On a more personal note...

Thought I'd throw out another of these posts where I stop talking about books and tell you a little about something else of my life. This time, a confession: I love jigsaw puzzles.

As a kid I loved jigsaws and then when I got sick at 11 and I was spending all my time at home barely able to do anything, they became a nice distraction. I didn't do them very often because they were too much effort a lot of the time, but I liked working on them when I could. I liked the challenge of hard ones, and I liked the 'break' if gave me from everything else. My brain would stop thinking about everything else and it was just about fitting the right pieces together and it was really kinda soothing in a way, and left me with a sense of satisfaction when I completed one.

I stopped regularly working on jigsaws a few years back. Then my mom bought me this one (apologies for poor pics):

All grey tones, no sharp detail...nightmare puzzle!! But I was so up for the challenge. I didn't get very far though because I had to shift it out of the living room to my bedroom and it ended up under my bed, mostly untouched for a year, looking like this:

 

That's how far I got with it over about 18 months/2 years. I'm sad about that, cause I always wanted to finish it. I worked on it some yesterday and managed to add about 20 odd pieces and join some sections up before I got too worn out so now it looks like this:

At least looks a little neater now!! For Christmas my mom gave me a new 1000 piece puzzle, this one:

Beautiful, but again, nightmare puzzle, the kind I love. So now I have a new plan, to complete both these puzzles by the end of 2011. I just started on the horse one this week and this is where I stand with it now:

I have it on a roll up mat, so I can shift it around really easily and work on it in the living room, where there is space, and then quickly shift it if needed!! The NYC one is still on a board, but now can be moved out from under my bed very easily so I can work on it at will as well!

Have to say, I've loved working on these frustrating puzzles this week!! I'd forgotten how much I love doing them. And now when I get fed up with the difficulties of one, I can switch to the other, making it more likely for me to get them both done.

Only thing is, working on these tough ones, makes me want to pull out my old favourites. The 300 piece one with lots of animals that I could finish within about 35 mins at one point, and my photographic one of the New York City skyline (pre 9/11) at sunset. Maybe I should work on them at some point too... And now I've stated my personal puzzle challenge on here, I'll have to make sure it's completed won't I? ;)

What about you guys, anything besides books you like to do to relax? Or for a challenge? Anyone else a puzzle fan? I am curious!