My friend Katie has a spot on post about Elizabeth Edwards on her blog. I was so struck by it, I commented “I hope this ends up in Elizabeth Edwards’ inbox”. If you look at the other comments, you’ll see, Ms. Edwards did, in fact end up reading it. I feel a lot better, knowing that SHE knows people feel this way.
Posted by: ckmarler | February 2, 2010
Elizabeth Edwards
Posted in Blogs, Life | Tags: blogging, Elizabeth Edwards, inappropriate, politics
Posted by: ckmarler | February 1, 2010
Ace is the place with the helpful hardware man
We had another weekend of snow. On Friday night/early Saturday morning, my mom called to let us know that they were out of power from the snowstorm. My mom takes care of my 94 year old grandmother so it was a bit nerve-wracking to think of her without heat. They had an old kerosene heater, but couldn’t get it to work. Mom’s cell phone was dying so she asked me to call the power company for her. It wasn’t that she couldn’t do it, it was that the line was busy since evidently everyone’s power was out in her area.
We offered to attempt to drive down there and get them. I thought we could possibly get Granny to go to a hotel if I were there to talk her into it. She’s not much on wanting to go anywhere and while it would seem she’d be all for it what with them being out of power, she’s just not that way. She has a dog and was worried that they wouldn’t let her take her with her. Of course, I wouldn’t have let anything happen to my grandmother’s dog even if they hadn’t let her bring her to the hotel but that kind of stress affects an elderly person more than it would you or I. So, at my mother’s advice, we decided to wait and see what the morning would bring.
I got the call from mom around 11:00 and she asked if we could find a kerosene heater and bring it to them. Sure. That’s an easy one. Well, so we thought. While I’m not a patron of Wal-Mart on a normal basis, I thought that they would likely be my only hope for finding a kerosene heater in Knoxville during winter-weather. We went to one Wal-Mart and quickly found out that all Knoxville-area Wal-Mart stores were out of kerosene heaters. Crap. My husband and I quickly put both of our smartphones to work and called two different Lowe’s, two Home Depots, two, Mayo garden centers, a feed store/co-op, and finally, a neighborhood Ace hardware store. They had one. I begged the guy to hold it for me and we drove as quickly as we could.
I also bought a battery starter/mini-generator thingy. It wouldn’t help them in this situation because it needed a full 24 hours to charge, but if they had it, they would have had light and some power, certainly enough to power my Granny’s electric blanket through the night.
As I attempted to charge the battery starter with my cigarette lighter (you can’t for the initial charge), I asked my husband to run into Ace and get the heater and a gas can. The wonderful guys at Ace REFUSED my husband’s attempt to buy it. They were adamant that “this heater is for a girl named Catherine’s 94 year old grandmother”. Immediately, I remembered what I had said to the guy when I was on the phone and frantic. I had begged him to “please don’t let anyone else get this” and you know what, he wasn’t going to. I was so stricken by their kindness, I immediately started tearing up and ran in the store to thank them. I cannot express how thankful I am for the thoughtful staff at Ace hardware in Bearden. They will forever have my business (and I don’t even live in Bearden!)
Posted by: ckmarler | January 10, 2010
He Binged Google
Posted by: ckmarler | January 7, 2010
Blog Stats
Yesterday was the busiest day ever for my blog. I have no idea why. None of my stats are really telling me anything. Weird.
Posted in Blogs | Tags: blog stats
Posted by: ckmarler | January 5, 2010
**UPDATE**
Here’s an email from my mother-in-law referencing the now infamous, mushroom log (also known as “the weirdest Christmas gift ever”:
Hi ***,
A. and J. were here for the weekend. In case you and Catherine want to do some early Christmas shopping for next year J. told us that he would like a “hot dog log” next year for Christmas. You guys always come up with unique gifts, see what you can do with this one.
I love you, Happy New Year,
Mom
Posted in Life
Posted by: ckmarler | January 4, 2010
Exciting new additions
Well the Droid has taken hold in our house. It’s really the coolest thing since sliced bread. Or I think it is. My husband won’t let go of it long enough for me to really find out. I do hear it making funny noises, quoting Family Guy pretty frequently and him giggling uncontrollably, so it must be pretty cool.
