Ji-Ga-Zo Puzzle Problems….

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling15 Comments

This is another puzzle I first posted about over four years ago, and I’m still getting emails and comments looking for help. Well, hubby and I spent a few hours trying to get things figured out and we seem to have come up with a solution.

Many people have contacted me looking for help installing the software that comes along with this puzzle; you need the software to upload a picture so the program can create a “map” for you to assemble your chosen image. It seems everyone is unable to install the program. Well, after much trial and error, searching the web for answers, even finding old laptops to see if older operating systems might help we seem to have it figured out.

It’s something to do with an expired “certificate”. I do not profess to know much about computers, so I honestly couldn’t tell you what in the world this is all about. I asked my puzzle pal Penny who works with computers, and we had a pretty long discussion about whether or not this is the right way to do things, and whether or not I should post about the solution we came up with.

I need to preface this by saying that this is NOT official technical advice, this is just a workaround that we found to let us get the program put on our computer and get it running. Please take what I’m telling you for what it is; a mildly computer literate old lady trying to help put the program on your computer so you can play with this puzzle. Nothing terrible happened to my computer when we employed our solution, so hopefully it won’t have any dire consequences for anyone else – but there are no guarantees. Please don’t hold me responsible if there is a problem.

The solution we came up with was to reset the date on our computer. I set mine to 2016. Once I did that the program installed with no problems whatsoever. As soon as it was installed we reset the system to the current date and time and ran the program. There was no issue with uploading pictures and making maps.

I hope this helps anyone who has been having problems with installing the software onto their computers.

Pentatonix

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

Pentatonix – Unknown Manufacturer – 200 pieces

Unusually, the box for this puzzle has no brand name; I have no idea which company made this. The only information on the box is the dimensions of the puzzle and that it’s made in the USA. I checked their website and there is no other information. 🤷‍♂️

The quality of this puzzle was good/fair. The pieces were a workable thickness, the fit was nice, and the image itself was very good. Some pieces just snuggled in together instead of clicking together, which is truly a pet peeve of mine – but this is a Pentatonix puzzle, so I don’t care.

This group’s music has been one of the few things that made me happy in this past year. This puzzle cost a ridiculous amount of money for a 200 piece puzzle, since you only seem to be able to get it on their official website, but I honestly couldn’t care less. Their music lifts my spirits and makes me smile and helped keep me afloat during a really hard time.

My mom and I love a cappella music, and we used to watch The Sing Off together when it was on tv. If you’re not familiar, it was a tv show for a cappella groups (no instruments, vocals only). Pentatonix was on the third season of the show, and they were immediately both mom’s and my favorite. We’ve loved them ever since – we were Pentaholics!

During my “break” I spent more time than usual listening to music, almost exclusively Pentatonix – probably because not only are they best group I’ve ever heard and their music is amazing, but also because of the association to my mother. She adored them, and listening to them makes me feel closer to her.

I listened to every album, including all their Christmas albums no matter the season. The only reason I know many newer songs is because of this group. They cover a lot of popular music, but being an older lady I don’t really listen to new music anymore. But I do know certain songs because Pentatonix has done a cover of them – songs by BTS, Arianna Grande, Sam Smith, Ed Sheeran, etc. I think they’re talented beyond measure and as a bonus they also remind me of the best lady I ever knew. (If you’ve never heard their a cappella version of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, do yourself a favor and check it out on YouTube, you’ll be amazed)

I’ve taken a closeup of my favorite member of the group – all of them. 💖 I’m so excited for Evergreen – their newest Christmas album which is being released today!

(Sorry, I didn’t mean to turn this into a commercial for them, but I just couldn’t help but tell you how much I love them and how much their music has meant to me, especially this past year – and big hugs to the hubby for getting me this puzzle to try and cheer me up and get me back to my puzzle board 🤟)

Peanuts – Linus

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles5 Comments

Peanuts – Vista Puzzles – 100 pieces

Retail therapy isn’t something that I do, ever. But Monday the 11th was the worst day I’ve had all year, so I decided to give it a go and ended up with this puzzle. Shopping to feel better didn’t work for me, but at least I got a few puzzles out of it.

I thought I’d never done any puzzles from Vista before, but I was wrong. A quick search of my blog tells me that I’ve assembled 3 children’s puzzles from them before. It was about three and half years ago, so I’m giving myself a bit of a break that I didn’t remember. 😁

Anyway, this Vista Puzzle was good quality, although I was a little disappointed that some of the pieces were slightly warped. Not much, but enough that when you run your hands across the finished puzzle you come across several corners sticking up. (I do love the puzzle massage after that last piece goes in). It doesn’t detract from the enjoyment putting the puzzle together, it’s just a quality issue I feel obligated to let you know about. The pieces are a good thickness for a child’s puzzle, and the fit was very good.

