Story A Day

The BSP bowl-a-thon was on Saturday, and it was a big success!  We had a full group of bowlers for each session, the kids had a great time, and we successfully raised money for BSP!  Who could ask for more There will be photos on the BSP website at some point, so I will post a link when they are available.  If you weren’t able to participate in the bowl-a-thon, but would still like to support the work of Breakthrough Saint Paul (prep for shameless plug ), you can make a donation at this website: http://givemn.razoo.com/story/Breakthrough-Saint-Paul.

The adage goes…”Take time to stop and smell the roses…” but we don’t have any roses along the sidewalks in MN right now.  What we do have are these ever-so-tempting mini ledges of ice.  I know it sounds strange, but I love to crunch those little, mini ledges of ice.  We happen to have a nice batch of them right now, on our sidewalk that leads to the garage.  The thought crossed my mind as I hurried to work this morning, that while I could not take time to stop and smell any non-existent roses, I could take time to stop for that simple pleasure…and crunch the mini ledges ice…so I did, both this morning, and on my way home.  Those of you who don’t live in a cold climate probably have no idea what I am talking about, but I still haven’t bought a new camera, so you’ll have to use your imagination

Work at BSP has been very busy lately, and we are tracking for a record number of aspiring teacher applicants this year!  While I have certainly done a lot of work on the recruiting front, I think it is more likely a sign of the poor economy, and a lack of relevant, paid opportunities for college students in the summer.  I’m sad that I will be breaking a lot of hearts in the coming weeks, but at least we will have a strong pool to draw from.  Our numbers are double what they were for the Summer 2008 applicant pool at this time of year, and up about 30% from the Summer 2009 pool at this time of year.  The deadline is next Monday.  Now, perhaps the college world has rid itself of procrastinators, and I am getting more apps in advance, with fewer coming in at the deadline – but knowing the typical college student (or wait, the typical person in general ) I doubt that is the case.  I guess we’ll see!  I think my email inbox will be VERY busy in the coming days…

I stayed up late last night watching the figure skating competition in the Olympics – thus, too sleepy to blog last night!  I do have to say that I think the South Korean skater is top notch – I can’t believe she make 8-9 million/year with sponsorships!!!  Crazy.

Despite being married for over 4 years, Tim and I have never really “furniture shopped”.  We’ve bought a few things here and there at IKEA, but never really approached it as a big process, since IKEA stuff is pretty cheap.  This weekend, Tim and I decided to venture out and explore options for a new dining room table and TV stand for our living room.  We found ourselves making our first furniture purchase that we figure will be in our house for good – a nice TV stand/cabinet for our living room.  As you know from previous blogs, my camera bit the dust (and we didn’t make it to buy a new one since we were furniture shopping ), so the best I could do is a photo on Tim’s phone:

We also found a dining room table this weekend.  There was a nice one on clearance at the JC Penney Furniture Store, and while it’s nice, it was not so expensive that I will be super upset if it gets scratched here and there.  I was quite amazed how expensive most of the dining room tables were at the furniture stores!!  It doesn’t get delivered until March, so no photos until then

I just returned home from a Saturday session at Breakthrough Saint Paul, and after a stressful week of long to-do lists at the office, I am reminded of how lucky I am to do work that impacts the lives of such amazing kids.  A few examples…

- The kid who walked into two local, prestigious private schools and told them he wanted to go to their school, asking how to make it happen.  With little to no parent support, he managed to apply to both schools, complete the paperwork for financial aid, and succeed in being admitted to both schools.  Now, we are crossing our fingers that the financial aid he needs will be available to him.  He’s a fighter.

- The student who is new to the country, and just learning English, but who takes every opportunity to talk to me and my colleagues about her interest in applying for a prestigious scholarship that would help her on the path to college.  This is the same persevering student who doubted her ability to meet the requirements of BSP at the beginning of last summer, due to her lack of English skills, but with a bit of convincing, stayed on with the program and is thriving.

- The student who is present at our program every session, except today, when he called to say his mom had taken off unexpectedly, and that he had to take care of his siblings.  Despite the chaos of his morning…he called…that’s a victory.

- The many students who sat down to write thank-you notes to our donors.  Their words were so powerful that I am sure many donors will think we coached the students on what to write…we didn’t, and even the staff were blown away by the power of their statements.

These kids are fighters, and they truly inspire me.  It makes the stressful week worth every minute…

Calling all blog readers who would enjoy a fun afternoon of bowling – and raising money for Breakthrough!  Breakthrough Saint Paul is having a bowl-a-thon on Saturday, February 27th – and Tim and I will be there rockin’ the lanes with some awesome BSP students!   I would love to put together a couple teams – each has 4 people.  Click on the photo below for more details, and feel free to either register directly through the site, or email me if you’re interested in joining the fun!  (PS: We don’t check student ID’s – in the event that the non-student contribution level is prohibitive – we’d rather have you pay the student fee and join us, than not join us at all!)

It was a thrilling evening of Olympic viewing One gold right after another…yay!

Winter and I usually get along pretty well, I am a fan of the sparkly snow, and the cross country skiing.  It also reminds me to appreciate each of the other seasons Today, winter and I had a fight…after meeting a perilous puddle in the Target parking lot.  I pulled into my parking space, and walked to the back door to get my reusable grocery bags – I was so proud that I actually remembered to bring them today!  As I stepped up to the door, my foot sank into a puddle that went up to my ankle – agh!!  It was one of the puddles that looked like a simple, thin layer of slush on the ground, but really, what lurks beneath is a low spot in the parking lot, and a high volume of ooey, gooey, dirty, chunky, slush Luckily, I had decent shoes on, and pulled my foot out of the puddle fast enough to avoid a complete flooding of the inside of my shoe.  After concluding my shopping trip, the trick was avoiding the puddle again as I navigated around my car to put the groceries inside.  Hopefully by tomorrow winter and I will be friends again

…I am a big fan!  I find myself turning on the TV to catch every minute possible.  Growing up I typically watched the figure skating competition, but not much else in the Winter Olympics.  Now, I am intrigued by all of the events…the speed of the skiers, the gusto of the snowboarders, the bravery of the lugers, the skill of the figure skaters…it is really amazing what these people can do!!  I think I will clock many an hour of Olympic viewing in the coming weeks.  I will say, however, that I am a multi-tasker, like right now, I am blogging during the figure skating competition – though looking up for every jump I think I will miss the Olympics when they are gone…