Usually the day after Thanksgiving is very hard on me. I always try too much to be useful getting the meal cooked and on the table and end up paying for it the next day. This year was no exception – but with the added pressure and sadness of cooking the meal for the first time without mom. My daughter and I wanted to get everything right this year, especially for my dad (and in a way for mom too). We did a pretty darn good job I think, and I’m unbelievably proud of my beautiful daughter for doing most of the heavy lifting and making us a wonderful holiday dinner. You were amazing sweetie! 💖
As usual I did way too much and am paying for it afterwards, but with the added problem of a new pain medication that is, no joke, kicking my ass. I spent the day after Thanksgiving in bed, but this time with all the lights off and the door closed as there was no energy to puzzle, not even laying down.
Last year after the holiday I wrote a post about how I puzzle in bed, showing off my trays and how I can work in bed even when I don’t feel well enough to sit at the puzzle table. There was none of that this year unfortunately, and there are so many puzzles I need to get to assembling!
I’ve got a 2000 piece Charles Fazzino image that I am assembling for a review, and I am still sorting it after many days. It looks like so much fun to put together, but I need to get myself out of this room and sitting in front of my puzzle board.
There are many, many buildings and look at all those butterflies in the air; it’s going to be a very interesting and entertaining assembly I think, if it ever gets past the sorting stage. Hopefully today’s the day I can start actually working on it. Fingers crossed! 🤞
Dog Stamps Quilt by Barbara Behr – Bits and Pieces – 300 pieces
Dog Stamps Quilt – hmmm, a collage with dogs, I wonder if I liked it? It won’t be much of a spoiler for me to tell you I adored it! It had everything going for it before I even opened the box, and luckily once it was opened the quality was just as good as the artwork.
Bits and Pieces is a brand I normally only buy second hand because of some very bad experiences with their puzzles. When I saw this image though, and the fact that it was only 300 pieces, I had to throw caution to the wind and give it a try. And I’m very glad I did! The pieces were very thick, with an excellent variety of shapes that fit together very well. The offset, almost wavy grid cut made for some fascinating piece shapes that sometimes seemed almost geometric, and the interesting way they fit together made for an absorbing and entertaining puzzle.
These adorable puppies jumped right out at me when I was sorting; first of all, their little faces look like they’re about to get into a lot of mischief, and secondly the background is a beautiful shade of blue that stood out in a sea of brown and tan pieces. Their faces and expressions are just too cute!
This little guy had such sad, sweet eyes. I had to take a close-up picture of this stamp; it’s just too sweet to pass up, and I think it would make a great puzzle image on it’s own.
Overall I was quite impressed with the quality of this puzzle. I find that many 300 piece puzzles with large pieces have thick chipboard that is quite sturdy, even if the larger piece count puzzles from the same brand aren’t as thick. Bits and Pieces is a brand I don’t usually endorse, but in this piece count I have no reservations in giving this puzzle a thumbs up. It’s great quality and an excellent image, and if the artwork makes you smile it is definitely recommended. Two doggie paws way up! 🐾
To all my readers in the US, Happy Thanksgiving! I hope your holiday is stress-free and that you have a great day spending time with friends and family and eating yourselves silly. I’m truly thankful for all of my family and friends, and hope that I’ve shown my thanks and love all year and haven’t just waited until today to be grateful for you.
To all my readers in other parts of the world, Happy Thursday! Even if you’re not celebrating this American holiday, I’m extremely thankful for everyone who reads and/or comments on this blog and I wanted to take this opportunity to let you know. I appreciate your comments, suggestions, and the fact that you take time out of your day to read my silly little puzzle posts.
Jigsaw puzzles and the puzzle friends I’ve met here have helped me immeasurably through this difficult year, and I don’t know where I’d be without you all. Your readership and friendship (even if it is just online) has been a blessing to me and I’m so grateful for all of you!
