January: The Month Nothing Happened

Weird.

So we're one month into the new year, and things look. . . well, pretty boring.

Not that that should shock anyone, really - January is notoriously low-key.  Middle of the winter, void of holidays or days off, everyone still dazed and shell-shocked from December's Holiday Gauntlet.  The kids went back to school, I went back to school, and - like September - the month more or less just comprised of the Grind and getting back to normalcy.

As such, things have been quiet around here.  The Houghs haven't done shit lately.

This sign was on Abby's door New Year's Eve.

We're not big on New Year's Resolutions around these parts, which January is arguably most known for; I know that's some folks' thing, but we Houghs tend to see the writing on the wall when it comes to 'fresh starts' and 'starting over.'  We know that pledging to finally get in shape is, most likely, a fool's errand for us:  if it hasn't happened by now, it's probably not going to.  Not with beer and snacks and couches and Netflix so frickin' awesome.

Anyway, here's your monthly installment of all things Hough, the January Edition.

See ya later. . .

My old winter coat from college - now known as my snow-shoveling coat - wins a couple more fans.

Abby approves of her new sequin mini-skirt.

A year ago, Radio Wasteland opened up in town (you may or not remember my lackluster performance while being interviewed for the event on NBC 25), and the second Saturday of the month they hosted a party commemorating their 1st Birthday. 

I wasn't going to go (I've spent a little too much on vinyl these last couple months, honestly), but they had a few raffle giveaways (see above) and some other promotions they were running, so I changed my mind later on in the morning and made my way down there.

I didn't win anything (unfortunately), but I did pick up five or six solid albums and scored some free merch from Discogs in the process.  Hooray for free shit.

Alayna's bedroom door.  Yes, we're already to that point.

At a family dinner over at Mom's, getting some cousin-bonding in.  Alayna's pretty indifferent when it comes to all of her little cousins (see sign on her bedroom door in the previous picture), but Abby really likes holding the twins.

Grandma wrangles some grandkids.

Bunch o' Houghs

Samwise is a perv.

Our resident Star Wars fan (aside from Yours Truly, obviously.) 

Speak Out: Kids vs. Parents.  One of the scariest games your family will ever play.

Guinness limited release, in commemorative vintage packaging and cans?  Can life get any more rad?

Alayna went out to the Midland Mall with some of her squad to celebrate her friend Alaina's birthday.  I'm SOOO glad I wasn't involved with this.

Maddie and the Cannonball, getting some nails done.

With her friend, Dani.

Blowing through some gift cards at Target.

I took this off some Mid-Michigander's Facebook post, but it accurately sums up what the weather was doing up here half-way through the month. Hoth-like conditions, followed by a day of low-60s awesomeness, then another crapload of snow and coldness.  Go home, Michigan, you're drunk.

Both girls have been assigned Chromebooks this year, so they bring them home every day from school and are responsible for their well-being (they're both pretty good with technology - I'd like to think I had a hand in that.)  Alayna usually has homework assignments and leftover work she has to do via Google Classroom (which I use religiously in my school, too), but Abby is tasked with just learning the ins and outs of basic computer use.  Kids today are f***ing spoiled. 

This month saw a surge in popularity of this obscure Google Arts & Culture app - it was all over social media and the Internet, with people uploading pictures of themselves matched up with existing portraits in museums throughout the world.  Sometimes the matched results are hilariously bad, but other times they're eerily accurate.  Here's the Cannonball's pairing. . .

At least they got the bags under my eyes right. . .

. . . aaaand here's Abby's.  Kris never got around to doing it, because as the rest of us were all fine with taking pictures of ourselves sitting around in the morning, unshowered and still in our pajamas, Kris wanted to do her makeup first and make sure she looked good. As such, she never got around to it.

The girls 'teach' Watson a 'new trick,' which is more or less just teasing him with his favorite squeak toy.

Some joint in the mall was dishing out free Henna tattoos for some kids event later on in the month.  I have no idea what any of this was, as I wasn't there.  My apologies.

Kris took the girls and their friend, Sophie, out to see The Greatest Showman at the Midland Cinemas.  Everyone was hyper and all over the place, but the theater was experiencing trouble with their projector.  Kris had to endure 45 minutes of trying to keep three kids from totally losing their shit before the theater apologized, refunded everyone their money, and closed the show.  You can imagine how happy I was that I skipped out on that family 'adventure,' too.

The last week of the month, Alayna's Girl Scout troop cooked, prepared, and served a dinner to all their families in the basement of some church on Ashman St (I forget the name of it, but it's the same church where I fruitlessly voted for Bernie Sanders and, later, Gary Johnson, back in 2016.)  It was a cute outing, the girls really got into it and Alayna was pretty proud of herself.

Alayna and her friend, Sam, gather up drinks for their respective families (whom we were sitting at a table with.)

As an added bonus, Alayna made sure that while they were arranging fake flowers on all the tables, she swiped all the fake lilies and placed them facing the seat she wanted Kris to sit at (they're Kris' favorite.)  Needless to say, I heard more than once the whole 'at least SOMEONE gets me flowers' speech.

- Brian