Can you solve the puzzle?

Who says the internet can't be your friend? I swear with all of you to help me, I'll never be lost for finding things! But the internet is more than that. I reached out to someone (on Facebook) for a specific reason, and we've become friends - sharing a few minutes of our day each morning. No -- we are NOT dating, but we share a couple of common interests. For those who poo-poo Facebook, if used wisely, Facebook can be your biggest friend. I LOVE Facebook, and my world has expanded exponentially because of it! 

Thanks to Tammy and Nina for the zipper videos. I watched the first one. Wow! And this is so much easier than the fork! I will watch the other one later as it's longer. You guys are the best! 

I am trying to remember what I said yesterday about the tool I was looking for, but I need help finding the name. I was going to contact the store, but NO -- I decided to do a Google Image search. Within SECONDS, it brought up the tool. I'll share it with you when I get mine. It was hilarious that it also came up in an Etsy shop where that person was selling the same item for MORE than it cost to buy two of them, as they come in a pack of two! 

The moral of that story is - buyer beware! 

The sad thing about my day was that this item was ONLY available on my "favorite" online store. To make matters worse, I am buying two other items, and BOTH companies direct me to that online store to buy them. There is no other option! Sigh............. I'll place the order today as there was no time yesterday! OK -- so it's ordered, and everything will arrive by Tuesday next week. Let's see if they can find the house! 

I have one other item to order, which is NOT available at all on my "favorite" store. Imagine that! I'll place that order later today. 

Not much got done in the quilting department. Well, nothing that I can show you. I was gone most of the day, chatting to various people about options for classes and clubs for 2023. I'm so excited -- I'm surprised that I could sleep last night. But it means a TON of paperwork to get everything done. I had hoped to get more done yesterday, but that didn't happen. 

One of our Monday group mentioned this puzzle store, and since I was in the neighborhood, I had to stop. I love puzzles -- let's check it out. It's called Puzzles Canada, and you can shop in person or online. 

Puzzles Canada

OH! WOW! SPEECHLESS!

Thousands of puzzles

YES -- that is shelves and shelves of puzzles. Is this place real? I was in awe! I also found another puzzle advent calendar from Ravensberger, and I didn't buy it because it didn't have a skill rating. OH MY --- it says this one is out of print. I need to buy that one in the store! 

A puzzle Advent Calendar

I have officially abandoned the one I have. Not forever, just for now. I'm going to puzzle away and try to figure out the second day without more assistance from the clues. I could use the clues, but if I did that every day, I wouldn't get much satisfaction. But I would learn a lot, so I might just plug away when things are quiet. You are NOT allowed to laugh at that comment! I think of myself as a somewhat clever person, but this one has me stumped, and like everything, I need an easier one to clue me into the type of logic they do. Or I need peace and quiet to focus! 

I found videos of someone who opens it every day, but I don't want to go there yet. Before quilting, I enjoyed puzzles of all kinds, but I found that you must train your brain! Like Suduko -- the more you do, the easier the puzzles are. Most puzzles are pattern recognition or something similar; your brain needs to think that way, and like everything, some people have an easier time than others. I used to be very good, but I'm out of practice. So back to crosswords, word search, and logic puzzles for me as I train for the Puzzle Advent season of 2023! Gosh -- I'm an optimist!

But how big should one go with jigsaw puzzles? 8,000 pieces? 

8,000 piece puzzles

18,000 pieces? 

18,000 piece puzzles

The largest one is 40,000 pieces, but it's technically made up of 10 connected puzzles. So does that count as the largest jigsaw puzzle? And you'd have to take over your entire house to display it. I have three that are 4,000 pieces, and I've carried them around for over 40 years! It might be time to do them!

I ended up buying three. Here's one of them. While it's only 500 pieces, I'm sure it will take work. It was a quilty one, so that influenced my choice. 

A round quilt-themed puzzle

I didn't take pictures of the other two, but one was a puzzle within a puzzle. Why do I do that to myself? It was only 750 pieces, and the other one is even more of a puzzle. I'll share that another day. I made several other stops; needless to say, it's all sitting on the cutting table, which has just about disappeared. I NEED to get my act together. It's not permanent storage, just the staging area!

But I have three classes today and two tomorrow, so that's where my priority lay last night and this morning. There are still a couple of classes next weekend, and then I'm off for a couple of weeks when I'll be playing major catchup. 

Can you believe that it's Virtual Retreat next weekend? December 17th and 18th? We changed the date since it would have fallen on Christmas Day. But for those who don't have family nearby or don't do anything on Christmas Eve, there will be virtual sewing on Christmas Eve. I'm still thinking about the hours. 

It's very frustrating for everyone to say, "Oh, Christmas is a happy time," a time to get together with family, or whatever. Some people may choose NOT to get together, or they have no one or their family lives far away. THEY (whoever they are) make the rest of us feel like we're not living right if we don't want to celebrate or don't have someone to celebrate with. I haven't celebrated Christmas with my family for many years, and I'm perfectly OK with it. I'm happy to share my day with friends! And if it's online -- that's even better. We can all drink to our merry little content (I'm not much of a drinker), but no one has to worry about driving home!

Speaking of Christmas, I spotted this inflatable Christmas decoration yesterday. Can you tell me what's wrong with this? They are probably separate items, but the scale is a bit wrong! 

That Santa has an "inflated" ego!

Oh -- I found one more puzzle picture. They had collage pictures for puzzles. Heck -- they had ANY topic you wanted on a jigsaw puzzle. I was genuinely impressed. 

Collage puzzles

Now we have a bit of a puzzle swap group with some friends, which is a perfect way to do puzzles. So for the price of one puzzle, you sure get good value. Maybe that's what I'll do at the next Virtual Retreat! No one will know. Does anyone use those puzzle piece trays? Do you like them? Are they worth the investment? 

And here are the girls as they wait for me to open their Advent calendars. This is the ONLY time Princess Lexi will sit without making a big fuss. But it takes her several LONG seconds to consider it and then actually do it. Murphy will plunk her butt down in a milli-second if she knows she is getting a treat! What fun they are!

MOM -- Where's our Advent treat? 

Well, on that note, I'm out of here! Another fun day of gosh knows what!! But only after the three classes are done! And the show and tell is so much fun. That's the best part of the class for me, and when I see what they have accomplished -- wow -- makes my heart sing! Wait -- I still need to share the Tula Pink Butterfly show and tell. I should, now that the class is finished. 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!!