A Year in Books 2019

Since I have no memory, I have decided to document what I read this year, similar to last year.  And considering I didn’t have six months of maternity leave this year, I would say I did okay getting through a few books in 2019.   Those starred were by far my favorites!

Faithful Place

Crazy Rich Asians

The Everything Store

A Gentleman in Moscow*

City of Ash and Red

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Endurance

Red Card

White Elephant

The Promise of Elsewhere

The Old Drift

The Girl With the Lower Back Tattoo

Behold the Dreamers

The Power

Bad Blood

My Sister, The Serial Killer

The Wall

The Sellout*

The Devil Aspect

You Are a Badass

Cribsheet

A Brief History of Seven Killings

Trick Mirror*

Quichotte

Hey Ladies!

Department of Speculation

Motherless Brooklyn

The Mastermind

A Quarterly Catch Up

Every once in a while things get a little crazy at home, a little crazy at work and a little crazy in life. And during these times I lack the focus, energy and creativity to document my life’s happenings. These past few months have been one of those times... at work we closed our largest acquisition ever on August 1, our fifth largest acquisition on Oct 1 and my boss went out on leave unexpectedly for six weeks leaving me in charge. At home, we continued our losing battle with sleep, with me waking up most mornings with at least one kid in our bed and most often a three and half year old foot in my back or a 16 month old butt in my face.

But in the midst of it all, we did manage to have some fun. And with the mental fog clearing up just in time for Christmas, I thought it would be good to get caught up here...

In September our friends from Australia came to visit. Oskar has fun showing the three kids his playground and the adults were able to sneak in a night out.

In October I headed to Denver for my biennial (hopefully now annual) girls weekend before Halloween. The weekend was a combination of a public drunken night out and a domestic night in... and included a metal detector being delivered to our house compliments of John Elway’s wife.

Anna trying out her metal detector skills

In November I swung a work boondoggle to Vegas which included decadent drinks, high class sushi, a room upgrade to a two room suite, live band karaoke and ending up back stage and on stage with Aerosmith.

No zoom needed

We spent Thanksgiving with the family and cousins in Dunsmuir, and thanks to the winter storm, the kids got to go sledding each day.

Making Christmas Cookies!

Oskar "helping" with the cranberry relish

 And finally, we hosted our first annual Gingerbread House decorating party... and yes, it was just decorating not making... the attention span of six 3-4 year olds is not quite there yet... the party was loud, crazy and fun, and our house was thoroughly trashed afterwards, but it was definitely a highlight of the holiday festivities this year.

The calm before the storm

Finished!

Success!

Granny Fran Applesauce Part II

A few years back, I spent a Saturday afternoon at my grandparent’s house learning Granny Fran’s secret and world famous applesauce recipe.  Equipped with my own Foley Mill, I left her house ready to carry on the tradition.  This past weekend, I got a chance to do just that. 

On Saturday, with Martin on his way home from Norway, the kids and I spent the afternoon with my parents in Lafayette and as always, they sent us home with fresh vegetables and fruit from their garden including apples from their tree.  And it was with those apples that Oskar and I made applesauce with on Sunday morning.

He helped wash and cut the apples, putting them carefully in the pot.  He patiently waited for the water to boil and apples to turn soft.  Using all of this strength, he helped to turn the Foley Mill and mush the apples into the pan.  And he even helped spoon the cooked applesauce through the funnel and into the mason jar.   

Adding the cut apples...

Do you think we have enough?

Final taste test.  We passed! 

Single Parenting

Last week, Martin took off for 8 days to Norway for his annual (now biannual) fishing trip with his buddies. I had a year to mentally and physically prepare myself... and lock in some assistance from my parents. By Saturday morning, the fridge was stocked, meals were planned and prepped, laundry was empty and I was ready.

