March Madness

Welcome back, Internet.

Our March was nuts.  Crazy busy, continuing the trend for sure.  Abby's involvement in Pom and Basketball took up a lot of our weekdays and weekends (respectfully), and our ever-present social obligations were in full-swing this month (Danielle's 40th, St. Patrick's Day, etc.)  Makes the time fly by, which is awesome at this time of year when it's cold and the warmth of summer is so far off it seems like it'll never return.

There's a crap-load of pictures and video to peruse this month, folks, so I'll cut this short and just leave you to it.

Enjoy. . .

See?  I wasn't jokin'.

Following the girls' final pom performance at Northeast (at a basketball game), we finally got off our asses and got a pic of Harper, Ella, and Abby in their uniforms.

They demanded a Charlie's Angels-esque one, of course.  Hammin' it up as always.

The never-ending ceiling debacle.  As previously discussed, the contractor we had hired to repair our drooping ceiling in the Study did a half-ass job on removing the popcorn ceiling from the room (though fortunately he did a really good job at securing the ceiling itself, which was our top priority.)  Since we had only paid him half up front, we basically told him to f*** off and kept the second half, which was cool because what we paid him for - securing the ceiling - was a fair price and we were fine with it.  That left the ceiling's finish less popcorn-ish than it had been, but not what we had been hoping for.  So Kris spent an afternoon towards the beginning of the month smoothing it out a bit more on her own.

The first week of the month, there was an award ceremony at the Midland Community Center for the Northeast Pom team, with the coaches presenting awards for each player at the close of the season.  Abby got an award for Best Sportsmanship, since she had 'the biggest smile' during routines.  Or something like that, I forget.

The Northeast Pom Team

Abby and her coaches.

. . . and of course there's one of these frickin' poses.

At the close of the ceremony, all the team members were walking around crying hysterically and being super dramatic seeing how it was the close of their season.  As if they weren't going to see each other at school the very next day.  Parents felt this was worth taking a picture of, I guess.  I'd make fun, but, you know, I took a pic, too.

Picking up a Batman pizza on my way home from work one Friday.  I give zero f***s about superhero movies.

Alayna, Kendall, and Amelia at some orchestra function at the school (a festival, I think. . .?)

My high school band numbers were better.  Just sayin'.

Weird pictures taken off Alayna's phone.  Her and Lexi at school, being teenagers.

Me and my friends should use heart stickers like this in our pics. . .

Kris makes a friend at the Midland Mall.

The Storm take the field (er, court) for their first game of hair-raising basketball. . .

These guys have made a lot of progress over the course of their few practices, considering most of their team has never held a basketball before.  Abby is more comfortable with defense than offense, for sure.

That kid in the white headband was the opposing team's player Abby was charged with defending.  She was like 5' 8" and clearly had been playing for years.  Totally fair match-up.

Needless to say, our team was beaten like a red-headed step-child.

Like, it wasn't even close.  You know those '80s movie tropes about a team of plucky underdogs that have zero chance of success at the beginning of the movie?  They suck for the first half of the movie before their gruff, unlikely coach manages to get them to play together as a team, and they somehow - miraculously - manage to defeat the championship team of dickheads at the end of the movie?  You know what I'm talking about?  Think Bad News Bears or Mighty Ducks.  Well, this was like that, except, in our team's case, it was just the first half of those movies where the underdogs are getting totally curb-stomped without end.

Painful to watch.

Later that evening, I had a Zoom/Drink session with these two assholes.  Always a good time.

After we had the popcorn ceiling knocked down a bit more, John came over and helped me re-hang the ceiling fan (it's heavier than you'd think, definitely a two-man job.)

Family game night (feat. dogs.)

Following a sleepover at the Johnson residence, Abby was treated to a healthy McDonald's breakfast.

The following week, another game for the Storm.

Fortunately, this time around, the other team was equally terrible, and our girls mopped the floor with 'em.

Abby's still seemingly afraid of the ball, but she played a lot better.

Kris' coworker made affirming window decals for all the employees in her office.  I should get me one of these for my car.

St. Patrick's Day.  Acknowledged.

Since we don't have recessed lighting in our Study yet (that's the ultimate plan for this spring), and our previous lights - which had been illuminating the bookshelves and fireplace - were removed during the ceiling repair, it had been pretty dark in that room.  I decided to remedy this by pulling the trigger on an LED light system that I had quite extensively researched on Amazon.  By spending a bit more than usual on a set, I was able to get one that had multi-color changing abilities (most LED light strands you can change only whole-string at a time, where the ones I got can change individual bulbs at a time), Alexa-enabled, and app-centric.  I'm pretty stoked about it.

