Just Wondering....

When your at a restaurant and you order iced tea how does it come to you?
Sweetened or unsweetened?
And those who live in Texas this does not count for you to answer. :D

A Few Things

I am greatly blessed!!

• I'm alive!
• I have a family that loves me. :D
• It's below 70 degrees here! (64 to be exact!)
• Both the washer and dryer are working!! (Before earlier this week either one or the other was broken for the past four weeks. :-S )
• It looks like I will be able to have a laid back Friday night watching the Red Sox and Angels.
  

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WARNING:

When helping a young child pick out how the decorations for their cake, try to lead them away from black. lol

A few years ago for Christmas Christin and I got a cake decorating kit and our parents paid for two classes, and then drove us to our classes every Saturday morning, missing out on sleeping in Saturday mornings. Now, that we both have an idea on how to do decorate cakes and the tools to do the job, I always get stuck with the job. lol

last night I had to make a cake with a race track, since Noah wanted a Mator and Lighting McQueen cake. Thankfully I came out of the task without black hair (I've been known to accidentally 'color' my hair with food and candle dye), but my brothers have not been as lucky. lol Noah, Judah, and Seth have been sporting black mouths all day. :D It's kind of cute but a good reminder of why I don't like using black frosting.

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We start a new market tomorrow. We had a break for a month from three markets; in that time I went to Austin twice with dad and filled in for mom at Urban Harvest twice so that mom could go to Austin. Now it's back to three markets again. :D

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Much as I am glad that we have technology there are times I want to kick some of it to the next planet! Like when for some reason I can't log into my e-mail, or when my MP3 player goes dead, due to lack of charging (can't they make these things run forever?), or when the printer either decides not to print or to go into "cool down mode" after printing three pages!! All of which have happened today! Grrr.......

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Please pray for mom as she continues to fill "green". Her morning sickness has been much worse this time, so much so that she is sending me out to run her errands and flavor the cheese (which she likes to do and had a hard time letting got). Much as we love that there will be a new Carlson next year it is very hard having mom sick (and it's not hard just for me). Thank you!

St. Patrick's Day and Tradition

No one is going to believe what I am about to say and everyone will laugh..........But I am going to say it anyways.......We are more Irish then we are Swedish!! Now, why we are named Swede Farm is coming later in another post, because that is not the reason for this post.

Apparently, the fact that we kids have more Irish blood (from both sides of the family) then Swedish blood (from dad's side of the family) has long been some sort of talking point. As long as I can remember we have had both sets of tradition--St. Lucia Day for the Swedish in us and St. Patrick's day for the Irish in us. So, for us kids it has never been a big deal--We are Irish, Swedish, a mix of other things, but in the end we are 100% Americans, 110% Texans.

Mom was really happy when one of my sisters thought it might be a good idea to be born on St. Patrick's Day. But she missed by a day, so does that make us more Swedish?

Ever year at least one of us has been known to say. "I have green eyes, so don't pinch me!!" And for the rest of us who are stuck with blue or gray eyes, we have been known to say, "I'm Irish. that means I don't have to wear green, NO pinching!" (if we are lacking in green clothing) Which then causes the argument, of is that a valid reasoning behind not being pinched. (As I typing, I am praying that it is, since I don't have any green farm cloths to wear).

Along with the rush to get green on before we are spotted by the ever eager younger children, (They think it's payback time!). It is also the day for corned beef and cabbage, yum-o! Most years we have it for dinner, but with half the family going to market right after lunch, we decided to do it for lunch.

We also remember to discuss why we celebrate St. Patrick's day. It's not all about shamrocks as decorations and trying to find leprechauns with pots of gold. It's about the man and what he did. We normally read a book sometime the week before St. Patrick's day, since the book isn't one of those you read in one sitting. And watch a little movie about St. Patrick. Now, the funny part is what the movie is. (Yes, you can laugh all you want! lol ) It's been Veggie Tales for the past few years. Because in "Sumo of the Opera" there is a 5-10 minute clip about St. Patrick and what he did for Ireland. (For a movie aimed at younger children and about history they do a very good job covering his life)

All these things we do are traditions, some are family traditions and some is traditions that everyone does, even if they don't know why.

Tradition, is something that our family has been raised on. From the traditions from the country's that our ancestor came from--St. Patrick's Day, to traditions from our area of the US--Black eye peas on New Year's day, to family traditions--Special coffee for everyone on Christmas day or starbucks for birthday fraps.

It kind of reminds me of the song from Fiddler on the Roof. Where it starts out with singing tradition. In fact when ever someone in our family asks why we do what we do and another family member says "Tradition". At least one person is bound to start singing "tradition".

