I was sitting in bed trying to work on a puzzle, and my little guy decided that it was time for some snuggling! I’m always happy to push a puzzle away for a few minutes to get me some puppy love – it’s so worth it!
As I was trying to get a pic of just him sitting on my lap (that’s my knee on the right), he decided to look back at me right when I was snapping the picture. Is that a sweet face or what?
In case anyone wonders what it looks like when I “puzzle in bed”, here it is! A few days ago I was still recovering from helping out with Thanksgiving dinner, so I spent most of the day in bed with my trays and my sorted puzzle pieces. If I can’t sit in a chair at the puzzle board I can at least still assemble puzzles, if only in small bits.
After deciding on this puzzle from a brand I’ve never tried, JaCaRou, I sorted the pieces into little sections – some of which you can see above. Then it’s easy to grab a cookie sheet lined with paper (that’s what I use for trays) and a small container of sorted pieces and get to puzzling! I know that even if I can only sit at the board for 15 minutes or so at a time, I’ll still be able to get this puzzle put together – trays are my friend! 🙂
I’m having another one of those not-really-a-problem problems. I cannot seem to make a decision about what puzzle to do next.
I feel as though I should do a Christmas puzzle, since the season is officially underway, but, ugh. And most of the holiday puzzles I have are wooden. I’ve almost exclusively been doing wooden puzzles this month because most of the ones I have are small and I was able to assemble them in bed. I have four 250 pieces and a bunch of micro Christmas puzzles from Wentworth, but I really want to do something cardboard. On the other hand, I could probably assemble all the micro puzzles in one day, and that would definitely help to rebuild my queue of finished puzzles ready to post.
I’ve got a 1000 piece puzzle from JaCaRou (new brand I’ve never tried) of The Nutcracker, and while I’m excited to try a new brand I’m just feeling blah about Christmas puzzles in general at the moment. Still, I love trying new brands, and the image isn’t your typical Santa and the Christmas tree, which is a big plus in my book.
I also have a REALLY cool older 500 piece puzzle mom found at a thrift store. It’s an American Greetings brand called Fitting Reminder, and it looks to be from around the 1970’s. The image is a gorgeous picture of a mosaic made from petrified wood. And while it’s an awesome image, the pieces are very muted and fuzzy. It’s one of those images that looks amazing completed, but the pieces separately are quite indistinct. It’ll be a challenge, and I think it would be more fun if mom and I assembled it together. The more difficult ones don’t seem as bad when there’s someone helping with the assembly.
I keep going back and forth in my head. I’ll decide on one for a minute or two, take off the box cover and hold some of the pieces in my hand, and then I put the lid back on. I realize it truly isn’t a REAL problem to have enough puzzles that I can’t decide which to do next, but I can’t decide what to do next! 😐
It’s Thanksgiving here in the United States, and just plain old Thursday in most other places; so Happy Thanksgiving or Happy Thursday to all my puzzle friends! Whether it’s just another day for you, or you’re spending the day eating lots of food with family and friends, I wanted to send out my love and thanks to everyone who reads and/or comments on this blog. I appreciate your suggestions, comments, well wishes, and everything you do; you all help me more than you know and even if you’re not celebrating this American holiday I’m still extremely thankful for all of you! ❤💖❤
This blog has always been only about puzzles. I don’t talk about religion or politics or anything other than puzzles and my puzzling. Today though, I’m feeling as sad as this handsome puppy looks, and feeling the need to share a bit. It’s partly about puzzling, I suppose, as it affects my ability to work on my puzzles.
My recent surgery was supposed to help with my pain. If only… 😦
The surgery only provided a small amount of relief, and not nearly as much as the doctors and I had hoped. It was the trial of a device, and it’s since been removed; so even the small reduction in pain is gone.
You tell the doctors and the people around that you’re not getting your hopes up and you have realistic expectations – but deep down you’re hoping to be one of those lucky people who gets an enormous amount of benefit and feel almost like their old selves again. It’s depressing and frustrating and a gigantic letdown when it doesn’t work for you. It’s been years now, and this was sort of the “last hope” – something doctors do as a last resort when all other traditional remedies haven’t worked. For many it’s extremely beneficial, for me it was more painful than I expected, with less than hoped for results. I don’t know where we go from here, I’m hesitant to try any other therapies and contraptions; they get more and more invasive and scary (at least for me).
So from here I’ll try to be as thankful as I can be that I still have some mobility, and that I’m still able to puzzle. I can sit for a while or lay in bed and become engrossed in a puzzle, enjoy the feeling of holding a piece in my hand while I contemplate it’s placement, and enjoy the benefits of my meditative state of mind while I work on reassembling a beautiful image that’s been cut into little pieces. I have this blog where I’m able to talk about my puzzles, hear from puzzle friends in the comments, and have a somewhat creative outlet – even if it’s only about jigsaw puzzles.
I always try to be upbeat in my posts, even when my feelings that day aren’t upbeat at all; but I needed to vent a little today, as I’m dealing with my disappointment. Tomorrow’s post, however, will be much less depressing (and more about puzzles) – I promise! 🙂
*Tomorrow’s puzzle will also include that sweet doggie shown above – I love his sad little face!