I'm gonna nerd out here for a quick sec.  This app allows you to sync the lights up to music - either through your phone or through the microphone, capturing the sound of the room (perfect for vinyl) - but it also allows you to browse through multiple pre-programmed 'scenes,' perfect for any occasion. 

Some of these are better than others, obviously, but the range of variety with this LED set was well worth the extra I spent.

You can create and customize your own lighting system, too, but I doubt I'll ever get around to messing with that, since there's so much already available through the app that controls the lights.

Over at Mom's at the beginning of Spring Break in order to celebrate Grandpa Chinery's 90th Birthday.

Chris and his brood were in town for the occasion.  Here is his only peaceful child, Nora.

This one's a trainwreck (shown here, shortly after punching me in the face.)

Abby and Nora (Abby's great with kids, unlike her sister.)

And another one.

I'm like 99% sure I came down with Covid at the beginning of Spring Break.  Despite a rapid test coming up negative, I didn't bother going out to an urgent care in order to get a legit test because, let's face it, it doesn't really matter anymore.  So I was pretty sick for a solid four or five days, and basically hung out on the couch downstairs and played videogames.  The girls, however, made good use of our occasional decent weather to play in the backyard (with Alayna's friend, Ava, who lives just around the corner on Waldo.)

A super shitty game of 'baseball'. . .

The Johnsons, who had also neglected to go anywhere for Spring Break, opted to get a hotel room at the Holiday Inn half-way through the week in order to break up the monotony.  They invited the friend group out to enjoy the pool with them and we all had dinner poolside while the kids enjoyed the pool and the joint's bizarre half-inside/half-outside hot tub.

Tom, Erik and Ryan.

Houghs, Johnsons, Colliers, and Sheahans chowing down on bar pizza.

I've been getting unsolicited texts from the Democratic Party lately, asking me if I want to run for office.  They must be pretty frickin' desperate these days if they're scraping the barrel like this. . .

- Brian

Everything February-ish

Hey Internet.

Our February this year was, well, really f***ing busy.

Generally the winter months - namely January - tend to be slow, dull, and uneventful, but apparently this month didn't get the memo and we were consequently barraged with social and kid obligations every day of every weekend. Pom and basketball practices, pom competitions, orchestra concerts, parties, dinners out, outings across town with the kids, camping trips. . . the list goes on and on.

As such, today's post is ridiculously long and filled to the brim with pictures and video, all for your viewing pleasure. From the sheer weight of this blog post, you'd think it was May or June, but no, dear friends, we're still only in February - traditionally the snowiest and coldest month of the year (and this year was no exception.)

So here you go, America - a breakdown of All Things Hough for February '22.  Enjoy. . .

Chilling out after school over at the Johnson residence, gettin' down with some Animal Crossing on their Nintendo handhelds. . .

All smiles at Pom practice.

Occasionally our resident cleaning robot - whom we've nicknamed Gina, from the old Martin sitcom from the early '90s - will have a stroke and stop working.  This is always due to instances where it's about to throw itself into certain doom, such as when reaching the top of the stairs when one of our kids forgets to shut the door to the basement before leaving for school.  We then come home from work and find it frozen in fear, and have to reset it on Kris' phone.

Buying your favorite classics on colored vinyl to replace your existing ones is a necessity for any true vinyl collector.

Winter months means more car washes than one would usually get.  The salt and grime accumulated from my daily commutes to Saginaw require I get my ass to the car wash far more often than I'd like.

Abby's 2021-2022 Pom picture.

This is a weird brag but I'm gonna do it anyway.  I usually don't play games on my phone, but I have a couple I swear by.  This one - Snood - is an early 2000s classic, and I played the hell out of it on my computers in my later years at college, and then again once I returned from Africa.  Over the years, I've just so happened to get really, really good at it - so good, in fact, that I am now the 14th BEST SNOOD PLAYER IN THE WORLD.  So that may or may not be something I have engraved on my tombstone, we'll see.

One of my students recently got to go to Europe for a vacation with his obscenely wealthy (I assume) grandparents.  While over there, he couldn't access his Google Classroom in order to stay on top of his work, and he'd email me asking what I wanted him to do for work while he was out of the country.  When I found out he was staying in Florence, I gave him 'homework' assignments of taking pictures of certain things I remembered from when I was there.  Such as this bad-ass statue of Perseus holding up Medusa's head.  I wish all my students were this good at turning in homework assignments, it'd make my job a hell of a lot easier.

