Peanut Butter has been enjoying the winter sun when he can, and he seems to really like my soft winter blanket.
This has been an interesting week. Michael’s dad is retired now and is trying to figure out everything with insurance, which affects us because Michael will be on his insurance until he turns 26. He did get the health insurance squared away, but we are still waiting to hear on prescription, dental, and vision. Michael did see the dentist this week, but it was to get his permanent crown, so the cost was already covered under the initial crown appointment last month, thankfully!
I am on tray #3 of my Invisalign, and that seems to be going well. They said I could leave the trays on an extra day if they still seem tight, but I’m not very good with vague instructions like that. I have taken it to mean that if I can’t get the new trays on, I should hold off on them. So far I have been able to use the new trays on time.
Below is a picture of the puzzles I purchased over the last few weeks of 2025. I am currently on a puzzle buying moratorium because I started the year with 71 puzzles waiting to be done and they no longer fit comfortably on the shelf I have set aside for that purpose. My goal is to not buy any new puzzles until I have my to do list at 50 or below. It will be a challenge for sure!
Yesterday was a busy day for me. I get together with a friend every other Saturday for lunch and a movie, and this time it was my turn to host. We watched People We Meet on Vacation and both really enjoyed it.
In the evening, I went with a friend from church to see comedian Josh Johnson in York. We had a good time. It was a powerful show that touched on some timely issues.
This morning I went to church, which was lovely. I connected with several friends and was very moved by the service. And now I am enjoying a relaxing Sunday afternoon!
I had a good week overall. I had a few moments when I felt overwhelmed by everything I needed to get done, but there were also some really good things. I had a couple of good doctor appointments, and Michael had some dental work done successfully with the help of a little sedation.
On Friday evening, my friend Suzanne came over for dinner. We usually work on a puzzle together, but this time she needed to get home to help her son with some renovations he is doing to her house so that he can move in with her.
Then on Sunday, my friend Renee, her boyfriend Chris, and her two sons Evan and Hans came over to celebrate Christmas with Michael and me. We had a really nice time. We ordered Chinese food, and I had made a couple of treats that I remembered from my childhood – sour cream cookies and a Heath-inspired dessert bar. We also exchanged gifts, and Renee gave me a puzzle that she picked up at a farmers’ market. ☺️
After dinner, Renee asked to play puzzle chess, and we played two rounds of that. We used a couple of the cereal puzzles I got earlier this year, and we each won one round. Here are the puzzles we did:
This week I only work Monday and Tuesday, and on Tuesday I will be off for a couple of hours to get my first Invisalign trays. Michael is going to stay at his dad’s Wednesday and Thursday night, so I will have a quiet Christmas/birthday and will celebrate with Michael on Friday.
Boho Camper is a 1000-piece puzzle from Magnolia, and the artist is Olivia Gibbs. I like this artist a lot and most of the puzzles I have with her artwork are smaller piece counts, so it was nice to find this one.
I started it with my friend Suzanne the other evening. She loves doing borders, so she worked on that while I started on the interior. We got a couple hundred pieces done by the time she had to leave, so it was a good start. After she left, I was working on it a little bit more when I did something I have never done before–I spilled soda on the puzzle! I mopped it up as best as I could and then just left it to dry overnight.
Once the puzzle was dry, I found that a few pieces had separated from the cardboard backing, unfortunately. I was able to finish the puzzle, and you can’t tell there is anything wrong from the photo, but I think I might try to glue the pieces back together.
Despite my mishap, it was a fun puzzle. I really like the Boho elements against the background of camping in nature. I have done a few Magnolias and been happy with the quality. It’s one of the few I have found where you can move whole sections around easily, which is nice when you have two people working together.
At the end of September, my church held an event called Brunch & Craft. It was open to anyone who wanted to come, and we were encouraged to bring a craft to do and, if possible, a dish to share. This is the second one of these we have had, and it was a lot of fun the first time.