If you’re a regular reader of this blog you won’t be surprised by this – I absolutely loved this puzzle! Even though it’s 1500 pieces there was zero anxiety about starting it; it’s a collage puzzle about the 1980’s, what’s not to love? I remember every single thing shown, and even if I wasn’t a fan of The Police or never watched an episode of 21 Jump Street that doesn’t mean I didn’t love putting every single piece of this puzzle together. Many sections brought back memories that put a smile on my face, and even just looking at this picture of the puzzle makes me happy. 🙂
Since the last Re-marks puzzle I assembled had a stain over the image, I’m happy to report that this puzzle had no problems. The pieces were a good thickness and fit together well, and the reproduction had no issues other than being slightly shiny. There was only one piece shape, but it didn’t bother me much because there weren’t any large areas of one color (and most likely because I enjoyed the image so much). 1500 pieces with all one shape would normally be quite annoying for me, but it’s all relative; with a great image on the puzzle and good quality otherwise it wasn’t much of a bother at all.
My family loved The Muppet Show, and never failed to watch it every week. This was back in the time of only three tv channels – yes youngsters, you heard that right – only three! There was cable tv, but that was basically just HBO (and they didn’t make tv shows or movies, they only showed movies that had once been in the theaters). So on Saturday or Sunday nights we had only 3 choices, it definitely made deciding what to watch much easier that’s for sure! My dad loved Statler and Waldorf, mom loved Kermit, and I loved The Swedish Chef and Beaker (odd choice, I know, but I was an odd child). The show was fun and funny, and sometimes a little bit raunchy, and thinking of it brings a smile to my face.
These are two more things I loved. Spirograph kept me entertained for hours and hours and I used to make cards and gifts for my family with it when I was young. Mom used to get out her colored pencils and help me color the images in sometimes to make the “artwork” even more beautiful. Sometimes she would take a spirograph picture she really liked to work and make copies for us to color over and over.
As for Clue, we found the board game boring for the most part, but we absolutely loved the movie! Back in 1985 there weren’t DVD’s, but we did have a video cassette player and as soon as we were able to find the movie on VHS we most definitely had a copy. I’m sure the statute of limitations has run out, so I can tell you that we rented the movie and made a copy of it. 😇 The movie was so unusual with it’s many different endings, and we were a family that loved a great comedy. (How awesome were Madeline Kahn, Tim Curry, and Michael McKean? Just an awesome cast in general, and we adored this movie)
This was another great action/comedy movie, and we all loved it. I can’t see anything about this movie without saying “Hey you guuuys!” in my head, and sometimes out loud. My kids loved it too when they were younger, it’s just a great all around family movie. (Well, it was PG, so there were some not so family friendly moments, but in 1985 my sisters and I were teenagers, and I didn’t show it to my kids until they were ready 😉 )
If I were to reminisce about every section of this puzzle it would be a very, very long post indeed. There are things I would have to explain to the younger generations, and most of the explanations would draw blank stares and looks of disbelief. How in the world would you explain Max Headroom, or the popularity of the Trapper Keeper?! Ah, the 80’s. What a decade! It made for a thoroughly entertaining puzzle though. I’m giving it two pairs of Calvin Kleins, standing way, way up! 👖👖
The 20th Party Parade by James Alexander – Jumbo (Wasgij) – 1000 pieces
I love being able to show an entire Wasgij puzzle without having to worry about spoiling anything. Normally I have to make sure I’m photographing the correct person from the finished puzzle, and I have to crop it so I don’t show anything extra. This time I didn’t have any worries at all, this is the box image bonus puzzle and there are no spoilers here. It was a very busy image, but it made for a fun puzzle.
This was definitely not an easy assembly, the image is so detailed and all the boxes everywhere gave me quite a challenge. Most of the boxes in the foreground were pretty easy, but the ones in the background were much more difficult. There were so many in the store that all the smaller boxes looked alike. I saved them for last, but they were still a bit of a challenge. Overall though, I enjoyed it very much.
The intricacy of this illustration is amazing, it’s only about 15 pieces out of 1000 but it’s so incredibly detailed. I’ve actually assembled the Wasgij Mystery Puzzle #13, and this is exactly what the box looks like. I’m sure computers helped out quite a bit, but still, this entire image must have been a LOT of work!
I haven’t put together the actual Wasgij yet, this one is from the perspective of the priest, I wonder what everyone is looking at. I guess I’ll find out soon enough. 🙂
My Jigsaw Journal 