One of the coolest records I've bought in a long time, this collection of unreleased songs from my favorite band's golden years ('93-'00) was packaged as a set of six 7" records, all with three or four songs on it.  I pounced on it when it dropped to $25 on Amazon.

It came with a custom outer sleeve, as well as a faux-leather band that keeps all the records neatly together.

I thought it'd be tedious to have to switch 7" records after every couple songs, but the cool album artwork and the novelty of the packaging more than makes up for the minor inconvenience.

I wasn't aware that the records were colored when I bought them, so that was a nice lil' bonus on top of everything else previously mentioned.  Colored vinyl, as you all know, sounds way better.

Playing some Trivia Pursuit and snacking on frozen fruit one weeknight before bed.  These two dogs are absolutely shameless these days.

After months of finding the time to squeeze it in, Kris and I finally got around to having the ceiling in The Study secured.  It's been sagging a little - not dramatically, but definitely noticeable - because it was only glued up to the tresses - something I guess they used to do back in the '70s (our house was built in '76.)  We were going to have them scrape off the popcorn ceiling as well once they were done, and replace it with some of that knock-down, since it was going to be difficult to get the ceiling 100% flat.  I can assure you that it was a pain in the ass clearing everything out (except for the vinyl and the piano, that is.) 

Super Bowl Sunday with the friend group, this time hosted by the Griffin family.  Erik and I were in charge of putting together the Squares board (each square costs $5, and if the last digits of the corresponding scores at the end of a quarter match up in your designated square, you get 1/4 of the total pot (this year that meant four pay-outs of $125.)

A ridiculous amount of food on hand, as usual.  Lotta fat people in this group.

Kris made a Reese's dessert 'lasagna,' which was really frickin' good but I couldn't bring myself to eat more than a spoonful because the caloric count was through the roof. 

Pre-game gorging.

The board configuration.  I dropped about $20 and didn't win jack-shit.  Oh well, maybe next year.

Dads watching football (and me, acting like I'm watching football but not really giving two shits about the game.)

More grazing about the food table.  If you're trying to lose weight, this is definitely not the group of people to hang around with.

Kris came home at lunch to check out on the progress the guys were making on The Study ceiling.  They had to raise the ceiling with a series of jacks so that they could secure it back in place.  Definitely above our pay grade.

Coming home after work, I failed to appreciate the amount of icing that had happened throughout the day (it had rained earlier, then the temperature plummeted.)  Got some pretty funny video of the contractors nearly wiping out as well, but figured I'd be nice and not subject them to public ridicule.

The ceiling, now raised and good as new.  Unfortunately, the guys we hired had neglected to scrape off the popcorn ceiling to our liking - they knocked it down a bit, but it was still noticeable.  After some back and forth with them for a week or so - during which time the roof remained like this, much to our chagrin - we terminated the contract and kept half of the money (so, in the long run, we lucked out and they got screwed for not living up to their part of the bargain - to the victor go the spoils.)

On our way to take Abby to an appointment, she absent-mindedly bolted out of the front door without thinking about the ice that I had previously almost wiped out on.  Fortunately there was no damage, but still. . . not the most pleasant thing to watch.  (And yes, I salted the walkway right after this.)

Kris and I went thrift store shopping for some '70s outfits that weekend, since our friends the Larsons were hosting a '70s-themed Murder Mystery party for Danielle's 40th Birthday party in March (we'll definitely be sharing pics of that later next month.)  I managed to find a pretty bad-ass suit/waistcoat combo that matches perfectly with a pair of bell bottoms I already own from my college days.  Kris picked up a few items as well, so we're just about there as far as costumes go. . .

Later that week, it was time once again for another Northeast Orchestra concert at Central Elementary School.  Abby (shown here, second from left in the front) and the 6th Grade Orchestra went on first. . .

The 6th Grade Orchestra performance.

Abby and Ella, the dynamic duo, post-concert.

About a half-hour later, the larger 7th/8th Grade Orchestra took the stage (Alayna is at the end of the second row.)

The 7th/8th Grade Orchestra performance.

After the concert, we were even able to get the girls to stand next to one another long enough for a picture.  Never tell us the odds. . .

The next morning, Kris and the girls all had the day off of work/school (not me, though - I still got to go to work, like a sucker.)  Kris took the girls, along with their friends Ella and Lexi, downtown to check out the annual ice sculptures that were being showcased.