My friend Suzanne and I decided to do puzzles during the crafting time. We did two puzzles, and our friend Brianne joined us for the first one before settling down to color. My friend Renee, who lives about 45 minutes away, came with me as well and she was doing some crochet.
I really enjoyed the event. I brought a sausage hashbrown casserole to share and had some other delicious treats that other people had brought as well. I brought four puzzles and let Suzanne and Brianne choose which ones we would do. For the first one, they immediately chose Cats in Quarantine, which is a 500-piece puzzle from Exploding Kittens. I have done it a couple of times already and love it.
The picture above shows it in progress, and here is the finished puzzle:
For the second puzzle, Suzanne chose Waterfall Camper, a 300-piece puzzle from Ceaco. The artist is Stephanie Peterson Jones. I have a bunch of her puzzles and really like her artwork.
This was such a fun event. Usually I get drained being around a lot of people, but I was so focused on our little group and the activity of puzzling that I actually still had a lot of energy after it was done. Renee and I went out for a late lunch/early dinner and then ice cream and hung out for a bit at my place before she went home.
Love in the Wild is a 500-piece puzzle from Mudpuppy, and the artist is Katy Tanis. I did this with my friend Suzanne recently. We both really loved how cute it was and were happy to be able to finish it in one sitting! I tried to pick a favorite square, but they are all so adorable that I really can’t.
I really appreciate having a friend who enjoys doing puzzles. We are hoping to get together again soon with one other friend so that we can all puzzle together. I would love to find local puzzle events or even more puzzle swaps. I have thought about starting something but I’m not sure I would know how to go about it.
Last Friday night, our good friends Bill & Jenn came over and, while they were there, Jenn and I played two rounds of puzzle chess. We used two 100-piece puzzles I had on hand. It was a lot of fun! I did manage to win both rounds, but the first one was only by ten seconds!!
Here are our results. We started with 20 minutes on each of our clocks.
The first puzzle was Beautiful Wild Animals from a generic Amazon brand, MJPHDM. It was a surprisingly good quality. The pieces were sturdy and fairly thick, and it came with a nice, big poster.
The second puzzle was Cosmos, and it came from Ceaco. The quality was decent, but the pieces were thinner and there was no poster.
In case you are wondering how to play puzzle chess, here’s how it works. You pick a small puzzle (we used 100 pieces) and you build the border together and lay out all the other pieces. Then you start a chess clock, which you can get on your phone, and take turns putting one piece into the puzzle. Once you have placed your piece, you tap your clock to end your turn and start the other person’s time. Whoever has the most time left when the puzzle is done is the winner!
This was a fun weekend! On Saturday, I attended a Brunch & Craft women’s event at my church. Everyone was invited to come for brunch and bring any craft they wanted to work on while socializing with each other. I don’t really have any crafts I am working on right now, so my friend Suzanne and I decided to do puzzles together.
There was a good turnout at the event, and everyone was talking about how we would like to do it again. I brought four puzzles for us to choose from, all ones I had previously done. Our friend Brianne joined us for the first one, Mountain Camper from Ceaco. It was a 300-piece puzzle and went very quickly with the three of us working together.
After that, Brianne decided to do some coloring, and Suzanne and I did Paper Paradise from Galison, a 500-piece puzzle. One of the other women at the event who enjoys doing puzzles stopped over and helped for a little while. We finished just under the wire.
This morning I was a greeter at church. The pastor started a new series for Lent called Practicing the Way. It was inspired by the book of that name by John Mark Comer. The sermon was very good and we also had a surprise visit by our bishop. We gave out t-shirts to 5 newcomers today, which was exciting.
This afternoon we had a small birthday celebration for Michael, who turns 23 tomorrow. The party included Renee, Chris, Evan, and Hans. We had lunch followed by the cake Michael has requested – chocolate with chocolate frosting with chocolate chips in the frosting. He got some fun gifts including a metal 100-sided die and a Nintendo 64 t-shirt. After that, the boys played games on the Switch while us old folks napped and chatted on the couch.
