamer crowd I have been hanging out with. It'll be fun! I had a good week, so busy but good. Husband is making a much better effort to take me out and do things. Only one day was I totally housebound.
I need to work on Hayden! I finally know where I want the story to go next, but life is so busy...
My husband is on this new kick where he takes my phone away at 9pm then we go get ready for bed and spend at least 20 minutes just talking about whatever I want. It's some parenting tip he read about teens with eating issues. haha. I know! Don't judge! He is trying.
He got some couple's topics and questions/prompts too. Last night's was "I know you love me when."
Mine was how I know he loves me because he never can walk pass me without some kind of touch.
Like some times he comes home and he's on the phone with a client, but he finds me right away and then puts his hand on my head and pushes his fingers through my hair. Or when he is working at the table and I walk by him he will reach out and grab my shirt or arm or whatever is close. Or he just walks by and kisses my neck or cheek or any part that is convenient.
He said he never thought about that. He sounded surprised. "I do this?" "Yes, sir. You do!" "I do not know this! I just get this urge when I see you."
From him, he said he knows I love him when I am so careful with taking care of him. He knows he will never not have a meal and never not have a suit ready for the day. He never has to think about packing for a trip or making sure he has enough clothes for whatever the trip will bring. He said he is blessed because he has a partner who will always plan for his needs and take care of the home so he can focus on providing for us.
Anyways!! The whole time we were talking he was holding my phone and spinning it. You know how dude guys do that? Like they toss something or spin it around. He can NOT sit still.
Well somehow he spun it too hard and it went up and he couldn't catch it. It went up in the air and then sailed down and bonked against the bedside table and then crashed to the hardwood floor. Screen was smashed and showing nothing.
He felt so bad!
We'd just had this loving moment sharing and then he smashes my phone. haha. I actually laughed. I love my phone. Now I will love a new phone I guess. I learned not to get attached to the gadgets he buys me because he replaces them whenever something better comes out. He has to have the latest tech.
I asked him if I could get the new Samsung, but he is dead set on apple. he knows how to work it and has all the apps that link us together so he can find me and see what I'm up to. I guess that doesn't carry across platforms so well... But it's ok. So new phone it is...
We had a great weekend!
My husband invited the gay student group guys over today for game day and he also invited his friends over. It was awesome. I made food and he grilled burgers for everyone then his friends watched a game in the living room and my friends played games in the dining room.
It was weird having the two groups together. His friends are bulky handsome middle eastern guys and mine are more guys like me. They got along ok though, but no love connections were made. I think my friends were fascinated by his and his were on good behavior. I'm sure he told the how important it is that I make a group down here. He is awesome like that. I love him. :)
My friends stayed until 5ish and then went home. Husband took me and his friends to a sports grill place for dinner. Two of them are staying the night down here since tomorrow is a holiday. They are playing video games with my husband in the living room now and I am chilling in the bedroom. It was a really great day! I am so glad we have a house where his friends can come down and stay. They are liking it down here. It's so much nicer and quieter than LA.
My friends loved our house. Most of them live at home and are from down here. It's kinda cool. I am starting to be ok with Orange County.
