Hobbies: Puzzles

Thanks to various things I've been reading and things I've seen on the internet, I've given some thought lately to my hobbies.  My main hobby is reading and I've come to realize more and more how much I need that time out of my own head in order to recharge my energy and calm my mind to sleep.  There are times I really feel like my brain is short circuiting that few things besides a nap or some quiet time reading will fix.  It makes me step away from whatever has me spinning in a way few other things do. 

There is also running, although I've done very little of that so far this year, but that is more for healthy living than anything else.  Although I wouldn't even think to count my inside morning workouts as a hobby the way I'd think about counting running, even though they are both fulfilling the same purpose.  

There are certain hobbies that don't work for me such a knitting or crocheting.  I know either would aggravate my arthritis to much to ever be a consideration.  I'm not artsy nor do I have a real desire to be so anything like that is outside of my interest.  I like baking but not when I am under stress or time constraints, partially why I despise making supper so much.  I did years of making all of our bread and have not minded going back to store bought bread so don't feel like that's something I need to pick back up.  I do garden and yard work when the weather is right for it but it's not something I ever crave to do although something I usually enjoy once I'm doing it.  This could be something I pick up more of over time.  I'd like to play the piano, I took many years of lessons as a kid, but we do not have space in our current house arrangement for a piano. 

This is in no way a complete list of possible hobbies, just ones I have done or have considered, however briefly, to do. 

I guess I could consider making photobooks as a hobby, even though there is an output that my whole families appreciates, I do enjoy doing them and having them done.  It is not anything that is expected of me like people expect laundry to get done and meals to be made.  I nearly always listen to podcasts when doing them, since I am nearly always doing them when the house is empty or after the boys have gone to bed and Matt's doing school. A sort of a hobby, even though I am making them for the family.

The only other hobby I can have that I can think of is puzzles.  Puzzles give me a brain break and the satisfaction of getting something done, even though the thing that is done is a puzzle that in no way needs done.  And while I like finishing one, the real joy is in each individual piece that I find a place for.  It's almost a little sad when the whole thing IS done....because that means I'll be starting a new ones and I dislike starting new ones the most of the whole process (flipping over all those pieces gets tedious). 

One huge benefit to puzzles is that it keeps me awake during family movie night.  We do family movie night nearly every Friday we are home (which is most of them) and I would fall asleep every single week until I started to make sure I always had a puzzle going.  Sure, I pay slightly less attention BUT I pay more attention doing a puzzle than I would be if I was asleep.  I usually keep doing my puzzle while Matt & I watch something when the boys are in bed.  Again, this helps me stay awake. (Should the fact that I would fall asleep doing these every week be a sign that I should just go to bed? Maybe.)  Sometimes I work on them during the day for a bit, while I am watching something (I do not spend the majority of the school day watching something but do sometimes while I eat and then keep it on another 20 minutes to do a puzzle or fold laundry or something.)  

Puzzles are also nice to do while listening to podcasts, especially when my list is piling up.  Or I'll work on one right after school when the boys are taking some down time before homework because it is much easier for me to step away from a puzzle than it is to step away from a book, especially if one of them are calling me away (as opposed to myself deciding to walk away...I dislike leaving a book unless it's at a chapter or other break).  They were great to have going during our many e-learning days in January because I could work on a puzzle in little chunks of time between instructing them in their lessons.  (And sometimes those were VERY little chunks of times, seconds at most.)

Sometimes the boys help me (Sam was delighted to point out that on the recent 750 piece puzzle I finished that I only did 749 pieces because he found one) but I mostly do them myself.  Although I wouldn't be opposed to trying a family puzzle, if they had interest.  And were actually helpful.

There was a time, most of the time we've been married, that I did my puzzles at our dining table.  The largest room in our house we call "the front room" and is part family room (couch, tv, shelves, books) and part dining room (dining table that we mostly eat at on Christmas and when we have people over but it's too cold to eat outside).  It's also where homework gets done or various other table needs, we just rarely actually DINE there.  

Then, a little over 2 years ago, I asked Matt to set-up one of these "Target tables" in my office.  Right before we got married we bought 3 of these $15/each wooden tables from Target on clearance.  They have metal legs and one was our kitchen table for over a decade (Matt has since made us a new kitchen table).  They were all disassembled in the basement.  They are light enough that I can carry it the ~7 feet from my office to closer to the tv for movie nights and they are nearly the perfect size for the puzzles that I do.  I can sit at the window seat in my office to work on a puzzle (what I would do when my kindergartner was doing e-learning on my computer and using my chair) or I can spin my desk around to work on a puzzle and also see out the window (this does involve turning the table 180° from time to time).  I was SO DELIGHTED the first time he set-up that table.  It worked perfectly.

