2:32AM. Yay. One of the boys (N, I think) came in the room. M ushered him back to bed but I couldn’t fall back asleep. I guess that’s expected when I fall asleep before nine. Another rocking Saturday night in scenic Port Washington, Wisconsin, ladies and gentlemen. It just occurred to me that the bars are still open. Maybe I should get a beer.

Today was decent. This morning I hit the last of the autumn farmers markets. The vendors all said “see you next year” instead of “have a nice day” or whatever. I guess the air was cold but I wasn’t freezing, and most of the stands had a decent amount of vegetables left for sale. Oh well. Next year. After returning home I knocked out an hour on the elliptical while watching the end of a Travel Channel show on weird McDonalds and the end of that show on Jerusalem’s underground. I upped the crunches to 150, showered, and started laundry. The boys had free video game rein for a while so I ate lunch and watched some of the Badger game. Later M and N left for a birthday party up at the pumpkin farm. I could tell M didn’t want the other boys to hang out on electronic devices all day so I gathered them up in the car and drove to Whole Foods. We had fun. T and S are old enough to walk through the store on their own without constant monitoring as long as they stick together. They whored at the free sample stands while I picked up bulk blueberry granola and weird Indian food in cans. Kelp tempted me, believe it or not, but the package was too small for the price. The boys chose lime soda and we got back on the road, where they counted political signs (heavy Obama territory around UWM) and made up songs. Whole Foods is about the same distance as the farmers market; maybe I’ll start driving down to the city on Saturday mornings now that the farmers market is done for the year.

T and S returned to their electronic devices upon our return home. Dan called, so we talked about school issues (I still think most “walk throughs” are stupid) and the like. I had falafel for dinner and mostly avoided the first wave of Halloween candy. The front porch was a disaster so I marshaled the kids into a cleaning force then decided, while they were on a roll, to get them to clean their room. They didn’t like the idea but they did a decent job. Of course, I had to lean on them, esp. N, about every five seconds to stay focused. Later I also had to lean on T for almost breaking a new Day of the Dead night light. I love that kid, I swear, but sometimes he goes into outer space. I struggle with the balance of high expectations and pushing my kids to do the right thing and remembering my oldest son is ten years old. I imagine most dads go through the same struggle. I’m amazed at how resilient T can be; he seems perfectly happy ten minutes later. I love him.

Anyway, later I continued with the Sedaris before falling asleep. Today should be interesting. I was planning on driving into the office but I’m not sure I will because bad weather is supposed to move into the area. Here’s the weather channel website quote:

“Windy. A few showers from time to time. High 49F. Winds W at 25 to 35 mph. Chance of rain 40%. Winds could occasionally gust over 50 mph.”

Those winds are a bitch on the highway. I mean, they’re not horrible, but they’re reason enough to avoid driving to work on a Sunday. Maybe I’ll hit a coffee shop with the laptop instead.

I hear yogurt and blueberry granola calling me. Good night/morning.