Category: fun

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Floral Reflections

Floral Reflections is a beautiful 500-piece puzzle from Ravensburger that I have had my eye on for quite a while. My friend Jessyca came over on Memorial Day to hang out and after lunch we decided to do this puzzle together.

We sorted by color but didn’t pull the edges out and then started working at different ends of the puzzle. It worked out well because there are six sections so we could each do three of them. I finished a little bit ahead of her, so I helped with her last section.

This is such a gorgeous image, and it was very enjoyable to put together. The Ravensburger quality is always good, and it was especially nice to be working on it with another person.

After we finished the puzzle, we talked for a while and then decided to watch a movie. We settled on Falling for Figaro, partly because she had seen and liked the main actress in another movie (Patti Cake$). We both enjoyed the movie, and I plan to watch the other movie whenever I start up my Apple TV subscription again (that will be once Foundation and Silo have new seasons available)!

While she was there, I got a delivery of another puzzle I had ordered off Amazon. It came in a brown paper envelope, and the puzzle box was so mangled that it had torn open on one corner. There were even loose pieces in the packaging! I immediately contacted Amazon to initiate a return!

I had such a nice, relaxing day with my friend. I am so glad that I have been able to meet some people at my new church that I really click with!

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The Lion Is Awake

The Lion is Awake is a 1000-piece puzzle from Genuine Fred, and the artist’s name is Souther Salazar. I picked it up at my local puzzle box because there weren’t many puzzles I really liked and this one just seemed so interesting and unique.

This was also the first puzzle I had done from the brand Genuine Fred. It turned out to be a really good puzzling experience. The quality was very good, and the image was perfectly suited for a puzzle, with lots of distinct colors and textures to work on .

I actually did this puzzle on Mother’s Day. Michael was with his dad, so I went to church and had lunch and then started working on this puzzle. He came home later in the afternoon and brought me a card, flowers, and chocolate. So sweet!

The day before I did this puzzle, I went to a puzzle competition that was being held nearby in Hershey, PA. I did not participate as it was my first time going to something like this and I wanted to scope it out first to see what it was like. The competition involved teams of 4 doing a 500-piece puzzle. This was a fundraiser for metastatic breast cancer research and was held at the antique automobile museum, and the puzzle had antique cars and trucks on it.

There were about two dozen teams participating in the event, which was great. The first three teams got done in 33 minutes, 45 minutes, and 54 minutes. I stayed for a little while after that, but left before the entire event was over. I was by myself because the friend that was planning to go with me had a family thing come up and couldn’t go.

Here are a couple of pics from the day:

If I get another opportunity to go to a puzzle competition like this, I think I would like to find a team and join in.

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Brick Fest

Recently I had the opportunity to attend Brick Fest, which is an event designed for Lego fans of all ages. I went with my friend Jessyca, and we had a great time!

There were a ton of builds to see, including some very large scale ones, and there were also many interactive areas. We did quite a few of them:

  • Meet N Greet with two of the stars from Lego Masters
  • Derby, where you build a car on a provided base and then it is raced against other cars down a short track
  • Coloring with Lego markers and Lego gel pens on coloring sheets they provided
  • Building a section of a mosaic based on a template you were given
  • Playing in a brick pit (Jessyca did this – I don’t have a picture)
  • Jessyca had a VIP ticket, so she got to do a custom build which was a little robot and get an event pin and sticker. She was able to get doubles of those to share with me.

The Meet N Greet was with Manny and Patrick from the show Lego Masters. I haven’t seen the show, but Jessyca is a huge fan and was really excited to meet Manny especially. She took a picture of me with them:

Here are some of the builds we saw:

Here is the car I built and the derby track:

Here’s my coloring page and the other swag I got:

And here is the mosaic tile I built along with a picture of the mosaic in progress:

There were other areas where you could build with different types of bricks, but we didn’t do all of them. We spent about 3 hours there, which we were happy with.

If you are interested in attending Brick Fest, check out their website for other locations and dates.