(My 1st generation EnV is still pretty cool too. It’s ok to be jealous of it.)
I, on the other hand, am now obsessed with my Netflix queue. Yes, I know, obsessing over Netflix is so 2005, but I have been boycotting them so I have missed out. See, they are seemingly the last reputable business that still uses pop-up advertising. Given my career, I should be pleased they are so focused on digital media, but really it just pisses me off.
Anger aside, I finally joined last week. It’s pretty much the greatest thing ever in the world. I got the package that allows me to have two dvds at a time and I have unlimited “Watch Immediately” access. Now all the money I’m saving on buying movies OnDemand is going to be spent buying cords to hook up my laptop to my TV for my “Watch Instantly” picks. Why yes, I am a goober.
It has just now crossed my mind that I CAN HOOK UP MY IPOD TO MY TV TOO! Must go. I’m off to Amazon to buy a couple thousand dollars worth of cords. Love ya.
Posted by: ckmarler | December 30, 2009
Yay!
I just found out that Lindsay Ferrier of Suburban Turmoil has a fashion and shopping blog, She’s Still Got It. This makes me immensely happy. See, she’s a HILARIOUS writer. I first read her when I’d pick up a Nashville Scene while visiting, and occasionally I’ll read a few of her blog posts on Turmoil. I have said, she seems like the kind of mom I’d be if I had kids, but you know, I don’t have kids*, so my attention span tends to drift after a while. My fault, not hers.
*Kids seem to help make sure bloggers have material, though. It’s just not the same with husbands. “Oh look, DT is drinking milk from the carton again. My readers will find that hilarious!”
Posted by: ckmarler | December 29, 2009
And here is the weirdest Christmas gift we’ve ever given:
My wonderful 10 year old niece is bright, creative, and unique. She also loves mushrooms. It was these things that made us think she might like having a Mushroom Log. It was one of those gifts that either is well-loved or it goes over like, well, a log.
We laughed at the though of giving a child an actual log for Christmas. And when she opened it, for a moment, she looked like we were the weirdest people alive. Then, when she saw what it was and we explained how it would work, you could just see her eyes lighting up.
So there you have it. We gave a kid a log and she still loves us.
Posted by: ckmarler | December 29, 2009
Photo-blogging Christmas
Posted by: ckmarler | December 22, 2009
Look what I got, look what I got, look what I got!
Posted by: ckmarler | December 15, 2009
My dog wears diapers.
Yep. He does. And I’m a raving fan of them.
You see, when we adopted Leon, he was already an elderly dog. We aren’t sure how old he is, but we’ve had him two years now (wow!) and the vet guessed he was 10 or 11 then. I’ve always leaned more towards 11, so that would make him around 13 now.
When he first came to the house, we noticed he had some, um, problems knowing where he was allowed to go to the bathroom and where he wasn’t. We had a Christmas tree up at the time which I’m sure made it even MORE confusing. I just assumed that after time, he would learn and we would just deal with the situation for a little while.
Well as it turns out, it wasn’t “for a little while” and it became a big deal. It was incredibly frustrating. Every day when we got home, as gross as it sounds, we would a.) have to play a game of “find the pee” and then, b.) bicker over who got to clean it up. Neither of which was any fun. 
We were at wits’ end and literally didn’t know what to do. I finally got online and did some research. It turns out there are diapers for dogs. Our other dog, the one I’ve had since before we met, would never in ten-million years be a candidate for dog diapers. He wasn’t even able to not chew his stitches out of his body (three times!) so you can imagine how he’d handle wearing a diaper. I’d give it 34 seconds. But Leon, he’s different. He’s, umm, special. He could care less if he is wearing a diaper or not. When we get ready to leave the house, there’s Leon, running up to us as we un-velcro his “pee-pee pants”.
(And yes, there is, in fact, a “pee-pee dance” that is involved. )
So, while I’m not ready to say, “Dog Diapers Saved My Marriage” or anything, they have most DEFINITELY made my life so much easier. 
Posted in Family | Tags: diapers, dogs, incontinence, pets
Posted by: ckmarler | December 10, 2009
I don’t do Christmas
I just don’t get into the Christmas thing.
