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It’s Not Hoarding If It’s Books

It’s Not Hoarding If It’s Books is a 1000-piece puzzle from ellembee gifts. This company sells a variety of products with fun sayings on them, and I thought this one was very cute!

The puzzle was pretty good quality, with random cut pieces that weren’t too small or weirdly shaped. However, it is what is called a “soft touch” puzzle, which means the pieces (and even the box) have a surface like velvet or suede. This is the second puzzle I have done that was branded as soft touch, and I really, really dislike the texture. It feels almost greasy to me (like it would pick up dust) and is very unpleasant. Also, the pieces are hard to move around in my sorting trays.

Many puzzlers love this type of texture, and I have heard that there can be variations in how soft touch feels and that some of them are better than others, but I am planning to avoid them as much as possible from now on.

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What I’m Reading – February 2026

What I’m Reading Now

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune (Cerulean Chronicles #1) – I have seen this book around a lot and decided to give it a try.

How God Sees Women: The End of Patriarchy by Terran Williams – Good book but pretty dry. I keep avoiding going back to it, so I may have to skim the rest.

What I Recently Finished

  • The Cyprian by Mercedes Lackey (Elemental Masters #18)
  • Christmas Wedding at Bella Beach by Kate Wentworth (Bella Beach #8)
  • The Seven Day Switch by Kelly Harms
  • Never Meant to Stay by Trisha Das
  • The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted: And Other Small Acts of Liberation by Elizabeth Berg
  • The Dandelion and the Thistle by Pip Dolyn
  • Sheepfarmer’s Daughter by Elizabeth Moon (The Deed of Paksenarrion #1)
  • Butterfly Inn by Kate Wentworth (Butterfly Lane #1)

What I Added to my TBR

  • Driving with the Top Down by Beth Harbison
  • Is This a Cry for Help? by Emily Austin
  • Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
  • Fury in Death by J.D. Robb (In Death #63)
  • The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle by Matt Cain
  • Life: A Love Story by Elizabeth Berg
  • Chasing the Clouds Away by Debbie Macomber
  • Meet the Newmans by Jennifer Niven
  • Book Club at Butterfly Inn by Kate Wentworth (Butterfly Lane #2)
  • Divided Allegiance by Elizabeth Moon (The Deed of Paksenarrion #2)
  • Oath of Gold by Elizabeth Moon (The Deed of Paksenarrion #3)
  • Jesus and the Disinherited by Howard Thurman
  • This Little Light of Mine: The Life of Fannie Lou Hamer by Kay Mills

TBR Stats/Updates

  • I currently have 184 books on my TBR. Of these, 7 are nonfiction and 177 are fiction.
  • I have read 8 books so far in 2026. My goal is 100.
  • I have not finished any nonfiction books so far in 2026. My goal is 6.
  • I am still on my 3-month free trial of Kindle Unlimited. I have read 12 books on KU so far and have 2 currently borrowed. I only have 1 more book planned to borrow, so I should be able to cancel before the free trial is over.
  • Here are some more stats from StoryGraph:
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Week in Review: February 1, 2026

This has been a busy week for me.

  • I had a meeting on Monday evening for the autism luncheon.
  • Tuesday, Michael and I had a telehealth appointment with his psychiatrist.
  • Wednesday, I took Michael to therapy and then had friends over (I posted about that earlier this week).
  • Thursday was a quieter day; Michael and I had dinner together, and he helped me rescue two pairs of glasses that had gone missing underneath the sectional in the living room.
  • On Friday, Michael had an in person GI appointment and an online meeting with OVR to discuss his job coaching services. He also was sent paperwork for a background check for the job he interviewed for last week, so we spent some time filling that out and getting everything sent back to the hiring manager.

The GI appointment was very interesting. After several different tests, they don’t have any real answers about his swallowing issues. We have been referred for a neuro workup and told that another possibility would be to see a motility specialist, since they don’t currently have anyone at their office who does that. She did say that it’s possible his swallowing issues and chronic constipation are related. In the meantime, he is going to continue taking the medications she prescribed since they seem to be helping a bit.

I have been a bit obsessive and completed 21 puzzles this month, which is exactly how many I needed to bring my waitlist down from 71 to 50. I did buy 7 puzzles before reaching that goal, however, and I bought another 3 this evening with a gift card I got from my boss for a Christmas/birthday present. So, not a total win, but progress.

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Pumpkins & Gourds

Pumpkins & Gourds is a 300-piece puzzle from Ceaco that I got at a puzzle swap a few weeks ago. Thankfully it was still in good condition and had all the pieces.

This was an enjoyable build that didn’t take too long. I did it the same evening that I did the two MicroPuzzles. It would be a great puzzle for fall, but I didn’t want to hold onto it for that long, so I went ahead and did it now. This will be going back into my swap pile.

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Alpine Village & Here Comes Santa

Alpine Vilalge
Here Comes Santa

Alpine Village and Here Comes Santa are 150-piece puzzles from MicroPuzzles. Michael put these in my Christmas stocking, and I was so happy to get them. The pieces are so tiny! I would not recommend if you have arthritis or anything like that.