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Winter Break

This year, I took off the week between Christmas and New Year’s. I like having off at this time of year because work is usually slow, and it’s nice to have a few days to just putter around.

Christmas Eve fell on a Sunday this year. I went to the family-friendly morning service and the evening candlelight service. I really enjoyed the evening service, although the wax from the candle did drip onto my hands a couple of times! After church, I redid the puzzle Michael Storrings New York City Subway.

Christmas day was pretty quiet. I watched a few episodes of Silo and did some reading. My mom had sent money for Christmas, and I had bought a few books that had been on my wish list for a while because it didn’t seem like the library was ever going to get them. I have read the first two already and loved them!

Michael came home around 6:30. He had forgotten my presents at his dad’s house, so I gave him mine and opened the couple I had gotten myself, lol. We had dinner together, and then later on, his dad brought over the presents Michael had gotten me. Of course, he got me two puzzles – one for Christmas and one for my birthday!

Wednesday and Thursday Michael had work from 10-2. On Wednesday, Kim came over, and we ate lunch and watched a movie. After I picked Michael up, we went to Target to get a drive up order. I have decided to use Target instead of Amazon when I can due to a package being stolen last week.

On Thursday, I had therapy, which went well. I also went to Barnes and Noble to check out their puzzle selection. They had a good number, but I didn’t see anything I had to have. After I picked Michael up, we went to the Colonial Park Mall to pick up a package from the Amazon locker. That’s what I have decided to do for things I have to get from Amazon.

On Friday, I went to get an oil change. In the afternoon, we attempted to build two dining room chairs. We had built the first two when Bill & Jenn were coming over, but we had more people coming over that evening, so we needed them. One of them was fine, but the other one had an issue with one of the screws not going in properly. I also made artichoke dip and monster cookies. Along with that, I served veggies and dip plus meat, cheese, and crackers.

Friday evening was a lot of fun. Renee and her boys, Evan and Hans, came over along with our friend Chris. They enjoyed the food, and we played part of a game of Star Munchkin. Chris cleaned up my kitchen for me and superglued the chair piece that was causing a problem. It was a wonderful evening!

On Saturday, Kim came over for our weekly lunch and movie. I took a nap that afternoon because I had stayed up way too late the night before. I also went to bed early and woke up Sunday just in time for the online pre-recorded service my church did for what they call Sabbath Sunday. They are closed the week between Christmas and New Year’s to give the staff a rest.

Sunday afternoon, I started a 1000 piece puzzle that I had won in a contest a little over a year ago. I will share that in a separate post. I did stay up until 2 am on New Year’s Day to finish it.

Monday was New Year’s Day and the last day of my break. I slept in, and then Michael and I drove to Target to pick up a vacuum I had ordered. I got him Chick-fil-A since we were near there (I had already eaten lunch). When we got home, I did a 100-piece puzzle as part of the Winter Bingo for The Casual Puzzler’s Facebook group. I also did a 500-piece puzzle, also for the Winter Bingo. I’ll post both of those later this week.

All in all, this was a fun and relaxing break for me. I really like having some time off around the holidays.

Edited to add: I forgot to mention that my friend Kim gave me a 500-piece puzzle when she came over on Wednesday, and I put it together that night.

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Cats In Quarantine/Thanksgiving

Today was Thanksgiving Day, and it was a good one. I got up early to start the turkey. It was my first time cooking a turkey. We were given a full Thanksgiving dinner from Michael’s caseworker, so I decided to give it a try.

My friend Ren̩e was already planning to come celebrate with me and Michael, and she was bringing the asparagus and dessert Рchocolate cheesecake for us and chocolate chip cookies for Michael. She ran a bit late, so I just let the turkey rest until she got here. Then I made the rest of the food.

While the turkey was cooking, I got out a 500-piece puzzle called Cats In Quarantine from Exploding Kittens. The artist is David Kantrowitz. It was super fun. I loved the image and the quality. The pieces fit together well, and you could easily move small sections around. The only weird thing was that some of the colors on the included poster didn’t really match the puzzle.

