I like puzzles -- all kinds of them. I like crosswords, sudokus, word searches, jumbles, any most word puzzles like Words with Friends and Hanging with Friends . My favorites are cryptograms (words, ciphers, and statistical probability letter combinations).
Every so often, though, it's good to pull out a jigsaw puzzle. I can't do the 3D ones because I can't wrap my head around the visual directions, which is the same weakness that prevents me from following visual directions for origami.
I won't go near 1,000 piece puzzles, either, because my eyesight isn't good enough to pick out the images on the individual pieces. I like the 250 piece puzzles because they're doable in one sitting. While doing some cleaning and sorting, I find an unopened puzzle box, a sea scene, of 550 jigsaw pieces.
Here's the thing about jigsaw puzzles: The cardboard boxes they come in are completely useless. The only way to open them is to take a knife to the bottom seals, and, in doing so, inevitably the bottom box gets sliced, as well, rendering the entire thing worthless. Several of the puzzles I still have are in plastic zip-lock bags with the picture cut off the top and placed inside the bag with the pieces. This time, however, I'm in luck, and the bottom stays intact.
I dump all 550 pieces on the living room coffee table, which is plenty big enough for the 18x24" puzzle, and I promptly walk away from the puzzle for about 24 hours. When I do get back to it, I start sorting pieces by color and shade, picking out all of the outside edge pieces and keeping them separated from the rest. The outside comes together reasonably quickly, but I am missing two pieces. Actually, that's not too bad for me -- sorting 550 items and only bypassing two. One of the pieces I locate relatively quickly; the other piece takes a while longer, after I've started assembling the inside.
I've finished about one third of the puzzle when my youngest comes home and decides he wants to eat dinner in the living room with his girl friend, except that my puzzle is taking up the table. Oh, well, I guess we're all eating together at the kitchen table like civilized humans. After dinner, I head back to the puzzle and make some more headway.
I'm not going to finish it tonight, and maybe I won't even finish it tomorrow. But I'm on summer break, so I have time to spare. I'll set a goal for myself. I will have the puzzle finished and broken back down again by ... oh ... I'll say ... Friday. I'll have it done by Friday, July 1. Remind me to post a picture when it's done not so much to prove that I can put together a puzzle (I can) but to prove that I really can set a goal and stick to it. These days, that's not always my strongest, most consistent accomplishment.