I do wish I had one more day to the weekend to decompress a bit, but I am glad I was able to participate in both events. I will get a bit of down time tomorrow after work since Michael’s therapist is out of town and Michael won’t have an appointment like he usually does.
Last Friday, there was a knock at my door and my son answered it to find my friend Jessyca, who I have not seen in several months. I was overjoyed to see her and we had a nice chat to catch up on each other’s lives. She also brought me a Christmas gift, which was a custom puzzle that she had made for me. There was no picture of what the image would be, so it was a surprise as I put it together.
This puzzle is from a company called puzzleYOU and is one of their Smart Sorted puzzles. When you open the box, you see 40 individual little boxes, each with 25 pieces in them. This allows you to choose what level of difficulty you want for your puzzling experience. You can do one box at a time or mix as many as you want together. The box did not show the puzzle, but did have a hint for what the image would be.
I chose to do one box at a time since I didn’t know what the image was. It was so fun to do each little section and then put them together. I had a few times where it seemed like I was missing a piece, but eventually I thought to check the little boxes and found that some of them had a piece at the bottom that hadn’t come out when I emptied the box the first time. So in the end, I was not missing any pieces.
Here are some pictures of my progress at various points:
This was such a fun puzzle to do, and the quality was excellent. The pieces were a nice size and thick enough to pick up easily, and it was fairly easy to move sections around. I especially enjoyed it because it had been made especially for me by a dear friend and was a reminder of the great time we had going to the Brick Fest Live event earlier this year.
I would highly recommend this company if you are interested in making a custom puzzle, and the Smart Sorted option is great for someone who might not have a lot of puzzling experience (but I also loved it even though I have done a lot of puzzles)!
This is another catch-up post, but hopefully a bit more of a fun one. I’m not going to talk about work or health issues in this one.
In early November, Michael ran a short D&D campaign for me that he created based on Undertale and Delta Rune. It was actually a lot of fun, and I thought he did a great job writing it, drawing the maps, and running the campaign.
I tried a couple of new things in November as well. I had my first meeting on the planning committee for the 10th Annual Mother-to-Mother Luncheon. This year they are having it in three locations, one of which is Harrisburg. I volunteered to run the registration committee. I also attended a potluck and a support group meeting at a new organization called the Neurodiverse Network. I enjoyed the potluck, but the support group was a bit uncomfortable, especially when someone started saying how much they hate autism moms. I used to fit into that category and, although I have changed a lot of my views over time, I am still bouncing between being an autistic woman and the mother of an autistic adult. I haven’t interacted with them any further, and I doubt that I will.
In mid-November, our good friends Bill & Jenn came for a visit one evening. We had dinner and great conversation. Jenn even played puzzle chess with me and liked it enough that she wanted to play a second round!
For Thanksgiving, Michael was at his dad’s house, so I went to Renee’s for the day. Her boys were there as well as a couple of friends. Her boyfriend Chris cooked the meal, and it was fantastic. The brined turkey was so flavorful and my favorite sides were the sweet potato casserole with pecans and the sausage stuffing muffins. I took a 300-piece puzzle to do with whoever wanted to join in (Colorful Harvest, posted earlier this month).
On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, Kim & I went to see the movie Wicked. I didn’t really know the story, although I had heard a couple of the songs from the musical before. I absolutely loved it! It was 2 hours 40 minutes, but felt much shorter than that. I can’t wait until part 2 comes out next year!
Here are a couple of pictures I wanted to share. One was taken in the front of my church while I was greeting last Sunday, and the other is a picture of my former dog Baxter with his new owner’s mother’s dog Hudson. I am so glad he is still doing well.
I finally decorated my apartment this week, after having the boxes sit in my living room for a week or so. I would like to get a bigger, fuller tree sometime, but this one will do for now.
