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!

You Just Have to TAKE the Time!

That's what my husband always says.  You can't MAKE time, you can't FIND more time, if there is something you want to do you must TAKE the time.  So today, I TOOK the time to finish this Dolomite Mountains puzzle. 

Mr. Man helped quite a bit on this one.  The two older boys helped right at the very end when there were only 30 or so pieces left.  It was your basic straight forward puzzle with LOTS of orange.  Annoying really.

Dolomite Mountains, Italy

1,000 pieces

 

 

Picture quality isn't very good. I have a phenomenal camera that I really have no idea how to use, but I never am able to take a good picture of a puzzle at night using the regular house lights.   Flash adds the obvious flash spots.  During the day with natural lighting seems to be the best, but I usually finish a puzzle at night, thus producing nighttime photos.  So if you have any suggestions on how to capture these better without odd coloring and/or shadows, please share!

Great deal on 32,000 pieces

I bought it!  YES I DID!  I did it!

Double Retrospect 32,000

It retails on Amazon for $300.  I had it in my wishlist to watch because the price would go up and down between $220 and $320.  The lowest I had seen it was $202.  I figured if I watched it daily I would be able to get it again at this good price. Everyday it was up and down, up and down and finally settled for a couple days on $265.  Obviously no good.  But one morning I checked it and it was $162!!  I called my husband right away (we don't buy anything over $50 without consulting each other, it helps keep our finances in check).  After I told him all this, he just said, "BUY IT!"  So I did!  I have the Amazon credit card (which is paid off every month.  I do not believe in finance charges.) and I had about $35 of credits on there.  I ended up getting the puzzle for $126!  We have Amazon Prime too, so FREE SHIPPING! 

It came FedEx.  The carrier couldn't believe it was a puzzle considering how heavy it was.  I did open the box to double check that's what was in there, but I haven't taken it out.  I put it in the back of the closet and will do the final unveiling when LIFE is done.

It might seem crazy to buy it now and put it away for later, but it only makes sense to save so much money.

I still think it's ugly, but it's all for the CHALLENGE my friend.  All for the challenge.

Finally I Can Leave Oregon!

This beautiful picture of the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon, USA is finally finished.  It seemed to take forever.  The edge and the sky went together pretty quickly, but all that greenery sat there for a long time.  It sat and sat and sat!  I think I was just dreading to get back to it. 

Anyways, here it is and I'm going to box it up and get another one started right away. 

1,000 pieces

Columbia River Gorge, Oregon USA

 

 

 

Only 14 more??  I think.... I may have to recount.

15 to LIFE

That sounds like a prison sentence doesn't it?  Sometimes this agreement that I made with myself, to finish all the other smaller puzzles before returning to LIFE, feels like a prison sentence.  SOMETIMES.  Most of the time, I am just dredging through the pile of puzzles.  I have 14 to go since I finished the 15th last night.

1,000 pieces

 

I really enjoyed doing this puzzle because the pieces are all very irregular.  It does add a dimension of difficulty, but the kind I welcome.  It was a fairly easy puzzle with the most annoying part being the sky, naturally.  But Mister Man double teamed with me on it so it made it more fun and got done faster.  I'm promising Penny that I will let my husband help with these last 14 to help it go faster.  I don't want him helping on LIFE, but for these other ones anyone can help.  Even my nine-year-old likes to put in pieces.

 

 

Anyways, this is the countdown to LIFE.  14 to go!

I'm BAAACK!

So I took a little time out to have a baby!

 

She is 5 months old tomorrow and had her first taste of carrots today.  We call her "Pixie" on account of her being so petite.  She's long, but thin.  All my other babies were chunkers.  LOL  But she makes number five so working on puzzles has not been at the top of my list.  She is getting to be more content now so I have snipets of time.

I did finish a 750-piece tonight.  It was one my boys got me for Christmas.  It's taken quite awhile to do it.  I don't even remember when I started it. 
 

 

 

Isn't it such a pretty picture?  My boys have good taste.  My husband and oldest son helped some.  I had to force myself to get it done because I had to move my Puzzle table to my new..........................................................

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Puzzle Room!!

 

This picture is taken from the hallway looking into our front living room which we actually use as a dining room.  It's big enough that I used four tall bookshelves as a room divider (on right facing the dining area) and put two cabinets (one has the remainder of my puzzles) and of course the puzzle table.  My work computer is in the corner and my honey bought me the ergonomic chair for Christmas.  I even have a small part of the bay window in my little "room". I already pulled out my next puzzle.  You can see it on the table.  That gives you a little glimpse of what the next one is.  PROVIDED that all the pieces are there.  I have done numerous puzzle with missing pieces but I don't even bother to post them.  It's annoying but I've ranted about that before.  So I won't go there again.

Anyways I plan to put up a tension rod with a curtain for a door.  I'm going to TRY to train the kiddos that when the curtain is closed, Mom is unavailable.  Did I just hear you snicker? or did you outright guffaw?  I did say TRY!

I have a friend who has been badgering me to get back to the puzzles so I can get a move on the Life puzzle.  She is also putting the Life puzzle together and it's fun to have someone to do it with.  Here is her blog if you'd like to follow her progress too.  Penny's Life Blog

Thanks for being patient and waiting for me and not giving up on me.  I'm excited to get back in the game.  Hopefully the new room will help encourage me.  And Penny too. :)