Alayna and Lexi

Selfies.

Playing some shuffleboard.

. . . but forward where. exactly?

(Not sure what this is. . . )

Ice. . . cornhole?  How is this even a thing?

She needs to work on her form if she's gonna roll with the big leagues up at Eight Point. . .

Da Mystery of Chessboxin'

And Checkers, too.  Why not.

Seriously, how do people even make this?

Abby and Ella

How we enjoy Snow Days up here.  We've only gotten three so far this year.  Thanks a lot, Global Warming.

Mitch and Morgan.  The third weekend of the month, the inner five families of our friend group decided to go out for a dinner date at a local high-end restaurant downtown called The One Eighteen.  Our reservations were at 7pm, and because we were a party of 10 - and ultimately would be dropping a small fortune there - they gave us our own private room, adjacent to their wine closet (whatever that's called, I don't know.)  We kicked things off with a few bottles of cabernet sauvignon and a brace of fancy appetizers. . .

We killed a few of these bottles, rest assured.

The Fab Five.  Kelli, Courtney, Mees, Danielle, and Nagatha Christie.

Bizarre chandelier.

And one featuring husbands.

After settling our bill, we decided to go out for some post-dinner drinks across the street at a local craft spot, Whichcraft.  On the walk over, some of the wives decided to cool their asses down upon this icy throne.  Fun fact: the next mornin, a ton of these ice sculptures would be destroyed by bad winds, so thank God Kris and the girls were able to nab a bunch of pictures the day before.

Mees, Danielle, Courtney, and Erik at Whichcraft.

I was too stuffed after dinner for beers, so I drank some craft cider the rest of the evening.  Smart move on my part, folks.

Morgan's lackluster attempt at a group picture.  Lighting leaves much to be desired.

After Whichcraft, we retired to the Colliers for a nightcap. . . and a few rounds of darts.

They have a train set in their kids' playroom in their basement.  I couldn't help myself.

The Colliers' new family kitten was really invested in our game of darts. . .

Saying goodbyes at the end of the night (Kelli didn't make it.)

Abby's Winter '22 Pom portrait/team picture.

Towards the end of the month, us and the Johnsons took Abby and Ella to their very first basketball practice at Calvary Baptist on Wackerly.  Both girls - along with a few other girls from our friend group - registered for the church's big Upward basketball program, which caters to K-6th grade kids interested in playing basketball.  They sort girls into teams, teach fundamentals, hold weekly games, and offer a more positive atmosphere opposed to, say, a traditional school setting.  Perfect for kids just starting out in the sport and not sure if they want to play ball for their school when they're old enough (here in Midland, that's 7th grade, so Ella and Abby are still too young.)

Learning techniques during the first practice.  What's cool about this program is that they're super patient with beginners, explaining to kids what they did wrong and how to improve without drilling them like a typical coach.  There's also an absence of volatile parents in the stands screaming at referees, which is nice.  Hopefully Abby enjoys it and improves enough so that she can try out for the 7th grade team at Northeast (she's never played basketball before, but seems to like it so far.)

Later that week, Kris dropped Watson off at the vet in order to have his teeth professionally cleaned (at the tune of $500.)  The astronomical price was because they had to put him to sleep in order to clean his teeth and gums thoroughly.  They ended up pulling several of his smaller teeth in the front because they were so bad, but at least now his mouth is healthy and his breath doesn't stink like a hobo's asshole.

While Yours Truly was off camping in the woods with my High School crew, several of the other dads in our group decided to once again serve in the kitchen for the Chestnut Hill Carnival (they definitely busted my balls for skipping out this year.)  Erik sent me this pic of Alayna (with Lexi) ordering up a ridiculous amount of food.  No idea where she puts it.

Ella, Sophie and Abby (wearing my chef's hat from 2020.)

Chowin' down at the alma mater.

After hours or games and food, Abby (in the background) and some of the other girls (including the Barden girl, in the foreground), worked on face-painting other kids. 

Later that night (I think, not sure - I was still camping out in Rosebush), Kris and the girls met up with a few other families over at the Larson residence.  Danielle's sister recently gave birth to twins, so the kids enjoyed holding babies. . . I guess.

I don't miss bottles.  At.  All.

Later that weekend, the girls had some friends over and one of Alayna's friends (Ava?) decided to give Alayna a makeover.  Not sure how I feel about this. . .

Frickin' teenagers. . .

- Brian