Also, I don’t usually comment on boxes unless they’re quite bad or very cool; this one fits in the latter category. It’s a round metal container that reminds me of a thermos that we used to get in our metal lunchboxes back when that was a thing. It’s extremely sturdy and the top doesn’t come off easily, you have to be really trying to open it to get it off – perfect for a kid’s puzzle, it will be more difficult to lose the pieces, they won’t just fall out of the container.

How cute is Linus sitting there? To be honest, I wish there was one featuring Pigpen, as he’s the Peanuts character I identified with as a child. Being a tomboy, I was ALWAYS dirty or had stained my clothes no matter how I tried to keep clean. I wasn’t a big fan of baths either. 👎🛁

I’m intrigued by the text here, it makes me wish the entire set of panels for this strip were in the image. It looks like it would be a good one!

Anyway, I started and finished a puzzle in one sitting. I think I can hear the angels singing. Or maybe it’s Elton John…….

THE B*TCH IS BACK! 😎

Happy Almost Birthday To Me!

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling, Miscellaneous4 Comments

It’s not quite my birthday yet, but there are early presents coming my way today! According to the delivery website/app a big box of puzzles that were ordered what seems like forever ago will be delivered today! I’m so excited that the use of exclamation marks is getting out of control!

I ordered a metric crap-ton (technical term) of micro puzzles from Wentworth, along with a 200 piece Christmas puzzle. You’re shocked, right? That’s fair. Regular readers know that Christmas/holiday puzzles are just not my pile of pieces, but this one is very different and looks like it’ll be really fun to put together.

You’ll be even more shocked that quite a few of the micro puzzles are holiday/winter themed as well. But, they are all very different than the average holiday images and full of cuteness, silliness, and just plain prettiness. There are three that are just winter puzzles, and those can wait until after the holidays to be assembled. With this delivery, and the puzzles that are already here, there will be lots more holiday puzzles than usual on the blog this year. Looking forward to it? I am!

It doesn’t matter if they’re Christmas images or not, there’s going to be a delivery today (if all goes as planned) of a big box of puzzles for me. Wooooo hooooo!

The PADS is flaring up today with expectation and excitement! Happy dance! 💃🎶💃

Freak Shakes 4

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

Freak Shakes – Cra-Z-Art – Approx. 125/500 pieces

Alas, today is the end of the freak shakes. While the images are so bizarre to me, the puzzles themselves were a joy to put together. Little puzzles I can do quickly have become some of my favorites. While I have completed (very) large piece count puzzles, as I age the smaller ones seem to bring me more pleasure. These sets full of a dozen or more small puzzles to assemble bring a smile to my face, and give me a sense of accomplishment with each completed image. I’m in love with them!

Cra-Z-Art is about to get a little more of my money, while trolling for puzzles a few days ago I found four sets that I do not own. The purchase will have to wait several days though, as my birthday is very soon and according to family tradition I am not allowed to buy myself things so as not to inadvertently get something that has already been purchased as a gift. But the day after, those babies are gonna be mine! 😉

This one makes a little more sense to me, an ice cream cone on top of a shake – that’s not too over the top. The colors of the shake itself are beautiful.

He’s a tall boy, and holiday themed. Mr. Gingerbread has a scarf on to keep himself warm, and the red and green candies make it seem like this one is for the holidays. I’m not sure what’s at his feet though, if you ask me it looks as though it’s already been eaten. 🤢

Love the sprinkles around the edge of the donut, or whatever that is on the top of the glass. Strawberry isn’t my favorite flavor, but this one doesn’t look too bad.

It may seem odd to some that taking a picture and chopping it into little pieces – only to put it back together again – makes us puzzle people so happy. That’s ok, people can think we’re odd. No doubt odd is probably a pretty tame word for describing me. I make no apologies for my love of puzzles, how many puzzles I own, how much I spend on them, or anything else. It makes me happy; looking at puzzles makes me happy, buying them, assembling them, talking about them, sharing pictures of them, blogging about them – all of it makes this little old lady happy.

When I spend “too much” money on a big batch of wooden puzzles, or cardboard puzzles, or small piece count puzzles in tubes – there is that moment of guilt. Even though the click of my mouse to finish the purchase makes me almost giddy, in my head I’m feeling guilty for a little while. My life has been spent taking care of everyone else; married at 19 to my high school sweetheart, got pregnant five months later, had three children by the age of 23. When there was extra money it was spent on something for the kids, or the house, or my husband – almost never for myself.

Still married to my high school sweetheart (still in love too!), kids are grown, and I’ve finally found something that makes me happy. Jigsaw puzzles. Wooden ones, cardboard ones, little ones, big ones – love them all. And I’ve finally learned to spend money on myself just because. I still have those moments of feeling guilty for spending money on non-necessities, but I stomp those stupid thoughts down – I crush them underfoot. I’m worth it, my mental health is worth it, so guilt can go pound sand. Or take a hike. Or bleep all the way off.

PUZZLES ROCK!