Vintage Atlas In Progress

Vintage Atlas – Re-marks – 1000 pieces

I was hoping to get this one finished yesterday, but life just wouldn’t cooperate at all. Hopefully though, since there are only three trays of pieces left it should be done sometime today.

This particular Re-marks puzzle is the best of the brand that I’ve worked with in a while. The fit is very good, the reproduction is excellent, and in general I’m loving working with it. Isn’t it nice when you can say that about the puzzle that you’re working on?

Hot Cocoa

Hot Cocoa by Charlie Girard – White Mountain – 1000 pieces

This super quick and entertaining puzzle was part of a swap with my fellow puzzle junkie Penny. To be honest I wasn’t certain I’d enjoy it, but was quite glad to be wrong about how delightful it would be.

It was a very good quality White Mountain puzzle, perhaps the best fitting of this brand that I’ve ever done – and I’ve done a lot. It wasn’t the too tight fit that leaves your thumb feeling sore from pushing pieces together with lots of pressure; and it wasn’t too loose where two pieces fall apart when you pick them up to move them. I was happy with the all-around quality, which isn’t something you normally hear me say about this brand.

I’ve chosen three sections to show close up, they’re all much older advertisements. It’s funny how something is perceived when it’s new to the market; we would never characterize hot cocoa in these ways now.

The greatest invention of the age. That’s pretty dang funny to me, as is the name. Instantaneous Chocolate – not very appetizing is it?

Breakfast cocoa sounds pretty good to me! Of course you could say that all the froofy coffee drinks people consume these days might be more chocolate than coffee so I suppose it isn’t that big of a leap. As for myself, I’m a simple gal. I enjoy a cup of coffee-flavored coffee, or a cup of hot chocolate – “never shall the twain meet.”

This is the one that really caught me by surprise. “Drink hot chocolate before…during…and after the game!” I’m not sure professional basketball players would agree that it’s a good idea. Could you imagine a basketball player sitting on the bench with a cup of cocoa before he or she gets back into the game? 🤣

Eggcellent In Progress

Eggcellent – Buffalo – 1000 pieces

Yesterday I finished sorting this beauty of a puzzle and completed the border as well. I have a couple of the eggs done, but there are many more to go. They’re all so bright and colorful, and I’m certain it’s going to be an eggcellent assembly!

I am very much looking forward to working on it today, and my plan is to put on my headphones and listen to music and block out the rest of the world. Here’s hoping it works – even for just a little while – I need a break. A break from people…and talking…and thinking…and phone calls, texts, noises, alarms, questions and all of the cacophony of this world that seems to be everywhere all the time.

Time with some wonderful music and a beautiful puzzle is exactly what I need. 🎶🧩🎶

Queen of Hearts

Queen of Hearts (Villainous) – Ravensburger – 1000 pieces

Loved this one, and a special thanks to Penny for letting me borrow it. It’ll be on it’s way back to you in the next swap box that goes out. And I may take you up on your offer to borrow more of the Villainous puzzles, this was great fun! 💛

Excellent Ravensburger quality, and a super fun image to assemble made this more entertaining than I’d hoped. It’s dark along the sides, but once you get down to the last pieces it isn’t difficult at all to find what goes where.

This was the very first thing I assembled after the border was completed – you know how I love words.

The characters moving across several pictures made it more interesting, and the reproduction was stellar. I absolutely loved this puzzle!

Except for the border; the border sucked. But I’m going to let that slide because the rest of it was great fun.

Great American Novels

Great American Novels – Re-marks – 1000 pieces

Not great quality – not bad either – but I had a good time regardless. To be honest I wish there had been less books and more pieces for each one – it would have made it more challenging, which is what I would have liked. Collages like this are almost like working on many mini puzzles all connected, and it would have been more entertaining for me if there had been more to each little mini puzzle.

This puzzle had a very loose fit, but thankfully it had the paper backing that I prefer – so that was a bonus. Re-marks has become another White Mountain for me, in that I am not always happy with the quality but I put up with it because of the great collage images to choose from.

This book was one of my favorites from my youth. I adored it and reread it several times.

My favorite book of all time, and I have read it too many times to count. Once I saw the movie, it became my favorite movie as well.

I consider myself an intelligent person, but out of the 50 Great American Novels shown here I’ve only read 13 of them. I’m not always a fan of the “classics” and don’t read books just because everyone else is reading them or some reviewer says I should. I like what I like.

Although a book may be a “classic” that doesn’t mean I’ll enjoy it, and if it feels like work slogging through reading them then it isn’t worth it. I’ve read my share of classics or great American novels, but it’s better if they’re read because they look interesting – not just because I’m supposed to want to read them.