Back from the Outback

Oi, Mate!

We finished the Australian Animals/Map puzzle.  750 pieces and I had Mr. Man's and LegoWarrior's help.  It's kind of pretty.  Was up until 3am again though.  These late nights are rough, but it's the only time I really get a large chunk of time to work on them.

This one is getting packed up, taped up and shipped out to the rummage sale and a new one is coming out.  Nine left I think.

It went together pretty easily.  Some of the different shades of green, tan and brown got confusing once in awhile, but not too bad.  There it is!

All in the Family

My four-year-old daughter love to do puzzles too!  She did have Grandma's help, but she's still very good at them.

Princess and her Grandma.  This Lion King puzzle has 200 pieces, well...minus two.  Found at a rummage sale.

This 48-piece dinosaur puzzle she did completely by herself. 

 All done! She's so adorable!

 

 



 King Tut's Tomb had 100 pieces and this one was hard for her.  Grandma helped her quite a bit on this one.

 

 

 Almost done...

 

 

 Last piece!

 

 

 All done!

 

 

  Kind of a pretty puzzle.  It'd be tough if it were 1,000 pieces with all that gold.

 

 

 

I love it that my kiddos like puzzling too.  We all like to work on them together.  Often when I'm working on one of mine, at least one or two of the kids will ask to come and help me.  They usually don't have the patience after they try a couple pieces.  That's okay.  I'm glad they try.

 

ENJOY!

Hit the Finish Line at 3am

Number 11 knocked out at 3am. Ten to go. 

Say so long to Vermont:

This one went really smooth.  There are enough differing areas that it was a snap to put together. 

Now I'm off to wrap this one up and start the next! 

Made My Final Selection

Many of you and my friends and family think I am ridiculous for waiting to do LIFE.  So I decided to pull out all my puzzles and narrow it down to the ones I will do before I get back at it once and for all.  I did have a loose number before, but I needed a visual.

I suppose I'm doing this because of my perfectionist, all-or-nothing attitude.  I have always practiced delayed-gratification by self-deprivation.  How well has it worked?  Lets just say that it works sometimes.   Sometimes I get a lot accomplished and other times this strategy has only caused further delays and procrastination.

Anyway, I'm too tired for psychology today.  On to the puzzles......

I narrowed it down to these ten puzzles.  One is 750, one is 1,200, seven are 1,000 and that sculpture one.  Why these you ask? I was gonna tell you.  These have sat on my shelf the longest and a few of them I don't really care for.  If I save ones I don't like for after LIFE and DR, it'll seem like a let down.  Who wants boring after you've had the best?

I am in the middle of one right now that I hope to finish tonight if the baby cooperates.  Mr. Man is out of town for the weekend, so I should get quite a bit accomplished.   This one is going fairly smooth so far.

 

Fresh Meat!

Fresh meat curtesy of East Topsham, Vermont.    (At least that's what the box says).

SSShhhhhh! I added more to the COLLECTION!!

I know, I know I shouldn't have gotten MORE, but I promise I won't do them until LIFE is done!  PROMISE!

Craig's List can be hazardous to an addict.  LOL

A lady was selling a whole box listed as "20+" for $10!  I texted her and found out that most of the puzzles have all their pieces but there might be a few missing.  Not sure.  For $10, I thought I'd take the chance. 

Want to see my spoils?

Here's the lot of them on my bed.  The lady advertised 20+, but there turned out to be 35 puzzles in the box!  I got rid of the three on the right.  The top two were duplicates and the bottom one said right on the box that it had a piece missing .  I'm not even going to bother with that one.  That leaves 32 puzzles for me for $10.  IF the pieces are all there, or even in most of them, this is a great deal!

 

 



This one is okay.  Pretty I guess, but it doesn't thrill me much.

 

 



I think this was the one that has hidden pictures.  That should be interesting.

 

 



I like these collage ones.

 

 



I have a feeling this one might be on the difficult side.  Not very pretty either.

 

 



These boats should be whipped off fairly quickly.

 I plan to no longer buy any more typical scenic puzzles.  They always seem to be the same.  Whatever the subject is (mountains, house, animal, lighthouse in this case) and sky, water, and/or grass.  Just repetitive to me.  I thought I had done this lighthouse before from a different view. But I was wrong.  HERE is the one I was thinking of.

 

 

 Typical.

 

 

 Ditto.

 

 

 Slightly different from your typical scene I guess.

 

 

 I'm not a huge fan of this kind of art, but I have never done any of this kind so I am excited to do this one.

 

 

 Reminds me of LIFE.  And Lisa Frank.

 

 

 Good ole' Hometown Collection.

 

 

 2000!  Again, I have a feeling this won't be easy.  Lots of gray, tan, white shades.  Kind of ugly.  Not really looking forward to this one.  This particular one made me rethink my puzzling experience.  As of right now I pretty much will do any puzzle I can get my hands on as long as it has all its pieces and I can get it for a good price.  I don't really care what it looks like.  But I'm wondering if those parameters will hold me back.  If I have a puzzle in the line up that I'm not looking forward to then maybe it'll cause me to slow down (you know I'm slow enough) or to quit altogether.  I'm thinking from now on, I will only get ones that I really like and WANT to do.  IF I do this one, it'll be my first 2,000 piece.

 

 

 Another Wysocki.

 

 

 Not a big fan of Kincadesque either.  But this one will be unique.  You can't really tell in the photo, but the yellowish spots are metallic!  That's new to me too.

 

 

 This will be fun!  I checked in every box when I sorted them and found that this one has the booklet and the light! And it even works!  COOL BEANS!  This was one of the duplicates.

 

 

 Typical.

 

 

 See that in the corner?  MEGA!!!!  IT'S BACK!  I may not do this one.  I'll try it, but if it's the same poor quality as those other MEGA brand ones I tried a few months ago, this one will go in the free box at the rummage sale!

 

 

 Same MEGA issues with this one.  So I probably won't do this one.  This was also one of the duplicates.

 

 

 Typical

 

 

 Blah... I know there are many fans of Kincade.  I'm not one of them.  I don't dislike it, it's just not my style.

 

 

 

 Somewhat on the Wysocki order, but I actually like this one.  It'll be done very fast.

 

 

 This one looks like it'll be difficult.  Lots of yellow and brown.  Maybe not.  Sometimes you can't see the shade differences until you actually start studying the actual pieces.

 

 

 YES!  Educa!

 Ack!  More Kincade.  There were supposed to be three puzzles in this box, but I looked and I think there are only two.  I'm not even sure which two.

 

 

 Now!  This one looks fun!!

 

 

 Typical.

 

 

You couldn't imagine my excitement to finally find a Ravensburger in this box!  Quite a step up from Big Ben and totally the opposite end of the spectrum from MEGA Yuck.  I'm not into dolls, but this is a pretty picture.

 

 



 Eh.

 

 

 Could be fun. The lettering will help make it go quickly.

 

 

 Just so-so for me.

 

 

 Don't care for this one at all.  Not sure why.  I just don't like it.

 

 

Now THIS is my cup o' tea!  Puzzle within a puzzle.  Always unique.

 

 



Well now I've shown you the lot.  These are going to be after LIFE.  So they are just going to sit around for awhile.  There will be a break in between LIFE and DR.  I'll want to have more of a feeling of accomplishment so to get some smaller ones finished will be good for me I'm sure.

 

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed seeing what is to come in the future.  How soon?  Who knows.

 

Goodnight!