This week has been a bit busier. On Tuesday, Suzanne came over. We ordered Panera and started a puzzle. On Wednesday, Renee took me to Gabriella Italian Restaurant for my birthday. We had a great time and some wonderful food. On Friday, Jessyca showed up at my place with a Christmas gift for me, a custom puzzle. I was so surprised and happy to see her again after several months of total silence from her. Today, Michael & I went to an open house at a center that our church is considering a move to. We would need to build a worship space to add to the existing building, but it does seem like a pretty good option for us. I’m looking forward to seeing if things work out for this.
I’ll sign off with a pic of my recent haircut. I’m not going to keep it this short, but I do kind of like how it looks.
It has been a busy few months, yet I’m not sure how much progress I have made on things.
Michael did have two work assessments, but still has one more scheduled. He is applying for jobs as well. I believe his job coach is now on board with our feelings that Michael would do best in an office environment and without customer interaction. Now the hard part is finding something close by and part time.
Michael’s health is good. He has been losing weight. He is also meeting with his therapist regularly and has really taken ownership of those sessions. I recently took him to the podiatrist, which we learned should probably have been done several years ago, and he gave him some suggestions to assist with his issues. The main problem is flat feet.
Last weekend Michael flew to Minneapolis with his dad and stepmom for his cousin Kyle’s wedding. It seemed to go fairly well, although he was glad to get home.
I am still working on my health issues.
Mental Health – I am very happy with my psych nurse practitioner. We tried increasing my sertraline to help with my anxiety, but it had some side effects that I didn’t like. So now we are trying buspirone, which is supposed to help with anxiety but also may help with some other issues I have been experiencing.
GI – My allergist determined that I do not need Dupixent. She said my condition would now be described as PPI responsive esophageal eosinophila. She wanted me to take the PPI for three more months and then see the GI doc. It took two weeks and several phone calls to get the prescription to the right place and to get the GI clinic to schedule my appointment. It was very frustrating and I had to escalate the issue at both doctors’ offices.
Dental – I have had a cleaning, two fillings done, and a root canal. Next up is a permanent filling over the root canal and an extraction. After that, I’m going to check what’s still available on my insurance and make plans for additional work to be done.
Diabetes – My diet went downhill for a couple of months, but I am doing better with it now. I was starting to feel really tired all of the time and even had some sleep disturbances which my PCP thinks may be related to my blood sugar. She ordered me a Dexcom continuous glucose monitor, and I am looking forward to being able to track my blood sugar and hopefully be more in control of things.
Arthritis – The arthritis in my right hip has been acting up lately. My hip hurt so badly one day that I wasn’t able to put my right sock on, and I had to have Michael help me. After that, I bought a sock aid that Renee recommended, which is really nice. I also had difficulty standing for greeting at church last time I did it. I spoke to Pastor Shannon afterwards and asked if they had a tall chair that I could sit on while greeting. They do have one, and she agreed that I could use it for that.
In fun news, I have been spending my down time reading, puzzling, and streaming shows. I started a second Instagram account to post about books, since my first one has become mostly puzzles. I haven’t posted much on the book account yet, but I hope to keep adding to it.
In puzzle news, I bought a fun accessory – a desktop vacuum. It works great to clean up puzzle dust and even has a nozzle to get in the corners. I also framed my 2000-piece puzzle, Novel Avenue, and hung it above my couch. The frame I got is a bit flimsy since it was intended for a picture or a poster, not a puzzle, but it works for now.
Desktop vacuum
Novel Avenue puzzle
Last Saturday, Kim brought over her puppy Remus for our weekly lunch and a movie. He had just gotten fixed, so she didn’t want to leave him alone. At one point, he laid down on the couch in the same spot that her previous dog Sabbath had chosen when he was here shortly before he passed away. It was so sweet.
In So Many Words 