Ready for a Drive

Ready for a Drive
Ready for a Drive by Kevin Walsh – White Mountain – 1000 pieces

Despite this being a thrift store puzzle with slightly poor quality that had obviously been assembled several times, I still had a good time putting it together. 🙂

There were a lot of bent tabs with image lift, and the image was more challenging than I’d assumed. Those are the chances you take with used puzzle, but most of time even with a poorer quality puzzle I still enjoy the assembly. White Mountain puzzles can be hit or miss; and even though this puzzle seemed slightly the worse for wear, it wasn’t too bad to work with.

Mom and I both really liked the image when we first got this puzzle (quite some time ago), but I’m not sure why it took me so long to get to assembling it. Sometimes I have to be in the right mood for a particular puzzle; but I’m glad I finally got to it.

It took longer than expected to complete, but I kept at it and eventually got it finished. It could be in part that this puzzle makes me think of mom. Perhaps I didn’t want to be done with it, because when I look at it I think of her. Not because anything in the image reminds me of her, but because of the image as a whole and how much we both loved it and thought it would be an entertaining puzzle. It was, and I’m sad that we didn’t get to work on it together.

Ready for a Drive 1

I think the little girl in the blue dress is my favorite person in this image – she reminds me of myself – a little cranky, in an adorable way. Mom called me cute all the time, but she was probably a bit biased.

Just Ducky

Just Ducky
Just Ducky by Richard Wolfe – Sunsout – 500 pieces

This cutie was more fun than I thought it would be. I don’t always enjoy Sunsout puzzles, as some of them have such a tight fit, it’s off-putting for me. But the fit on this one was quite good and just the right amount of hold.

I actually put off assembling it for quite a while, because I thought the background would be awful to get through. I had a great time with the assembly though, and the background didn’t take nearly as much time as I feared it would.

I’m still surprised by puzzles; ones I think will be great fun turn out to be boring or tedious, and ones that I dread assembling turn out to be charming and much more pleasant than anticipated. You’d think after the hundreds and hundreds of puzzles I’ve assembled that I’d be a better judge of what I will enjoy. Nope. Still as clueless as ever.

But I’m cute, with a great sense of humor – so I’m still a catch! ☺

Rufff Riders

Rufff Riders
Rufff Riders – Ceaco – 700 pieces

This was an unexpected find in a thrift store puzzle. Our local Goodwill sometimes overprices the puzzles, and a wonderful person who donated their puzzles added an extra puzzle in a few boxes. We bought 3 of them that each had a bonus puzzle inside – and this was one of the bonuses.

They included a side of the original box in a zippered plastic bag with all the pieces, so we even had a small picture of what the puzzle looks like! Even though we had to pay more than we wanted to for the puzzles, we got 3 free ones. 😎

This Ceaco puzzle wasn’t the best quality, but to be fair I have no idea how many times it had been assembled previously. There were quite a few tabs sticking up, and some image lift too. The fit was good though, and the image reproduction was too.

I love puzzles with puppies!

Christmas Puzzle Ball Set

Xmas Puzzle Ball
Christmas Puzzle Ball Set – Ravensburger – 27 pieces each (108 pieces)

Mom found these at the thrift store for 99 cents – brand new in the wrapper! With a larger 3D puzzle I usually have to use the numbers on the back to help with the assembly. With these though, I used only the image. It made it more difficult with the blue snowy sections, but I was pretty darned proud when I got them put together.

There are two images on each ornament, here’s the other side…

Xmas Puzzle Ball 1

They were engrossing and entertaining, exactly what I needed that day. They remind me of my mom – but in a happy way. She always was the best at finding us great deals on puzzles, and this was no different.

 

Pretending to be Normal

Pretending to be Normal
Pretending to be Normal by Suzy Toronto – White Mountain – 1000 pieces

I’ve been putting off writing up this post because sadly this is the last puzzle my mother and I assembled together; happily though, I love Suzy Toronto and this puzzle was a joy to put together – I have wonderful memories. I’m planning to reassemble it and hang it on the wall in my puzzle room.

Good quality, lots of words, great fit, fun colors – but it really doesn’t matter, because it was our last puzzle together I will cherish it forever.

In Progress

We started with all the little words, of course – we both enjoyed assembling words in a puzzle – like mother, like daughter. 🙂 Everything was put approximately where it goes and then the harder part began.

These were our two favorite quotes; mine was the hissy fit and mom’s was the sofa. And they both describe each of us perfectly. 😇

Thank you so much Penny for swapping puzzles with me and sending this one. I loved it when mom and I put it together – not knowing it was our last. Now that I do know, I love it even more and it will always have a special place in my heart (and in my puzzle room too). 💖

I miss you mom.