After yet another night of crappy sleep, I finally threw in the towel and took the day off work. I hate it when I feel OK but just can’t sleep because I’m coughing so much. It was an absolute challenge to get my son ready for school today, and as soon as I sat at my desk to work, I knew I wasn’t going to last.
So I rescheduled my meetings, called in sick, and went back to bed.
Turns out it was a good move. I napped…ish…for about two hours. I don’t feel like I ever got a deep sleep, but it was enough that I finally had some energy.
The rest of the day I spent working on my puzzle and then contemplating some of the 52s that I’m working on.
Ultimately, I came to the conclusion that the reason I’m dragging my feet so much on the US video is that I’m uninspired.
It’s a video recapping a trip to the US in 2024, where I met friends in real life for the first time, and we took a road trip across the country for a running event. It’s been 2 years, and I still haven’t put it together, despite it being one of the best holidays of my life. I added it to my 52-in-52 list for this year to try and kick myself into gear. Part of the pressure is that I want it to be perfect, and that stopped me from starting originally, but this time it’s different.
I don’t love what I’m doing. It’s boring to make, and it’s boring to watch.
So, I’ve thrown it out and am starting fresh.
I’m going to get a bit more serious about it. Go into Project Manager mode: come up with a rough plan of what I want the finished thing to look like, then work through it piece by piece.
I’ll get it done. Eventually.
Speaking of getting it done, the family came together tonight, and we finished this.
I let my son, L, put in the final piece.
You guys, sometimes being a parent sucks. I totally wanted to put in the final piece, but I was good, and I let him have that moment. Just kidding. I loved letting him have that moment and seeing how proud he was.
It got a bit hairy towards the end. The three of us were working on it, and every time my son would lean on the puzzle, he’d drag his arm and move the puzzle across the table. Or the blanket he had wrapped around his shoulders would collect a couple of pieces, and they’d fall onto the floor. My husband was visibly restraining himself and asking through gritted teeth, “Can you please watch your arms?”
Anyway, we got it done, and it was a nice wholesome family moment.
Now no one is allowed to touch the puzzle for at least 24 hours.
So, all of that in mind, today’s daily gratitude prompt from The Optimistic Muse was:
If my level of gratitude today were an emoji, it would be…
😅
I’m super happy to have had that fun family moment and to get the puzzle done, but geezus, was it a bit anxiety-riddled, hoping we weren’t going to get to the end and have to start hunting for missing pieces!
What would your emoji for today be? Have you ever done a puzzle and found there was a piece missing?
I laughed at your husband’s reaction to your son brushing the puzzle pieces onto the floor, because that is exactly how I would have felt! Do you save your puzzles or just take them apart again? My husband and daughter put one together, and they didn’t want to take it apart, so I found this tape-like thing on Amazon to hold the puzzle together from the back, and then we framed it. It hangs in our guest bedroom. Just wanted to mention that option!
I have had MANY puzzles where there was a piece (sometimes more) missing. This was back when we had our dog Barkley, and he had a bit of doggy dementia, and would steal a piece off the coffee table and eat it. We figured this out later. “What’s he doing in his crate?” we’d wonder as he’d frantically chew it up. Then there we’d be, one piece missing. Fortunately Rex is a super-fussy eater and would never dream of eating a puzzle piece.
We get a lot of puzzles from op shops, so we’ve had a few that have missing pieces. We had one brand new one that had missing pieces and we certainly didn’t lose them so that was annoying.
I love the idea of getting them from the op shops (super annoying about the missing pieces though). Now that the puzzle is finished I’m sad about it, so might have to make a trip to the op shop for some more in a way more budget friendly way.