The first one up for nearly 6 months before I got overwhelmed with life, stopped doing puzzles, and asked Matt to take it down.  I didn't do puzzles in the summer then anyways.  He set it up again in the fall and now it's been up for over a year.  Sometimes I go a few days between puzzles, just life, but otherwise have nearly constantly had a puzzle going on it this whole time.  Especially during Friday night movie nights, with few exceptions, I have one going. 

I have accumulated a puzzle collection that hovers around 20 right now and I know I have to limit myself to just one new puzzle a year at this point.  Our current storage space just can't handle more than that.  But I also know that 20 puzzles is a comfortable amount to own in that I can do them all every year as well as throw in some borrowed from family or library puzzles too.  If I'm not doing a puzzle regularly (every year), then why keep it?  I also don't mind repeating some of my favorites throughout the year.  I've been asking for one new one each Christmas and it's exciting to have that to do over Christmas break.  Although I've curated my collection enough that I get excited to do most of the ones I have, over and over again. 

Two tips I've picked up over my puzzle years.  One is that I write the date I complete a puzzle on the inside of the box lid, for puzzles I own (I do not do this to borrowed or library puzzles).  I haven't been doing this forever so these aren't complete back to when I started doing some of my puzzles pre-kids but I have been doing it for awhile and it's fun seeing those dates stack up (the one shown is one of the puzzles I've owned the longest). (And you can spot big breaks in my puzzle years when the boys were babies, I had just started to do puzzles regularly again, and wrote this post, then we got Sam and newborn life was not conducive to puzzles.).  

The other is that I separate out the edge pieces when I put the puzzle away.  Matt asked if this was cheating.  I am adamant that it is not because sorting pieces is, by far, my least favorite part of a puzzle and trying to find all the edge pieces to start to just tedious and frustrating.  Since I store many of my puzzle boxes on end (and not flat), I keep the edge pieces in a small ziploc (one I have probably gotten somewhere else and washed out), and the rest of the pieces in a larger ziploc (a great many of these we got with bagged, donated, breast milk in them for baby Sam).  I also keep a rubber band around many of those "on end" boxes just to keep them from falling open.  Then when I start a puzzle I dump out the edge pieces, get the satisfaction of doing that, and then move onto getting the inside pieces facing up.

Another note: I do not feel looking at the picture on the box or included inside is cheating.  I didn't even know this was a thing until recently and then discovered that my brother-in-law swears that it is cheating and never looks.  This is crazy.  If I wanted to get endlessly frustrated and stressed by something I would pick up a different hobby.  I am looking to relax and enjoy something so I look at the picture.  Sometimes more than others but I still always have it out. 

Some of my favorite puzzles (affiliate links below, if you purchase through them, I receive a very small amount, at no additional cost to you):

Travel poster puzzles are fun because you can split up each little section and work through them.  They move pretty fast for being 1000 pieces.  I have a world wide and a US version. 

I enjoy True South Puzzle Co puzzles even though they are a bit pricier.  I have a classic literary location 500 piece that is fun but no longer on their website.  I like this classic Chick Flick one and own and enjoy this Acadia one.  

Flow puzzles are some of my favorite.  The ones I have are 1000 pieces but enough detail that they move pretty well.  I have Everything is Made out of Magic and All Good Things are Wild & Free.  The pictures are just fun. 

I have had mixed luck with Lego puzzles.  This Rainbow brick one was hard until I figured out a strategy but then this Space Minifigures that I bought at Kennedy Space Center last summer was near impossible.  It's the hardest puzzle I've ever done.  I think I had it out for over 2 months.  

Galison makes good puzzles.  I have two with art by Michael Storring that have A LOT of white on them and, on pieces, it can be hard to tell if something is a person, tree, or brick.  He makes MANY city scenes that are fun but more challenging than I've expected.  I own Bethesda Terrace and St. Patrick's Cathedral.  I think owning two of his is sufficient although I've gotten others from the library.  There are many other Galison puzzles with charming pictures.  I own this Spring Street one which is fun to do this time of year.  

Both my boys have gone through their own puzzle stages.  We did floor puzzles for many years and I can't find the ones they had but they may have been Melissa and Doug.  We gave our youngest this Space floor puzzle a few years ago and did it A LOT (and then saw it for sale at Kennedy Space Center!).  For his recent 6th birthday he requested a "500 piece puzzle I could do myself" and I eventually talked him down to a 100 piece puzzle, at least to start.  We gave him this Woodland Friends one.  And we own MANY of the mini Saint puzzles from Shining Light.  My youngest in particular will do a bunch in a row, often while I'm reading books.  We also have the 500 piece Saint sticker puzzle on that page which is the one I have sitting on my table to do next, partially because it is one my youngest can do with me, probably from our countless games of Saint memory.   

That is way more words than I thought I had to say about puzzles.  It is nice to have something that I do purely for my own enjoyment, that produces no real functional outcome, and that keeps me awake during movie nights.  It is certainly a hobby that I find joy in.  I'd love to hear about a hobby that does that for you!  I hope you have one!