Fiddle faddle

So if you pay attention to the news at all- at least here in England- you know that there have been a spate of MPs who got in serious trouble for claiming things on their expenses that they shouldn't have.  It's been going on for quite a while, but there are still occasionally news stories about new developments.

These news stories tend to bring out my husband's crazies.  I've told you about a few of mine, but don't worry, Ross and I are a well-matched couple.  He's got his own crazies!

Every time a story related to these scandals comes on the radio, they very proper, well spoken, BBC news casters say a phrase that sets Ross' crazies into overdrive.  They'll say that an MP was accused/found guilty of/sentenced for "fiddling their expenses".

Fiddle away

This makes Ross' shoulders go up and his hackles go up.  He gets all ranty (and cute) and yells at the radio.  It drives him crazy that, in a serious news story, they use such casual slang.  He has a point that these MPs are not charged with "fiddling" anything.  As best as I can tell, they are charged with "false accounting".  Ross claims it's just a matter of time before the reporters are saying things like:

"He got done for fiddling and is now banged up."

"The bitch is in the chokey for fiddling."

I have to say, though it doesn't provoke my crazies like it does his, that he's right.  It makes me wonder why the hallowed BBC continues to use such slangy and ugly (and for that matter inaccurate) words in their reporting.

What do you think?  

Would that bother you, or is my husband just special?

Is there anything you hear in the media, that gets your crazies?

TMI: Waiting Game

Now that I've shared this with you, I figured I'd give you the back story.  In full over-share style.  I'll be labelling posts like this with a TMI warning, so consider yourselves warned.


This post is part of the TMI series.  If you don't want to read about personal stuff like makin' a baby, you might want to skip these.  Most of these posts will be posted well after they are written.  I don't mind sharing with y'all, but I gotta keep some things a bit private...


written Monday, April 25, 2011

So my period is due today.
At least according to the fertility tracker app on my phone.
We've been trying since January.  Trying isn't the right word though.  Trying implies more effort than we are giving it.  We are letting nature take it's course.  We figured we're not in a rush and figure we'll just see what happens.  We aren't making any effort to time when we get friendly.  I'm not taking my temperature or any of that.  I'm 32, so I've got a little time before we need to get all serious about this.
I don't feel pregnant.  As I told Ross, I'm expecting my period to start any minute now.  But...

But... What if this is the month.  I'm super-excited to start a family with Ross.  I feel like we're going to be awesome parents.  Now that we're "trying" (or whatever you call it), I feel like I'm attentive to things that I never noticed before.  All these "symptoms" that you start noticing... and how irritating is it that PMS and early pregnancy symptoms are so similar.  I took a 4.5 hour nap today.  Is that a symptom?  Or was I just tired?  I've been really stuffy and lost my voice.  I've been reading lots of blogs about pregnancy and many of them mention stuffiness as a symptom... but it's more than likely my allergies from all this darn cottonwood.

Argh... tick tock tick tock.... I'm waiting...

written Tuesday, April 27th, 2011

Still no news... strangely, the more time that passes, the more convinced I am that I am not pregnant.  Though that sounds counter-intuitive I can almost feel my period coming.  I wouldn't feel like that if I was pregnant, right?  And wasn't my period a day or so later than the stupid calendar app said it should be last month?  Yeah... it was because I bought a pregnancy test.  I decided that if it hadn't started by the next morning, I'd do a test.  And I never needed to open the box.  So I've got a test... I like to succeed though, so I don't really want to take a test that I don't think I'll pass.  Hey- I never said I followed logic.

written Friday, April 28th, 2011

So yeah... I'm now 4 days late.  It seems a LOT longer than that.  We just watched the Royal Wedding and it was lovely.  I'm prepared to take a pregnancy test this evening.  I'm not sure how I feel... 20% hopeful, 20% terrified, 10% excited, 10% nervous, 40% numb?  That sounds about right.

and at 11:45PM

So I just took a pregnancy test.  I've never done that before.  The directions said that you are recommended to urinate in a clean, dry glass container.  I didn't fancy peeing in one of our drinking glasses, so I went with the alternate directions of just holding it in my urine stream.  We're anxiously waiting.  We've got a control line, but no 2nd line.  It's definitely been over 3 minutes... no line.

Wop wop.

