This month marks five years since I started doing puzzles, so I celebrated by putting together my very first puzzle again. When I had done it the first time, several of the pieces had separated from the cardboard backing, so I took some time to glue them back together.
The quality of the puzzle was definitely an issue with a lot of peeling on the knobs and the pieces having what I can only describe as a squishy fit. The finish was quite glossy as well, and the lighting where I was doing it made that challenging.
I still had a great time putting it together though. The flowers and butterflies/other insects came together quickly and the words took a bit longer, just how I remember it the first time.
I am so thankful to my therapist who suggested way back when that I needed another hobby besides reading. Little did she know my foray into puzzling would turn into an ongoing obsession that would give me so much joy and result in me finding a whole bunch of people who love it just as much as I do!
Puzzle: Rare and Beautiful by Puzzle Crush, 500 pieces
This week has been pretty eventful. I am still in the process of switching the meds that the psychiatrist changed for me. The new one was delayed by insurance. It normally comes in a capsule, but I have trouble swallowing those, so she prescribed a tablet. They wouldn’t approve it, but they said if I have swallowing issues I could get the liquid. That seems kind of stupid to me, but I’m just hoping it doesn’t taste terrible. I have been feeling better just with the lowered dose of the original med, so that’s progress at least.
My friend Renee and her boyfriend Chris (pictured above) came over on Friday to hang out, and we had a really good time. I overdid it on the carbs and afterwards I was feeling a bit off. It felt different from when I have high blood sugar, so I checked my sugar and it was only 75! I looked it up and it sounds like it was reactive hypoglycemia, which is when your body keeps making insulin longer than is needed after a high amount of carbs. I ate some candy and checked again in 15 minutes and it was up to 130. Later on it started getting low again, so I had some more candy.
The whole incident was pretty scary, but the really interesting thing was that my cat was climbing all over me and nudging me until I woke up fully and got up to check my blood sugar. I had heard about dogs that can smell low blood sugar, but I didn’t realize that cats sometimes do that too. I am so thankful that he was persistent!
I have been puzzling a lot. My follower count on Instagram has been slowly growing, and I just hit 2000 followers, which I am happy about. I took a screenshot to commemorate it:
On Saturday, I went to the puzzling group at a local library – the one I tried out last month. There were about 7 of us there, so we split into 2 groups. Our group did two 500 piece puzzles in the time we were there.
Here are the puzzles we did at the library:
Musical Mermaids by Bonnie White, Bits and Pieces, 500 pieces
Niagara Falls by Eric Dowdle, Dowdle, 500 pieces
Sunday I am planning to go to church and then in the evening Renee is coming again so we can go to Shakespeare in the Park. This year they are doing As You Like It. I am looking forward to both outings, which is a big improvement for me. Hopefully, I will enjoy them both and not be overstimulated.
I am a big fan of the artist Josie Lewis and have collected several of the puzzles that feature her artwork. I recently completed these two and loved them. They are both 500 pieces and from Buffalo Games.
The first one is Colorful Diamonds. This one was really enjoyable and is just so pretty with the gradient.
The second one is Geometric. This one was quite a bit harder than I thought it would be. The greens and blues were especially difficult since they appear on both the left and right sides of the image. I did have to sort by shape to finish it up. I still really enjoyed it and love the way it looks finished.
Good Morning is a 500-piece puzzle from Reverie, and the artist is Anna Seed. I love this adorable image! The colors on the pieces are muted, which is a nice change from all of the colorful puzzles I have been doing lately. I also read on Anna’s Instagram that the design on the quilt is telling the story of how the mouse and the frog met, picking strawberries. So sweet!
Reverie puzzles are quite a splurge, but the quality is impressive. The boxes are lovely and the pieces come in a drawstring cotton bag. They have a smooth matte finish and fit together beautifully. Because of that, they do take a bit more effort to take apart, but the upside is that you could carry the finished puzzle around the room without it coming apart if you wanted to.
Hello from Around the World is a 500-piece puzzle from Mudpuppy, and the artist is Lemon Ribbon Studio. This was a redo because I needed a puzzle with a banana for a Facebook challenge, and I enjoyed it just as much the second time. I love the quirky art style.
I recently redid these two puzzles because I needed puzzles with specific items for a Facebook challenge. Both are from Ceaco and were illustrated by Stephanie Peterson Jones. Taco Truck is 500 pieces, and Canyon Camper is 300 pieces.
Ceaco’s quality has never been the best, and the Taco Truck did not hold up well for a second solve. The top border especially was hard to do because of false fits and the pieces not staying in a straight line. Canyon Camper held up much better, thankfully.
I am still going to hold onto them because I love both series and like having easy puzzles around for challenges and times I don’t want a hard puzzle.
Bookshelf with Cats is a 500-piece puzzle from RoseArt, and the artist is Uta Krogmann. This is another one from their Vertical Visions set, and I quite enjoyed it. The colors are so bright and cherrful. I love both books and cats, and my cat has been known to jump on my bookshelf occasionally! 😺
Eastern Bloc Telephones is a 500-piece puzzle from Galison, and the artist is Troy Litten. This is one of the puzzles I had taken to the library meetup and we had done together. I really like this image, and I think the grid pattern lends itself well to puzzling with a group.
Unfortunately, several pieces were bent or had the backing peeling off, so that was frustrating. I have had a variety of quality issues with Galison lately and am not sure I want to continue getting their puzzles even though I really like some of their images. I do already have one Christmas puzzle from them on my shelf, so hopefully that one will be good.
Little Park Ranger is a 500-piece puzzle from Mudpuppy. This is such a cute puzzle! It was a redo because I needed a waterfall for a Facebook challenge.
I was surprised when I opened the box that the pieces were loose because I usually put them in a ziplock bag. As I finished the puzzle, I realized sadly that I was missing three pieces and had an extra piece from another puzzle. I looked back through my photos and was able to reunite the extra piece with the proper puzzle, but I didn’t find any of the missing pieces from this one.
I still think it is adorable, even with the missing pieces. It’s hard to pick a favorite square because they all have interesting elements, but I especially like Olympic and Sequoia.
Cosmic Lights is a 500-piece puzzle from Galison. I needed to do a puzzle with Northern Lights for a Facebook challenge, and this one spoke to me!
I appreciated that there were no false fits even though the pieces are all two-in, two-out. Overall, the quality was good, but a couple of the pieces did have a rough, gritty texture, which was unpleasant.
In So Many Words 