An attempt at speed puzzling

OH, Elle just proposed something unheard of and HARD. She suggested that I do NOT refill the Visual To-Do list until ALL the things on it are done! ACK!!!!! While I think she is right, it would FORCE me to face some projects that have been hanging around way too long, don't involve just me, and, well, it's going to be very hard. BUT she has a valid point: if I could clear that board, refilling it with "new" projects would be a joy. 

OH --- should I, shouldn't I?? That is the question. 

I wonder about her sometimes --- she got rid of clutter years ago, takes care of herself. She's as close to perfect as anyone I know!!! I love her and her comments, and I often think of her as I'm walking. OK --- so the test of time -- what am I going to do? I'll keep you in the loop. 

You probably haven't noticed, but I haven't really talked about the Conquerer Challenges for quite a while. I set the goals way back at the beginning of the year, and there were three; all of them double-dipped. One included cycling mileage from spin class, and it was just for fun. Since spin class ended months ago, I lost interest in that one and abandoned it. Do I care? Not in the least. 

I was following a preset challenge, which I also abandoned because I set it up to add the mileage manually and kept forgetting. It is long past the deadline, but I'm going to see if I can resurrect it and get the medal. Not that I need the medal, but I paid for it, so I might as well try. 

The other one was also one I paid for, and it was my monthly walking distance. In the past, I set an aggressive goal of walking 4,400 KM in one year. That equated to 12 KM a day, which turned out to be a bit much for me, in terms of time and, more importantly, wear and tear on my body. So this year, I set a goal of 10 KM a day, not a huge difference, but an average I could manage physically without really trying. 

But I'll be honest: I haven't checked my progress in MONTHS, and I hardly ever look at my Fitbit to see how far I walked that day. Yep, from time to time I'd check to see if I took 10,000 steps, but I never checked the km. 

So I was surprised to see this in my progress. 

Progress on my annual walking goal

I am right on target, and I don't check, plan, or take extra steps in a day. I think I have found my natural rhythm. I will walk the dogs in the morning, and those walks have been shorter than usual and, with all the travel, nonexistent on some days. I walk every afternoon, at least on the days when I am home. I am active and do a lot of walking around the house - I get up to iron, etc. It doesn't matter how I get the steps in; it just matters that I'm moving. 

Does the Fitbit register 10 KM daily as an actual 10KM? Does it matter? It doesn't matter; what matters is that each day is relative to the others, and it is for MY purposes only, not for comparison to someone else. 

I was happy to see that, and now if I can rescue my other challenge by using the stats from this one, I might be OK. 

These challenges were fun during the pandemic, but just one more thing to check. YES -- I could check on the app, but I hate apps!!! I check on the computer. So I will try to do that when I have some downtime on this trip or when I get home. 

The two classes went off nicely in the morning, EXCEPT when we were finishing the second class, My Kinda Town, one of the students piped up and said my chimneys are incorrect on this house. 

One of my blocks for My Kinda Town

OH GOSH --- she is right -- I added more chimney atop both chimneys instead of sky. Silly me!!!! I just marked out what fabric went where without consulting the picture. I know better! And this is after I had to rip out the two window sections because the blue frame was purple originally, and it did NOT show up at all. That's the silly mistake I had made the day before. 

Thankfully, I had some time before I left, so I could fix the two spots. I also sent out all the follow-up emails. 

The sky is fixed!!! 

What's hilarious is how we can't see the forest for the trees! In other words, I didn't even notice that the sky pieces were missing. It just looked like an extra-tall chimney!!!! 

And here are my three blocks so far for this quilt. I LOVE all the bright fabrics, and I can't wait to finish this quilt. There are eight blocks in all. It's slated to be complete by the end of this year, and then I can remove a HUGE pile of stuff off that current project table. 

Three blocks for My Kinda Town

If I keep working, I might eventually develop a routine and project organization that works for me. And if I could complete what's on that Visual To-Do list, that would be even better. You know something? Elle might be right. If I actually face those hard decisions (mostly on projects slated for someone else), I might actually be able to rip through things faster. You know how it is --- you get weighted down by the monkey on your back. 

I'll contemplate that!!! It's a great idea. 

A while back, I signed up for three virtual puzzle competitions. As luck would have it, work interfered with all three dates. Yesterday was the first date, and the event started at 2 PM. I decided to do it for one hour before I needed to get on the road. 

The puzzle arrives in a shipping envelope with a big sticker that gives us the information we need to join the Zoom call. This is what I do when I volunteer for packing puzzles. 

So I cleared off my puzzle table, got the puzzle ready, joined the Zoom call, and waited for them to start. I had never done anything like this, so I had no idea what to expect. I had also never timed myself doing a puzzle and thought the idea was silly, and that I would be frantic. 

The competition puzzle

As the time drew near, we were able to open the shipping envelope. OH MY GOD -- a puzzle with lots of fur. This seems to be a dreaded subject amongst many puzzlers. My heart wasn't singing when I saw the photo. The puzzle has 500 pieces. 

The puzzle for the virtual competition

The timed event had a two-hour time limit. If you didn't finish, you were supposed to keep working on your own and submit your time. I could only stay for one hour since I had a four-hour drive. 

