SparkleShan

For the past few years Emma and I have made some sort of gingerbread type of arrangement for Christmas. We made this one this year too. I put the walls together and frosted it and Emma decorated it with candies.

Did I ever mention I love tattoos?!? I don't care what anyone says about it either. I have been dying to get a tattoo the whole time I have been deployed. SO naturally while I was home on R and R I had to get one. I went to Flat's Tattoo Shop in Groton and got a small tattoo. Now I want more, I might try and get another small one before I leave.

I decided to make some presents for Christmas. I have been eyeballing the Calorimetry pattern on Ravelry for a while and decided to make a few. The pattern was super easy and fast they only took me a couple hours to make. I made the first one experimenting with the cast on number and it came out Emma sized, so its hers! Emma modeling hers, she can only wear it for a short time, because its itchy! This one is for my little sister, luckily we all love the color pink.

I had to have a get together with the 3 girl cousins of course! We had dinner at Margarita's ( I had veggie fajitas!) and then drinks and games at Meghan's house. I drank almost an entire bottle of Pinot Grigio! I love hanging out with these girls because they are so silly! Meghan and Stephanie at Margaritas No wine bottle opener! Whatever shall we do!?!? A swiss Army Knife will have to do (I actually ended up getting the cork out) First a Game of Taboo, it was my first time playing this game. The sad thing is that I Jared and I got it for a Christmas Present like 5 years ago and it was been sitting in the closet unopened ever since! Now on to a game of dirty scrabble. We had to use dirty words, or explain how the words related to something dirty.

I really like knitting simple hats, I can do them in a few hours and completing something gives me a great sense of accomplishments. Here is the 3rd stocking knit hat I have knitted. I made it for one of my soldiers because it is getting cold, yes we are in the desert, but its now about 75 at night which is 335 degrees cooler then it was when we first got here. I have another stocking knit hat on the needles in the opposite color of the picture shown, for another soldier in my unit.

I have been inspired to start learning how to spin yarn. Don't ask me why, but I have. I think it is the fact that I will aspire in my life time to do every crafty thing there is to do. So I have been browsing the Ravelry site and talking to other people that spin, so I bought a drop spindle and some Merino top and sari silk to practice on. This is my first attempt at spinning I think there is a little to much twist in it, but whateva. I also made a little flower with it. Ashford Drop Spindle Ashland Bay Merino Top roving, before being spun

Yesterday was Kristen's 21st Birthday. Unfortunately for her we are not allowed to have alcohol over here, but we wanted to make it as special as possible for her. So the crew got Neer Beer and Sparkling Cider. We decorated and had a cook out at the airfield and off course there was some fake drinking going on. Chug, Chug, Chug.... Someone's going to have fun tonight!

November 3rd was Amy's birthday. She is now an offical member of the dried up old lady crew. We got her cake and presents and had a good old time. One of the gifts was a bottle og Lube, actually she got two bottles from different people (you have to see the movie Superbad if you don't get it), Dillis got her a few pictures, one which included a picture of Kyle (her future husband) with a mouth full of 12 regular size marshmallows. Pretty, yummy Cake Amy Cutting the Cake

Today we got a new member to the AJ crew. One of our own, SGT Velez came down from Balad to help out the SSA and she is staying for good! Now I have a another girl to drag to Salsa with me! 1SG, SFC Zalewski and I went to pick her and SGT Carter (who is staying for a few weeks) up from Ali, it was quite an expendition. We had a cook out later on that night to welcome her to here new home. It ended up raining (go figure) but we didn't care! Amy, Velez, Shannon and First Sergeant

It was a last minute thing, but some peeps from the unit decided to have Halloween "Party" Cook out. No one really got costumes, but Kyle and Amy were able to put together costumes with the available clothing. We grilled out at the airfield and ate tons of candy and played uno and jatzee. Kyle as a Russian Polock/Bouncer. He wore an under armor shirt that was WAY to small and Amy's Jeans. The hat is from the Polish Army! Amy dressed up as Mish We played Jatzee and Uno, it was a great time, the only thing missing was the alcohol