Angelina Jolie

My close friends know that I do not like Angelina Jolie.  In fact, I have a strong distaste for her.  Why?  It's simple...she stole my friend's husband.  And by friend, I mean Jennifer Aniston.  (Yes, in my head we are best friends.  After all, we did spend 10 glorious seasons together.)  I just never liked Angelina after she shacked up with Brad Pitt.  I'm trying hard to like her these days.  As much as I may not agree with her adopting 27 children, she has brought a lot of attention to adoption and people are learning more about adoption because of it.  So long story short, I do not hate her....I'm trying to appreciate the awareness she has brought to the adoption world.

Well...it's only a matter of time before I became a crazy mom.  Okay...we know that I am crazy but I became a crazed mama bear today in the grocery store.  The woman in front of me purchased a magazine with Angelina on the front.  It mentioned that she and Brad were going to be adopting another child.  The cashier and the customer in front of me carried on talking about how it seemed ridiculous that they were adopting children from all over.  And why on earth would they want to adopt when clearly they can have "kids of their own"....blah, blah, blah....

This continued even after all of the woman's items were bagged.  At this point I was waiting impatiently and now extremely irritated.  The bagger, a former student of mine, noticed my irritation and helped quickly put this woman's bags in her cart.  (Thank you, Billy.)  I am sure that there was steam shooting out of my ears.  It was finally my turn to check out.  The cashier tried to continue to talk to me about it.  My response, which I am sure came out much nastier than I meant it to, probably wasn't needed.  I should know better than to let those that are ignorant bother me. 

"I'm sorry...I really don't think that this conversation is appropriate to have right now."

Billy jumped in, "Hey Lady Stape, didn't you and Stape adopt a baby?"  (God bless that kid!)

"Yes, Billy, we did."

That cashier, with the bright red face, rang up my items and bagged them so quickly.  With a smile and wink towards Billy, I walked out of there thinking that perhaps next time she might think twice before rattling on like that.

On a totally separate note, I added a spot on my blog where you can "follow" Stape's House.  We'd love to know if you are a follower of our crazy life....so please declare it!  :)  And stay tuned...we have some very exciting stuff coming up soon!!

I will kick that intruder's arse....

Just wait...here comes another edition of, "Beth is crazy!"

Today seemed like the longest Friday of all time.  Long, crazy day with lots of student drama and discipline going on.  Not to mention followed by a cheer practice where the girls were simply stir crazy and unfocused and the coaches (myself being one of them) were getting very frustrated.  My friend, Diane, watched Gus for us today while I was at practice and Joel was helping to run a charity event.  After practice, Diane, Gus and I ran some errands together.  We finished up just in time for me to get Gus home for bedtime.

After wrestling with my 1 1/2 year old alligator to get him out of the carseat and he tried to slither out of my arms as we walked up to the house, I was finally able to let him run free once we walked through that front door.  I casually took off my coat as Gus ran around like a mad man and I walked into the kitchen to hang up my coat and.....BOOM!!!  There is was!  The door leading from the kitchen into the garage was wide...I mean WIDE open.  Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap!!!!  (Okay....yes, I had some other choice words running through my head.)  I snatched Gus up, grabbed my cell phone and ran out to the neighbor's driveway as I called my husband.  (The neighbor is a police officer....I figured I could always have him come kick the intruder's arse if need be.) 

I frantically called Joel to ask if he by chance left that door open.  His response, much to my dismay, "ya know....I think I might have.  I left in such a rush."  ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?!?  How do I know for sure?  And why didn't I think to grab my coat?  I am freezing.  Should I go back in?  Maybe I should make Aaron go check it out first.  Should I call the cops?  Am I being ridiculous?  Am I overly paranoid?  Maybe I should be more concerned?  Many things went through my mind.  Oh!  And thank goodness I hadn't yet gotten Gus out of his coat.  He was warm and at this point playing in the snow at the neighbor's house.  After a lot of thought, we went back into the house.  I set Gus down and I grabbed the broom in the kitchen and went around the house with a broom in one hand and my phone in the other with it already dialed to 9-1-...just in case.  I kicked open every door, the shower curtain, looked under the bed and jumped in about in an effort to surprise the intruder and so that I could kick his/her arse with a broom.

Long story short....no intruder but my overactive imagination jumped into overdrive and I became a raving lunatic. But I still have my broom ready....just waiting for my husband, the door-leaver-opener, to arrive home.  He better start running.....

You can never say that school is boring...

Anybody who says that school is boring is so wrong!!  Today was quite eventful.  Below is the statement that was released after our school day today:

At 12:25 Flat Rock Community High School received an email from an outside source claiming a bomb would be detonated at 12:40 PM. Police and Fire officials were notified immediately and all high school students were evacuated to a secondary secure location. The building was searched by Flat Rock Police and Fire along with the Michigan State Police Canine Unit. The all clear was given and students were returned to class at 2:10 p.m. and were dismissed at the usual time.


As part of the Flat Rock Community Schools’ safety protocol, Bobcean Elementary School was placed in partial lockdown. Barnes Elementary School and Simpson Middle School were not affected.  Students were safe and secure at all times; Flat Rock Police detectives are investigating the situation. Thank you for your patience and understanding during this unfortunate event. The safety of our students is always our primary concern.

So how did MY part of the day go?  I got a call from my husband who was one of the few in the building who got the email.  He checked his email at 12:35.  He called me in the office because he couldn't get ahold of anyone else.  I ran to get the principal.  While he called the authorities, he told me to pull the fire alarm.  (Yes, I felt like I was going to get into BIG trouble for pulling it, but you do what you have to do in times such as this.)  The building was evacuated.  Once outside, we needed to get the kids as far away as possible from the building.  I needed to run to the other exits of the building to let other staff know to get kids moving.  I couldn't run in my heels so I had to kick them off.  When I was done running, I tried to go back for my shoes...no luck.  The police officer said they were too close to the building so I was out of luck.  Like Cinderellas at the ball....no shoes.  So I continued to walk in my socks until one student offered up his sandals to me.  (Side note- this kid causes nothing but trouble in my classroom, but for this one day, I was very thankful to have him with me.  Thanks for the sandals, bud!)

We were outside for quite a while and then once the building was clear we were allowed back in.  The statement above was read aloud to everyone and it got me thinking.  I was a staff member here today, I knew what was going on, I knew that all of our kids were safe.  What if I were a parent?  What if this was Gus' school?  What if he was one of the kids standing out in that parking lot and I heard that there was a bomb threat? Would my son be safe?  Was he well taken care of there?  Was he free from danger?  So scary to think about.  Of course there were instant tears about how scary that would be.  Tonight, I overheard Joel talking to Gus.  "I'm so glad that everything went well today so that momma and daddy were kept safe so we could come home to you."  Again, instant tears.  I didn't even think about the fact that something could happen to me.  Or both of us for that matter.  How horrible to think that if this threat really turned something up, that both of Gus' parents could have been harmed.  It makes me sick to think about!!  Thank God that the responsible party was apprehended.  The possible consequences could be up to 10 years in prison and $250,000 fine.  I am torn with that.  I hope it wasn't some kid who made a terrible mistake.  But at the same time, as a mother, those consequences don't seem tough enough considering what could have happened had the threat been real. 

Our staff and students did a great job of working together today and I am proud to be a Ram today. But I will be quite content to NEVER have another experience like this one again in my entire career!  And on that note, I am going to go grab a diet coke, kick up my feet and relax with my little family!