The truth is tradition is what makes our family, our family and special to each of us. The tradition that our parent's, parent's passed to them and they in turn passed to us. But it's not only the traditions that have been handed down to us, but also the ones we make (like watching veggie tales for St. Patrick's day). Tradition is one thing that makes each family different and special in their own way and days like today with their traditions remind us of who we are.

On of My Favorite Breakfast.

my top three favorite breakfast are.......

• A good 'ole Southern breakfast.......eggs, sausage, biscuits, gravy, coffee, juice, and fruit if we have it on had.

• Cottage cheese with some sort of fruit in it. Fresh blueberries, pineapple, strawberries, etc. again, depending on what we have on hand. (Thought the pineapple is in small portions, because it is one of the rare things I am allergic to.)

• And left over pizza. Either cold or hot depending on the weather. lol (Which is what I had for breakfast.)

Now, it is not in this order that they are my favorites, what I want for breakfast depends on my mood or how much I want to cook or both. :D

What we eat all depends on many different things--on the family's mood, what we have on hand, what I feel like cooking, what mom feels like cooking, etc. Many different things. And no, I/we don't eat that all the time, in fact we eat a lot of cereals, muffins and coffee cake.

Skittles, Gum, and Other Candy

This is going to sound weird, but I am going to talk about it anyways, because I am weird. At least that is what people have told me. (I am still trying to figure out how I am weird, but years of trying to figure it out, has yet to give me an answer. :-S)

The week before Christmas, I got my braces off. When I got them off, it had been 3 years and 10 months to the day! With braces I had to give up a lot of stuff, because (unlike when my mom had braces) the list they gave me of couldn't eats was ever so LOOONG!! As in a half page with three columns. :-S I gave up gum, corn on the cob, certain types of candy, my favorite cookies and many other foods that were crunchy, nutty, or hard to to the teeth. I did draw the line at tortillas, as I will never give up tortillas, but that is a whole 'nother post. :D

The hardest thing for me to give up were certain types of sweets. Which is one reason that I believe, my love for chocolate has grown so much in the past few years. When the rest of the family got candy or cookies that I couldn't have they always bought me chocolate. (So, my heart is very healthy!)

In the past 2+ months I have been eating more candy then normal and having a blast!! Last week at the Livestock show I got a 10 oz bag of licorice jelly beans, something that I ate once or twice a year, rather I ummmmm.....well.....let the sugar coating dissolve off and then well.....never mind. But I got a whole 10 oz bag all for myself. O.K. so I shared it with friends and family when they were around while I had it out, but I eat over half of the bag myself since not that many people like licorice, in any form. lol

The main thing that started this post was while at H-E-B yesterday I did something that I don't think I have ever done. I knew I wanted some gum (plus I had promised a sister a pack). So I started looking at all the candy and grabbing candy that I saw and liked or wanted. I ended up getting three packs of gum (I gave two packs to two sisters.) A packet of mint three Musketeers (I shared it with mom and friend who was with us), Truffles (Again, I shared with the people in the car with me.), and a kit kat bar for my coffee today. I don't think I have ever bought that much different types of candy for myself all at one time, before. Let me tell you, it was fun!! (Plus it was all on sale! You can't beat that!)

I bought two candies that hadn't been able to buy while I had my braces on. One of which was gum, before I had my braces we had a rule--no gum until you were 18. Due to the fact that there are a lot of younger children in our family who don't really know what to do with gum. When I turned 18, I still had my braces on, so there was no gum for me. By the time I got gum, it had been about 6 years since I last had gum. (And I can tell you were I was and who I got the gum from!)

Since the braces have come off I have bought a package of gun about once every three weeks or so. Meaning I eat a piece every two days or so. Probably more then I should, but let me tell you, there are worse things to eat on a regular base!

The other was skittles, the last time I had them was when I was on the plane to D.C. two years ago and I had left my bag of mints sitting on my bed. That one small bag lasted me, my entire week in D.C.. I eat the candy slowly enough, but often enough, that my uncle thought I lived on skittles. Before that? I think hadn't had them in years! I forgot how much I enjoyed them. :- ) I liked all the flavors, except for the grape (I have never liked grape flavor, the only grape I like is the grape it's self). Now, I am told that I should have my sisters get me some skittles from the UK since the purple is a black current and that I would then enjoy the entire bag. :D And yes I am going to ask them to pick me up some the next time I talk to them. lol

I will say that it is hard to find a candy I do not like. I think of all the kids in our family I have the worst sweet tooth of us all. (The only person worse in our family is my father). The sourer or darker the better, but there are times when I do want one of those candies that are sweet and not so sour.

(FYI: The pictures were added, since I had some sisters tell me that I didn't have enough pictures on my blog. lol)