Tag: Bits and Pieces

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Week in Review: June 6, 2026

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.

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Spring and Summer Gnomes

Spring Gnomes and Summer Gnomes are 500-piece puzzles from Bits and Pieces. They are part of a set of 4 puzzles I got a while ago. Last year I did the fall and winter puzzles, and I was recently inspired to finish these ones off.

These two were definitely more fun than the other ones. The fall one was tricky, but the winter one was diabolically hard between the random cut pieces and the many shades of white and gray. The summer puzzle was the easiest of the four because it has more colorful elements that are spread out more throughout the design.

While these are very cute puzzles, I don’t think I would want to do them again, so the set is going in the stack for the next puzzle swap I am able to attend.

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Sunday Promenade

Sunday Promenade is a 300-piece puzzle from Bits and Pieces, and the artist is Mary Ann Vessey.

I got this one for free secondhand and really enjoyed it. It was a nice, quick solve with oversized, random-cut pieces. It really is a charming image. One of the ladies in my puzzle group called it “quaint.”

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After the Snow Has Fallen

After the Snow Has Fallen is a 500-piece puzzle from Bits and Pieces, and the artist is Joseph Holodook. I have done a couple of his puzzles and like his artwork a lot. This image held a lot of appeal, with Victorian houses and a bustling festive scene.

Even though this is a random cut puzzle, like the Playful Gnomes set, it was much easier to solve because there was a lot of information on each piece to help figure out where it went. Very fun puzzle for the Christmas season!

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Playful Gnomes – Fall & Winter

Earlier this year, I purchased a 4 in 1 set from Bits and Pieces called Playful Gnomes. It includes images of three gnomes in each of the four seasons. It is available in several different piece counts, and I chose the 500 piece set.

The fall puzzle, Fall Gnomes in the Woods, was harder than I thought it would be, probably because of the random piece count. It is an adorable image though!

The winter puzzle, Three Gnomes, was an absolute bear to complete. Not only do you have the random cut pieces, but the background is basically just shades of white. I seriously considered giving up, but I sorted by shape as best as I could and just pushed through and finally finished it.

I’m not sure when I will try the other two. They look like they will be kind of hard too. Maybe by the time spring comes around I will be ready to tackle them!

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Two Puzzles by the Same Artist

I did these two puzzles one day apart. I got them both for free from a local puzzle box and they are from different brands, but when I looked closely at the boxes, I discovered they are from the same artist – Nancy Wernersbach. I thought that was a neat coincidence!

The Ravensburger puzzle had one piece missing and it was the largest 300-piece puzzle I have seen so far. The pieces were so big!

Shopping for the Garden from Bits and Pieces, 300 pieces

Santorini Sunset from Ravensburger, 300 pieces

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Fresh Eggs and More

Fresh Eggs and More is a 300-piece puzzle from Bits and Pieces, and the artist is John Sloane. This was another freebie from the puzzle box in Elizabethtown.

This is a sweet image that was enjoyable to put together. I always enjoy puzzles that have buildings in them, as well as signs with words. The quilts were also fun to do.

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Painted Lady

Painted Lady is a charming 500-piece puzzle from Bits and Pieces that I picked up at a puzzle box in my area. At first glance I thought it was a Charles Wysocki, but it is actually Joseph Holodook. This is my first puzzle from him.

I really enjoyed this puzzle. After a quick sort, I did the edges and then started on the various sections of the puzzle. My favorite part was the painters’ buggy – I like the dark colors and words on the side of it.

This came together quickly and was a lot of fun. I’ve been doing a lot of these smaller puzzles lately, though, and I think I’m going to tackle a 1000-piece for my next one.

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Snowman with Presents

Snowman with Presents is my first Christmas puzzle of the season. It’s a 500-piece puzzle from Bits and Pieces, and the artist is William Vanderdasson. I chose this one because of the cute image. I love snowmen, and the colorful presents and the hat/scarf looked like they would be fun to do.

The puzzle was enjoyable to put together. I have only done a couple from this brand before, so I had to get used to the odd piece shapes again. Once I did that, it came together fairly easily. There were a lot of white and gray pieces, but they did have varying shades on different parts of the puzzle, so they weren’t too bad to figure out.

Not a bad way to start off my holiday season!

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A Very Happy Merry

Just before Thanksgiving, I completed my first Christmas puzzle of the season. I had taken the whole week off from work and had been very productive, taking care of various administrative duties and running a bunch of errands, so I decided to take a break and do some puzzling. After this, I put up our Christmas tree and decorated the house a little with the help of my son Michael.

This was such a fun puzzle to do! I enjoyed the image very much, and the puzzle quality was very good as well. The puzzle is a 500 piece puzzle from Bits and Pieces, and the artist is Susan Rios. I’m sure I will enjoy doing this puzzle for years to come.

Here’s the finished puzzle:

So cute!