Well where the hell is my period then!?
Ugh.  The waiting continues.  I told Ross that, on the one hand, I sort of feel vindicated because I really don't think I'm pregnant.  But on the other hand- where the hell is my period? :)
Ross says, "It's not that unusual is it?"
I said, "I can't remember a time I was 4 days late. "
He says, ever helpfully, "It's probably your age."*
I said, "You're right.  It must be menopause."
He says, "I better start looking for a younger wife."*

written Sunday May 1, 2011

After the longest 6 days of my life, my period finally started.
Ah well.  I'm not surprised because even though it was a long wait I was truly convinced that I wasn't pregnant.  I guess, on reflection, I've only really tracked my period the last few months.  It never really mattered before.  Either I was on birth control or it was coming... Maybe I've got a funky cycle every few months or something...
The bright side is that we are now officially in the clear for a family cruise that's being planned for my Grandmother's 85th birthday.  We'd said we were in, but if I'd gotten pregnant before now, I would have been too far along to be allowed on the ship.

written Monday May 2, 2011

So just a little informative coda.  When I was in the height of the waiting game I emailed my friend C for advice/insight on the situation.  She gave me just the reassurance and support I was looking for.  She offered this tidbit after my period finally showed up- apparently if you are really stressed out or sick just before you are supposed to ovulate, the process gets put on hold.  This means you ovulate late and then your period shows up late.  Ah ha!  I had a major cold earlier this month.  I love having an explanation for things!


*Ross is not a jerk.  1. He makes inappropriate jokes when things get to heavy.  It's a coping mechanism.  2. We have a running joke about my age and pregnancy because my G'ma (who is awesome and I love dearly) told my younger cousin that she and her husband were the only hope for great-grandchildren because Ross and I are "too old".

Cheerful Sunday

Lorrytruck

Delivery!

Definition: a large vehicle, generally comprised of a cab and a good storage area.  Generally used for delivery or transport of goods.  In America these have up to 18 wheels.  In England, not more than 12.*

Used in a sentence:  It doesn't make me nearly as nervous to drive next to a lorrytruck in England as it does in America because they're smaller, which makes them seem friendly.

*The number 12 was based on a deeply researched and highly scientific google image search.  In other words, it was mostly made up, but it sounds right...

Tough cookie or meanie?

On our recent trip to Blackpool, Ross booked our B&B after checking out online reviews.  One establishment had simply outstanding reviews.  It had perfect marks across the board on Trip Advisor.  We figured this was the place to stay!

In my post about the trip, I expressed my confusion as to the superlative nature of the reviews.  Let me explain.  It was  perfectly fine B&B.  It seemed on par with other B&Bs that I've seen.  It was fine.  The proprietors were very nice.  The location was good.  The bed was pretty uncomfortable.  It was a little dusty.  The towels were rough.  Nothing terribly wrong.  Just little things that made it fine and not great.  It was certainly not as nice at the B&B that we stayed at when we went to the Lake District for Ross' birthday last year.

After we left, Ross and I both wondered about the reviews we'd seen online.  Though we'd found the experience acceptable, and would even consider staying at this place again, we were baffled by why people had scored it with the highest marks across the board.  We probably would have still booked it with slightly lower (in our opinion, more accurate) reviews and would not have been left feeling a bit disappointed.  We resolved to post a balanced review.

Ross forwarded me the feedback form when it arrived in his email a few days later.  I endeavoured to leave the kind of review I would have found helpful.

I ended up with the following text:
A pleasant stay
This was a perfectly pleasant place to stay in a charming little town. The proprietors are very friendly, though the accommodations are nothing particularly special. Seems like a better place for a family stay than for a romantic couple's weekend.



I ranked them on several categories, on a scale of 1 to 6.  On most categories, I gave a 4.  On customer service a gave a 5.

I read the review to Ross for his agreement and approval before I hit submit.
A few days later, I received another email (forwarded from Ross).  It was from the owner of the B&B and she was asking about our rankings.  She apologized that we were disappointed with our stay.  She questioned my low ranking of "cleanliness" and "quality of food"- both of which I ranked 4 of 6.   She framed it as being interested in improving the B&B.

Now, to me, 4 of 6 means the equivalent of "good".  That's a good score to get from me!  5 would have been "very good" and 6 would have been "outstanding".  Those two rankings really mean something to me.  A rank of 6 is the equivalent of saying "I can't imagine anything better!" in my opinion.

Perhaps I'm just a tough cookie.  I know reviews are very important to businesses such as this, but that doesn't mean I'm going to give a rank that I can't stand behind.  I used to have a boss who was tough and when you got a high score on an employee evaluation it really meant something.  And that's how I view ranking systems like this.

Now I feel pressured to defend my rankings and opinions.  I'm finally composing my reply to the owners email and am going to strive to be helpful and kind (rather than defensive).

Are you a tough rater?
or do you hand out 5's and 6's like they're candy?
Have you ever felt pressured to defend a review after being contacted by a business?