Despite some unexpected snafus (poop in the bath, pee on the floor, puke on my shoulder, puke in the toilet, tears at drop off, failed breakie, hot chills and cold sweats… you know the usual, it was an awesome week and made me realize just how cool my two kids are.
We had lunch with my parents and grandparents and saw some friends in the East Bay, we went to the library, played on the playground, made funny face pizzas, created Amazon box forts that kept the two entertained for hours, ran up and down the hallway, found a workable and then fun bedtime routine and even became super heroes.  Over the course of the week I got some pleases and thank yous and some really big hugs.  And through it all I still managed to get some sleep, get some work done, make full breakies most mornings including waffles, chocolate pancakes, and French toast, do some laundry, keep the house in order, and make sure they brushed their teeth and washed their hands.

By Friday afternoon I think I finally hit my stride… thankfully Martin came home on Saturday so we didn’t actually have to test it out.

Taken just a few hours after Martin left... it is just water, but sums up how I was feeling...

Nap time with Grandpa

Big Hair Don’t Care in Austin

This past weekend I got to celebrate my friend Leah and her upcoming marriage to her fiancé Chase. The location of debauchery was Austin TX.

I can’t tell you much about the actual city, where I was or what it would be like to live there, but I can tell you I had an amazing, side splitting, perfectly instagramable weekend with these lovely women. 

#Leahschaseisup

#whitehorsehonkeytonk #holdmybeer #holdmypurse #triplefisting #bachelorparty #wingman #followtheblonds #Ijustwannadance

#LakeAustin  #toooldtomatch  #unicornlove #unicornfail #Iamlaughing #Iamcrying #beergutormomgut #Imonaboat 

 #whiteclawsummer #coorslight #Jell-Oshots #daydrinking

#LakeAustin #CaptainKendrick #wherearethemen 

#Launderette #drunkplateau #toomuchfood #watermelonschrubwithvodka #birthdaycakesandwich #datingabrother

#RaineyStreet #Bungalow #Lucilles #cornhole #vodkawater #damnitshot

#LaPerla #seafoodtower #daydrinking #coffeewatercocktail #brunchsohard

#bootshopping #tequilashots  #salesmanNoah #Iboughtaboat #dinosucculents,

#poolparty #animalsafari #lingerie #bridetribe #roseallday #spritzers #queso

#Iwokeuplikethis #smashed #elleraapparel #70svibe #bffs #thechaseisup #timetogohome 

Down By the River

After a fun Thanksgiving weekend at Dunsmuir last year, I told Martin I wanted to spend the first week of September up at house exploring the area and relaxing. We invited a few friends and thankfully, unlike our week at the Lake over the fourth, our plans to spend a week at Dunsmuir was not cut short due to work!

We drove up Saturday midday and our friends Roxanne, Rico and their daughter Rory joined us just before dinner.  After an easy homemade dinner, the adults began to fully appreciate what a family trip meant… we had a relaxed evening on the couch drinking wine and beer while Rory and Oskar ran around the house playing monster.

Erin and Josh and their two kids Alton and Joanna joined us Sunday morning and, after packing up half of the house, we drove up to Castle Lake for an early day on the lake and picnic. We were also joined at the lake by another family from San Francisco, who Roxanne and Rico knew and happened to staying in Shasta that weekend! The fun continued after the lake with dinner at the house… 8 adults, five kids and two babies noshed on burgers and salad, along with a few beers and wine, later that evening. The kids again had a great time entertaining themselves allowing the adults a few moments to actually relax and enjoy a conversation.

Alton and family left Monday morning and Rory and family left Tuesday morning, giving the four Breuers a chance for a night to ourselves before the next wave a family and friends arrived… After a night alone on Tuesday, my parents arrived on Wednesday and our friends Jen, Scott and Elsie joined Friday night for our last two nights in town.

During the week and following weekend we spent the time riding bikes, picking blackberries, watching trains, smashing pennies, swimming in the creeks, checking out the different playgrounds and exploring different attractions including McCloud Falls.

Even after a week, there was still plenty to explore.  And yet even better, we headed back home, fully relaxed and recharged.

Castle Lake with Alton 

The whole gang at Castle Lake

Roxanne leading storytime with Alton, Rory and Oskar

Super dad...

Playing down by the river just out front of the house

Berry picking 

Followed by blackberry crumble later that night

Swimming at Castle Creek 

Biker gang

Oskar with a real biker gang

Looking for trains! 

McCloud Falls

 

"hot tub"

Final night in town.  Dinner and watching the trains.