I hate the shopping. I buy gifts for my loved ones all the time (no, they aren’t usually expensive ones) just if I see something that reminds me of them or that they might like.
I also hate traffic and since my job requires me to frequently travel from one office to another, I’m now stuck in senseless Christmas shopping traffic every time I have to go to a meeting. And I’m noticing that while everyone is out and about, more and more people are either jerks or just in such a bad mood that they can’t help being jerks. Either way, it makes me unhappy to interact with them during my daily tasks.
I love to cook year round, but now, when I go to the grocery store, it’s packed with people who are making candy or trying to figure out what a cantaloupe is. Where are these people the other 11 months of the year? Do they starve themselves? Is it ok to wish they’d go back?
Posted by: ckmarler | December 6, 2009
Merry Christmas from Santa’s Little Helpers
Posted in Life
Posted by: ckmarler | December 5, 2009
I love commercials
I really do. I know that working in advertising makes me a little more prone to enjoying different advertising messages, but I always have.
I liked this Garmin commercial last year but the new one cracks me up!
Even so, Heiniken still wins the best commercial I’ve seen in a while!
Posted in Life
Posted by: ckmarler | November 28, 2009
Are you ever just in a BAD mood?
I’m sure everyone is. I’m fairly even-tempered and I’m usually in a good mood, cheery even. But yesterday, absolutely nothing was going my way and I was struggling to not let that fact get the best of me.
I had to work which wouldn’t have been a big deal since I’ve worked many holidays and days after Thanksgiving, but I had asked off, been approved, and planned around that fact when the workload just didn’t allow for me to do it. It wasn’t really anyone’s fault, I was just pure and simply too busy to take the time off. I didn’t get as much taken care of as I’d like, we were on a skeleton crew at the office so some of the things I’d need others to execute didn’t get done (but I’m now in a MUCH better place for Monday).
When I got home, I was just agitated. That’s the simplest way I can explain it. My husband knew that I wasn’t acting normal and just tried to stay out of sight. We were supposed to go to a party that we’d both been looking forward to but I wasn’t entirely sure I could maintain a pleasant conversation with the lovely people.
After much consideration, we decided to go to the party, if even for a little while, since it was so nice to be invited. I causally asked what the weather was like and we got ready. When DT stepped out dressed and ready to go, he looked nice. Really nice. Nicer than I looked. Frustrated again, I went back to the closet and fumbled around for something comfortable, but stylish enough so it didn’t look like he’d shown up with an adopted homeless person. I decided to wear a cute purple corduroy blazer that I usually like over what I’d worn to work. DT asked, “Oh, I thought you were changing clothes”. He meant no harm, of course, but then I felt like I NEEDED to change. (He just meant that I usually DO want to change out of work clothes when we go out, but I had worn more casual clothes to work since it was a holiday and I wasn’t seeing clients.)
I didn’t change. And I didn’t snap at him, thankfully. I just tried to muster up the strength to manually have an attitude adjustment. It wasn’t working.
As we drove downtown, we realized traffic was heavy and remembered the Christmas parade had all our routes blocked off. We finally got to the parking garage as I remembered that I hadn’t even put on any makeup. Gah.
As we walked out of the garage, I remembered I never actually checked the weather and it was cold. Really cold. I mentioned that I should have worn my nice, new knee-length wool coat instead of the light blazer. Of course, DT offered to go and get it and let me sit and have a glass of wine. I thought for a moment, and said, “No, let me. I’ll be right back. It’s not your fault, and it will give me a moment to compose myself.” After a little pushback to let him go for me, he relented.
I ran home. Called my mama on the way and told her what a grump I was being and we chatted about what was going on. I quickly changed into the warmer, much nicer looking, coat. Touched up my makeup. And drive right back. I didn’t get as good a parking place, but I was feeling a little better. As I walked in to meet him, DT quickly jumped up and took me outside. He had a little box. He said, “I know you’ve had a rough day and wanted you to have something to cheer you up.”
While I ran home, instead of having a beer and dreading his grumpy wife’s arrival, he went to a wonderful little store and bought me a beautiful pair of handmade earrings. I was stunned, and teary-eyed. And no longer anywhere near a bad mood.
Posted in Life