Cats In Quarantine

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Birthday Party – Check

birthday party

Yesterday was my son’s 18th birthday party. He will actually turn 18 next week, so we celebrated with a gathering of several of his friends at Dave & Buster’s. The food was good, and the kids enjoyed playing the video games. Michael had a great time.

I was a little bit anxious leading up to the party, wondering if everyone would show up and we would have the right number of people. We had had his party last year at the same place, so I wasn’t super anxious about how the event would go from that perspective. Everything turned out great. Michael enjoyed seeing his friends, the amount of food was perfect, and I had a great time socializing with the adults, who were all good friends of mine.

Afterwards I even remembered my other tasks for the day, picking up Michael’s prescriptions and calling my Dad for his birthday, and this morning I remembered to send a note to school excusing Michael’s absence on Friday for a stomach bug. Of course, I also woke up this morning worried about some other stuff that I haven’t thought about in a couple of weeks. It’s like my brain just focuses on whatever is most important, and when that is done, it picks the next thing in line to worry about. I’m not sure why my brain works that way, but it happens all the time so I’m sort of used to it.

I didn’t take any pictures at the party, but Michael’s dad did and said he would email them to me. So hopefully I will be able to add some pictures to this post soon. Edited to add: Pictures now included, courtesy of Michael’s dad.

birthday cake

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A Few Good Sci Fi Shows

I have always enjoyed science fiction and fantasy. When I was younger, I had an extensive book collection and would reread favorites over and over. I no longer have the books but I still enjoy the genre. Recently I have been watching a few good sci fi shows that I wanted to share.

travelersTravelers – this is a time travel show. Travelers come from the future to our time to try to change events to make the future better. I absolutely loved this show and binged watched it in one weekend. It has two seasons and is on Netflix.

extantExtant – led by Halle Berry, this is a show set in the future that involves both humanoid robots and alien life. I really enjoyed the futuristic setting and the different ethical dilemmas that came up. It is also two seasons and is on Amazon Prime as well as CBS All-Access.

lost in spaceLost in Space – this is a remake of an old show which I have surprisingly not seen. It is also set in the future and centers on a group of people who have set out to colonize another planet. Something goes wrong and they end up stranded somewhere else. This is on Netflix and there is one season so far. Joe and I watched it together and both liked it.

crossingThe Crossing – this is another time travel show. A group of people appear in the water off the coast of an American town and say they have come from the future to escape a war. The US government gets involved and the mystery deepens as the show goes on. It’s quite good! It’s a current show on ABC and all seven episodes that have come out so far are available on their app at the time of this post.

Have you seen any of these and, if so, what did you think of them?  Do you have any recommendations of other shows I might like?

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Adventures in Gaming

miniatures
Our Miniatures

A few months ago, my son Michael came to me with an idea – he wanted to learn how to play Dungeons & Dragons. Luckily, there is a weekly game held at a game store very close to our house, and I heard they were open to new players. So I took Michael over and the Dungeon Master (DM) helped him make a character (a dwarf cleric) and then walked him through the game play. He loved it!

After a couple of times, the DM convinced me to give it a try myself. I decided to be an elf wizard and it was actually a lot of fun. So I asked Joe if he was interested and he checked out the various races and classes on the website and decided to be a half-orc fighter.

Since then, we have been going every other Wednesday night to play D&D as a family. (We go to a life group connected to our church on the opposite weeks.)

dice.jpg
Bag of Dice

We recently started a new campaign with new characters and are really enjoying the adventure. We even had a dinosaur race last night!

We have gotten some dice, a player’s handbook, and even some miniature figurines to represent us in the game. I am also really enjoying learning how to create characters and cast spells. The trickiest part for me is remembering what to add to each of the different dice rolls. But the group we play with is very patient so it’s okay.

I am looking forward to continuing to play with this group in the future and seeing what adventures we encounter. I have also started watching a couple of ongoing games on YouTube and Twitch, which is a lot of fun and also helps me learn the rules. We still enjoy playing board and card games as a family and with friends, but the extra strategy and social interaction required in D&D adds a whole new level to the experience of game playing!