Love you guys! – You left some of the nicest comments on my Christmas card post. Thank you so much! Commenters make the blogging experience rock!
If you have the pipes – We watched a PBS program on the 70s singing group “Carpenters.” If you don’t remember them, they were a brother-sister team (YouTube at bottom of post). She sang and played drums. He arranged, played piano and harmonized. Their songs were great. She sang contralto which is my favorite. I was blown away by her clothes. Yes, they were very 60s, 70s and 80s but she was covered. Maybe if you have the pipes you don’t have to bare the body. I don’t know when it became common for female singers to perform almost naked. Men don’t.
Time flies – in many ways! I received a $10 gift card from a department store celebrating the 35th anniversary of my credit card. Yep, it’s been that long. Who knew credit cards have birthdays! They have the best shoe department locally. When I worked I was a great customer! Not so much now.
Holidays! – Part of the holidays are gone. The constant eating of big rich meals has me feeling like fattened cattle right before the slaughter. I really need a day of lightweight soup to unbuzz my head and unclog my arteries! In the meantime, I’m staying away from anything that looks like a cleaver.
Best gift ever! — Well, maybe the beloved husband doesn’t think so. He received my cat Mollie’s recently extracted rotten tooth for Christmas. Something so expensive should be gifted! I had it sealed in a tiny Ziploc bag. Rotten teeth stink!
So how was your week?
I always loved The Carpenters, particularly Karen.
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Karen Carpenter was such a tragedy. Great talent cruelly lost.
(A store actually sent you a gift for sticking with them? Wow. A whole different world where you live. Pretty cool.)
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The store was Macy’s and they never did that before so maybe it was a fluke OR they are trying to get me to buy more. Who buys just $10 anyway?
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Macy’s really? Not here.
Would this be considered stalking? These are strange times…they haven’t noticed you on their surveillance cameras recently and have come looking….
Sounds like a TV movie plot to me HA HA
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If it’s a movie I hope they captured my good side!
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And pay you!
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I haven’t seen the Carpenters (PBS) yet but I did record it and look forward to seeing it. The Carpenters Performing Arts Center is a wonderful musical theater venue and also houses a lot of the duo’s memorabilia. I can’t hear their music without being both nostalgic and a little sad. Granny dresses didn’t detract from her talent, that’s for sure. I am eager to see the PBS show!
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I enjoyed it. Wished I had dvr’d it.
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There’s a book called The Karen Carpenter Story you might like, and I agree, they were trailblazers style wise.
I didn’t eat much but did have an IV of prosecco in my arm it seemed, my new love/hate drink. I didn’t like it all that much so knew I wouldn’t overdo it…well over Christmas that changed. Now it’s like ginger ale with a fine twist. Got me through the long weekend so let’s hear for that.
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You’re Italian. At least parts of you are. You are supposed to like Prosecco!
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I know, but one glass is enough unlike vodka I can sip forever.
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Karen Carpenter’s story should be a lesson to all wannabee’s — believe in yourself! If only!
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So true but it you have dickheads around you telling you that you are **** (fill in the blank — fat, ugly, etc.) it’s hard to focus on that belief.
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After a year of dieting, I found my goal weight. In less than two weeks I lost it. Not by a lot but still…Why does it take a year to lose weight and days to put it on?
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There is something very magical about Christmas food. If only we could get it to the masses of starving people wherever. Only Christmas food, not the regular kind.
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It is sad how female entertainers are expected to be thin and beautiful. It makes me wonder how many truly talented women are out there who don’t fit this perfect ideal so they go undiscovered. I don’t know if you have seen the young man who recently won The Voice ( I don’t watch the show, but Facebook had a lot of posts about him). Anyway, he is rather pudgy and a bit awkward, but his voice is amazing. It will be interesting to see if he goes anywhere despite not being sex symbol material.
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I did see him and was amazed that he won. He does have a really great voice. There was another “pudgy” guy who won that I haven’t heard anything about. Maybe his name is Reuben? I think you need more than talent. You need overdrive.
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We’ve watched the Carpenter’s PBS special a couple of times, Kate. I’m a huge fan. I do a lot of my writing with their greatest hits playing softly.