Alpine Village was a bit tricky because of the level of detail on the tiny pieces. Here Comes Santa is just so adorable with the happy snowman!

These puzzles come in a clear plastic tube with a screw-top lid. The packaging is super cute, but it does make it hard to look at the puzzle image as it is wrapped around the outside of the tube.

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National Puzzle Day 2026

January 29th is National Puzzle Day in the US, created to celebrate all forms of puzzles. Of course, my favorite type is the jigsaw, as evidenced by the over 340 jigsaw puzzles I have done in the last 4 1/2 years.

Last night I hosted two friends who also enjoy doing puzzles. We had dinner together and then I had them choose one from my collection to do. They chose Cat Stamps, a 500-piece from Re-marks.

We had a great time putting this image together. This was the first puzzle I had done from this brand, and I was pleasantly surprised by the quality given the price. The pieces fit together well enough that we could pick up whole sections and move them around. The finish was pretty glossy, but I got used to that after a while.

Here is the finished puzzle:

Happy National Puzzle Day!

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Bookish Question: DNF

Bookish Question: How do you decide when to DNF a book?

I ask this because I recently had my first DNF of 2026. It was women’s fiction, which is normally right up my alley, but I picked it up twice and both times just felt stressed out by it. 

I am not going to name the book, but I will say that I found the situation the main character was in to be very stressful and I also thought the book was kind of dated. When I checked my progress in the Libby app, I was only at 10%, but I just decided to be done with it. I have plenty of other books on my TBR.

I feel a mild sense of guilt about this, although I will say that is a vast improvement over where I was a decade ago when I wouldn’t have considered not finishing a book. So that makes me curious how other people decide when and why to DNF a book.

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Starry Seasons

Starry Seasons is a 500-piece puzzle from 1canoe2. This gorgeous puzzle was on my wish list for a long time, but I kept passing it up due to the price tag. Then the brand had a $15 sale on their website, and I snatched this one up right away. I just love the vertical grid design and how beautifully each season is represented. 

The quality was great and the puzzle was not too hard, so I was able to do it in one sitting. I typically pull out the edges while flipping the rest of the pieces and then sort as needed as I go along, and that worked pretty well for this puzzle. After doing the edges and the bottom sections, I pulled out the pieces that bordered each season and it was like doing four mini puzzles after that.

I am in love with the finished product and will definitely be doing this one again.

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The Dandelion & The Thistle

The Dandelion & The Thistle by Pip Dolyn

Most of the time these days I read in short bursts, usually while I am having a meal, but I could not put this book down. I was so invested in the friendship and possible romance between Addison and Colin that I just had to keep reading until I got to the end.

Addison and Colin meet at Makers Market, a monthly market for local artists. Addison has been there forever and is the go-to person for anyone who needs anything, and Colin is a new vendor who is trying to make ceramics his full time job. Over time, they become friends and explore the potential for a romantic relationship.

This book has its share of lighthearted fun, but there are also a lot of serious topics raised as the two share their stories with each other and learn how to navigate around each other’s unique characteristics and past trauma. The author has a note at the beginning of the book listing the sensitive topics so you can decide whether you are comfortable reading it. It is also an open-door romance.

I felt like Addison was autistic-coded, but I don’t want to read anything into the story that wasn’t there, so I will just say I could relate to them in a lot of ways.

One neat thing about the ebook is the inclusion of several song playlists Colin makes for Addison. There are links to them for both Apple Music and Spotify so you can listen to them yourself, which is really cool.

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Week in Review: January 25, 2026

Here’s a picture out my window right now. I’m so glad to be inside and not need to go anywhere or do anything today. I’m also super glad I work from home and don’t have to worry about this tomorrow morning!

This was another quiet week for me. I went to the eye doctor’s office to order new glasses and picked out a really pretty purple pair. This was after I had ordered online to save money and waited 6 weeks to get the glasses only to find out they came with non-removable safety shields that weren’t pictured in the try-on window on the website. Those have been returned and now I am waiting for the new ones to come in.

Michael had a phone interview for a job on Thursday, so we spent Wednesday evening getting prepped for that. When the interviewer hadn’t called by 15 minutes after the scheduled time, I had him call her. Turns out she had put the interview on her calendar for next Tuesday despite confirming the Thursday appointment by email! She did go ahead with the interview on that call, so now we wait to see if he gets it.

I had an interesting week at work. We needed some help in our accounting department, so I learned a bunch of new things so I could help out for a little while. I am also documenting the tasks I am learning so I can help train when new people are hired. I have found it really enjoyable, much more so than when I am asked to help with customer service related tasks, I think because I like concrete, objective tasks with little interaction with people.

On the puzzle front, I am making progress on my to do pile but have also broken down and ordered a few new puzzles. My to do pile is down from 71 to 55, which is great progress! I have ordered 4 new puzzles, however, all higher end brands that are hard to get if you don’t grab them when you can.

I haven’t finished any books in the last few days, but I am enjoying a reread of Sheepfarmer’s Daughter by Elizabeth Moon. I read it many years ago as a teenager and am happy to say it has held up really well.