The Houghs: Randoms from the Month of Brian

Hi readers.

The epoch of summer, the Month of Brian, being formerly attribute to the late Gaius Julius Caesar, seventh month of the Gregorian Calendar, was a hodge-podge mix of calendar-clogging social obligations, family obligations, work obligations, house obligations, and days-long stretches of. . . well. . . absolutely nothing. So goes the month of July in the annals of all things Hough.

Kinda like the months of October and December, where every weekend is jam-packed with a ton of shit going on, but then, during the week, we don't do anything but go to work/school and otherwise sit on our butts.

July, of course, has much better weather than the previous two, so it's got that going for it.

As you know, we moved into our dream home a month ago, so this summer - despite its ridiculous amount of previously-discussed obligations - was devoted to settling in, painting, unpacking, and picking up new home decor, yard tools, and other probably-unnecessary items for the new house. This month's installment of Holy Randomness, therefore, is exceptionally random in nature.

Ye be warned.

The Study, first day of July. Coming along quite handsomely, if I don't say so myself.

Kris had to work on my birthday (which fell on a Wednesday this year), so I was forced to take the girls with me when I decided to treat myself to an outing to my favorite local record store, Radio Wasteland. I spent waaaay too long in this store - probably an hour and a half - taking my time perusing through each section of the store, so I let the girls play on my phone to keep them occupied and buy me as much time as humanly possible. Here's a video of them playing Heads Up! on my phone (a charades game that takes automatic videos during gameplay.)

A modest $20 birthday haul, but these are all pretty sweet albums. . . and all in VG+/NM- condition. Can't complain.

Dad and Cindy invited us up to Clare one weekend to hang out and enjoy their pool, which, obviously, is something we never say 'no' to.

Gorgeous weather for it, too.

Jeff, Annie and their brood showed up a little later in the afternoon. . . by which point in time the pool was thoroughly trashed with kids toys.

Nana and Abby.

Owen and Papa

Hanging out with Baby Levi in the shade

Our girls have to brush the bejesus out of their hair after swimming, or else it turns into nappy, bird nests.

At a work conference downstate, I got to hang out in a hotel room on my own for three or four days. Needless to say, I don't know how to buy myself groceries without my wife around.

Remember when hotel rooms only came stocked with crappy, little 4 oz coffee makers? I'm embracing the change.

When this nerd travels, you best believe he packs his Command Center. . .

I wish my bedroom at home looked like this. . .

So, our house was more or less perfect upon moving in, but that's not to say that there weren't a few things lying around that got under our skin. The house's previous owners were obsessed with baseball, and stickers (yes, stickers.) All the ceiling vents, any unfinished exposed metal, etc. - you better believe it was slathered in stickers. And, to top it off, there were even a few giant wall decals to boot. While most of these large decals were in the garage, and easily covered by posters or tool equipment, there's one in the basement (shown here) that is basically uncoverable. You can't tell from the picture, but it's literally in the top right corner of the wall - we can't cover it with anything because it'd look stupid being so high up in the corner. We can't tear it off because it'll rip off the paint along with it. So, more or less, we're stuck with this decal on our wall until we decide to repaint the entire sidewall of the basement. GO LOONS.

The Captain's Quarters, more or less finished for the time being. I ran all the mood lighting into a light switch that's controlled by a remote, so I can alternate between the bright fluorescent shop lights and the Christmas lights/antique lamp lighting at the drop of a hat. Because priorities.

I have so many swords and walking sticks now I don't have anywhere to display them, so they're hanging out here in this 'weapons rack' for the time being.

Don't kid yourself, America - you wish you had this room in your house.

One day about half-way through the month, while Kris was once again at work and I was once again left in charge of keeping the kids out of trouble, I took the girls out to Big Boy for lunch, as they had expressed interest in going one time as we drove down Saginaw Road.

These kids love pop. (We're those parents that never give our kids pop.)

Abby tries a cheeseburger for the first time, and fortunately found it worthy of her time.

Obligatory post-lunch ice cream sundae. 'Cause that's how dads roll.

This is what the girls' playroom looks like on any given day of the summer. Feel free to stop by and impale your foot on a Lego piece or Playmobil accessory, folks.

BFF playdates with Abby and Alayna's respective besties, Larkin and Madi.

Running errands out at Gilroy's Got It in the Do It Center over on Ashman and Cambridge. The girls and I perused these Adirondack (or however the hell you spell that) chairs for awhile, but decided to hold off until we knew which color of chair wouldn't get us in trouble with the Warden.

Spent a decent chunk of change on a Persian-esque rug for the Study, but - damn it - I've been questing after this dream room of mine for years, so I'm not sparing any expense.