This is what I accomplished after one hour. 

What I did after one hour

It was an interesting exercise, and I'm glad that I participated. I will finish it and submit my time when I get home. I will probably be last, but I don't care. It taught me a few things. 

As usual, I sorted the pieces, but I typically sort just the border pieces; after watching videos of Karen the Puzzler, I sorted by color and also separated out the border pieces. Now I think speed puzzles sort into piles; they do not lay all the pieces out. It took me 25 minutes to sort out the pieces and do the border, so I thought that was pretty good considering I'm new to this. I also loved that the pieces were sorted by color. I might try some of these techniques in my daily puzzling. 

That is the quietest Zoom call I've ever been on. After they counted down to the start, 3, 2, 1, Puzzle!, the call went silent! I did glance at the screen every so often to see what the others were doing. I would have loved to watch how people did the puzzling, but this is why people go to competitions!! I will be attending the Nationals next April or May, so that will definitely give me a better idea, but I've also watched some videos. 

I knew the first person would probably be finished around the 40-minute mark. Yes --- can you imagine putting this together in 40 minutes? And the first person called out at the 41-minute mark. Are you kidding me? And then about every couple of minutes, someone else called out. I'm sure there will be people like me who didn't finish in the two hours, and I'll be interested to check the times later. 

I just checked the times! There were 94 people in the event. These events sell out, so I didn't want to miss it. Someone else could have had my spot. The winner came in at 41:14 minutes. 11 people had times longer than 2 hours. One person took almost four hours, and 22 people have no time. So they either didn't attend the session, which is a shame, or, like me, they couldn't finish that day. I'll see how it goes. I don't know if I can submit a time done in multiple sessions. 

I did not sign up for any during the spring sessions; it's just so darn hard with my schedule. 

Back to the puzzle. Of course, I got all the easy stuff done - well, almost. Then I will tackle the green, and these are all the pieces for that. Actually, there aren't too many. 

The green pieces

Then I will tackle the blue on the left, and then there is that darn fur!!!! 

The blue and the fur

So I'm glad that I did this and it wasn't nearly as stressful as I thought it would be. For a first time, with no practice, and having to leave early, I thought I did OK. I have another one this Saturday, and at first, my trip was going to interfere with that. But now the trip is shorter, so I will be home and able to spend the full two hours on it. While I don't know for sure, I'm certain it's a Halloween-themed puzzle. It's a fun event, supposedly meant to be shared with friends and family, but I'll likely be working on it alone, which is OK. 

I had already packed the car, and then I was off. The girls weren't too happy, but that is life. DH is home with them, and they know how to cope!!!

As I was buzzing around, I had to pop up to the main floor from Studio B, and Miss Murphy was in the basement. The next thing I knew, she had slowly worked her way up the stairs. The stairs that she is afraid of. The thought of her accidentally slipping is frightening, and I need to be more diligent. Of course, because she put all her weight on her leg and was extra careful, she was favoring it when she got to the top. 

More diligence is required with her!!!! 

I'm never a fan of long drives, and I don't know why. Well, yes, I do; I was always uncomfortable because of my sciatica and would easily get sleepy. Yesterday, the skies were blue, the traffic was ight and it was a beautiful day for driving. I had a great audiobook to listen to, which I'll tell you about in a second. I stopped in Parry Sound to have dinner with a good friend whom I see online during Monday sewing, but we haven't had an in-person catch-up in quite a while. So that was a great way to break up the trip. 

And I was able to get a book from her that she picked up at her used bookstore months ago! The Pony Express just wasn't working well on that item! 

Then back in the car for the last 1.5 hours. Again, the roads were good, the weather was good, and traffic was light. I always worry about animals on the road at night, but all was good. No sleepiness and no sciatic pain!!! 

I arrived at the hotel, and it's like a maze. It's under construction, and the parking lot is huge. No wait, the parking lot is totally confusing, and the front entrance was blocked off with fencing, at least the parking area where you can park while checking in. And they were doing work last night to clear that fencing. Seriously? A Saturday night at 8:30 PM? I don't get it. 

Anyway, this hotel is the most confusing hotel I've ever been in. It has wings and little nooks and crannies in the hallways. 

A very weird configuration for a hotel

It's not a full moon yet, but it's close, and I love looking at the moon and wondering how many other people are looking at the same moon at the same time I am. It's one thing we all share in this world. 

The almost full moon

OK -- let me tell you about this audiobook. I started it a couple of days ago, but I didn't have time to listen. I was making mistakes while sewing and thought it best not to listen so I could focus. That didn't seem to make any difference. 

Anyway, the book is called Getting Away with Murder by Shari Lapena. 


What can I say about Shari? Check out her website, and you'll see she's an ordinary woman with an incredible talent for taking the ordinary and making it suspenseful, creepy, and plausible. You'll wonder where the heck those plot ideas and twists come from. This is far from being cookie-cutter reading!! 

I almost wanted the drive to go on, so I wouldn't have to stop listening to the book. I still have two hours left to listen, and I have a bit of a drive this morning, but not enough to finish the book. Since it is due soon, I'll have to listen to it after work tonight. 

Well, I need to get organized for the day. 

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!