Disappointing loss last night…
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We have replace the holiday greens with mourning black ribbons. Sigh!
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To this day, no one matches Karen’s natural talent. So sad. I get tired of today’s screaming singers.
It’s a relief to be done with the heavy meals. Think I’ll live on salad for about three months.
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Three month of salads sounds wonderful after all those heavy meals.
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I think so, too. 🙂
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Wow, thanks for letting me know about the PBS show on the Carpenters. I literally had no idea, and I think Karen Carpenter was one of those tragic stories. She had such a beautiful voice. I’m going to look for that show on our DVR now… thanks again!
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We enjoyed the show. I was a big fan.
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I was a Carpenters fan. She had an amazing voice, and imo, there has been no-one to touch her since. They were the pioneers in voicing their own harmonies. Such a sad loss when she died. I didn’t know what he did afterwards as he seemed to just ‘disappear’.
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He was more of a “behind the scenes” kind of guy with arrangements and producing. He’s still around. Very talented in his own right. We probably hear his stuff all the time but don’t know he arranged it. She was a natural talent.
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I have eaten way too much as well. I suspect I will really pay for it at workouts next week!!
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Me too. I didn’t eat many sweets. Just full blown meals that I’m not used to.
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Me…those cookies…bad, bad, bad.
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This year I didn’t make kiffels which are one of my downfalls. The rest I can pass up easily or at least ration.
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I did enjoy the Carpenters too. I wonder what became of him.
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He’s 69. He still does arrangements and performs locally with his kids. I believe he manages a family foundation for musicians.
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I got an Anniversary Gift Card from Kohl’s ~ $9 for 9 years.
Your store owes you another $25!
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I’ll write them today! I was robbed!
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I watched the show too! The Carpenters were one of my favorite groups. ‘We’ve Only Just Begun’ was our wedding song. We just danced to it at my daughters wedding; she honored us with it by having the DJ announce our 35th wedding anniversary which was two weeks prior. The dance floor was packed with people dancing who also remembered and loved the song! Great songs that live on today that everyone knows the words to. Thanks for mermory!
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That is a perfect wedding song. I was blown away by their talent. Richard’s arranging talent is amazing.
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I can’t believe you didn’t have that tooth made into a ring! It’s all the rage now — no, not kidding, there was a guy who proposed to his girlfriend with his “wisdom tooth ring” this year. I guess the stench precluded the giving of such a gift for you, though.
My mother played The Carpenters all the time. (As a soprano, I think she was envious of Karen’s lower range.) It was years before I discovered Karen was one of the first high-profile, eating disorder deaths. Such a talent. Such a tragedy.
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She had 2 teeth removed and I joked about earrings. When I got them the smell was so strong (poor baby that was in her mouth!) there was just no way. Then of course they are ugly. Some guy giving me a wisdom tooth ring would get a resounding “NO!” Karen was the first well known eating disorder person. We watch White Christmas every year with Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye. Vera-Ellen the thinner female co-star also had anorexia. She always wore high or turtle necked clothing because her neck skin looked so bad. She is the only other entertainer I know from before 1980 that came out with it. My own vocal range is low and maybe that’s why I like Karen’s voice so much. I always gravitated to singers like her and Cher, Linda Ronstadt, etc. Maybe because they were easier to sing along with. You should hear me sing the Star Spangled Banner. I can destroy those high notes.
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I watched that program and cried all the way through. I wasn’t familiar with all the background of how they started etc. I have sung and recorded so many of her songs. I can’t help doing that. 😦 They have no match.
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And she did it with her clothes on. Very talented duo.
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Yes, that too. 🙂
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What a voice Karen Carpenter had! So rich and beautiful.
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Their tunes were both catchy and haunting. Loved their stuff. Still do.
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l to saw the PBS program. Loved the Carpenters. Karen was such a loss to popular music. So very sad.
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It was a loss. Back then eating disorders weren’t really understood. I once read that she was told by producers that she needed to be thinner and that started the insecurities. Not sure if that’s true but perfect beauty seems to be important for female singers.
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