My Night Off

My Night Off
By: Heather Onderko

Tonight I had a night off from the dance studio. This isn't a really celebratory occasion because it is only the 2nd week of dance classes and I love to teach dance class-- it is a positive release for me and my pent up, sometimes negative energies left-over from the school day. The original plan and reasoning for not holding dance class tonight is because A Taste of Meadville is being held at the Market House. This event is divine. It brings in some of the very best restaurants and food vendors throughout the Meadville area with some of their very best appetizers, main dishes, desserts and drinks to sample. So, the every day Joe/Josephine can just purchase a ticket and eat until his (or her) belly is beyond contentedly full. And since the event goes on for something like 2 hours, you can load up, rest and digest, load up some more, rest and digest and continually repeat until you've taken in so many calories that you really probably should not eat for the next week, or maybe month. Needless to say, the Market House area is swarmed for this event, parking is cut off in the area, and getting to dance class is nearly (if not completely) impossible and kids are coming into 1/2 hour classes for the last 15 minutes by the time they arrive. Not. So. Cool. So I do the dutiful thing that all good dance instructors should do and build it into the schedule that there is no class on the night of A Taste of Meadville. Normally J & I get tickets and attend this festive occasion ourselves. However this year we have our fall BBQ this coming weekend so there is much to do. Jason is holding fall baseball open gym and also is helping to run an intermural volleyball program at the elementary school. So we decided to scrap our plans to attend and take this year off...Never fear, I plan to be back next year!!!

So here is what I did on my night off....
1. Stayed for an entire English Department meeting at the middle school (ended around 4:30)
2. Went grocery shopping at Aldi's and Wal-Mart in the middle of the week before 9pm
3. Cleaned out the refrigerator (it really needed it)
4. Made dinner in the middle of the week, before 9pm (and I really cooked! not some freezer meal)
5. Cleaned up after dinner (emptied and reloaded the dish washer, packed lunches for tomorrow, emptied the kitchen garbage, did laundry)
6. Tried to call back two people who called regarding dance classes-- didn't reach them so I prepped info to send them in the mail.
7. Successfully blogged for the 2nd day in a row (in a really long entry, nonetheless)

And what will I do with the rest of my night off? Grade essays, finish picking up my office a little bit more so it is ready for the weekend, give my still-sick husband a kiss good night (on the forehead-- avoiding germs, please!), go to bed with my puppies (because still-sick hubby is sleeping on the couch), and maybe read a little bit the book I'm working on lately.

Full Night. Got lots done. Feelin good. Mission Accomplished. :)