A Day of Celebration

January 29th is National Puzzle Day. There’s nothing quite like a fake holiday to give me an excuse to eat good food and do nerdy things I love. I’m all for it if it’s something I like. If it’s celebrating something I think is stupid, though, like January 25 which is National Opposite Day (please don’t tell the elementary school kids that this day actually exists), then I roll my eyes and psshaw at its existence. Why do we need a stupid day for everything? Oh, but puzzles? Yay!

Now I have to wonder, what does one eat on National Puzzle Day? I’m sure I can come up with something! (After all, I’m writing this on January 24 - Beer Can Appreciation Day- so I still have time to work out my National Puzzle Day menu).

In honor of this ridiculous amazing day, here are the puzzles I have done so far in 2023:

Oh these mischievous cats! I got this puzzle from the DI, and it had all the pieces!

More cats but a little less mischief. This puzzle was great until I had to get all the cat fur pieces in place. It took me several days! This is another complete puzzle I found at DI (high five!)

This is an Aimee Stewart puzzle by Buffalo Games. I love Aimee Stewart puzzles because they are bright and colorful, and I really like Buffalo’s quality of puzzles. Of course, this one came from the DI, and once again, had all the pieces (yesss!!!)

Some friends from church gave me this Utah-themed Dowdle puzzle. I love the details in Dowdle’s art. This was a 500 piece, so it was nice and relaxing. 

My friend Sara and I have been swapping puzzles, and her son showed up at my door a few weeks ago with a box full! I’ve almost bought the Wizard of Oz Thomas Kinkaid puzzle a few times when I’ve seen it on sale, but I’m glad I never did because it was in Sara’s stash!

I’m currently working on a horrible double-sided puzzle. I’m not sure I’m going to make it. I tried a similar one last week and gave up, so I’m not sure what drove me to try another one. Oh wait, yes I do. I found it at DI, and it was brand new in the box, and it’s a Disney Parks exclusive. One side is Disney dogs. The other side is Disney cats. I’m working on the dog side since my puzzle life has been over saturated with cats lately. 

Update: I gave up on the two-sides puzzle. It was making me mental. It doesn’t look that hard, but after about a week, this is all I had done:

Oh, how it hurts my ego to not finish a puzzle, but I couldn’t endure this one. I’m just glad I got it for $1.25 at DI instead of $24.99 at Disneyland (same with the Up two-sided puzzle which I almost bought from Disney World, but my friend Sara gave me hers, and I couldn’t do that one either!)

I wish you a happy National Puzzle Day! Unless you think puzzles are stupid, in which case, you’re in luck because January 29th is also Curmudgeons Day! If you don’t want to do a puzzle, you can always go find a cantankerous, old man to hug! 

                 (The puzzle fair has been out delivering)