Puzzles!

Howdy folks. Boy am I ever a sleepy puppy. Got myself stuck on a couple of morning shifts this and all of next week. To top it off the weather has been straight rain for hours making a perfect day for napping. Still; I told myself there would be an update and an update there shall be! If I don't pass out halfwa.........

Anyhow. This past weekend hosted an 80's party for my sister-in-law. Not a huge affair but a good enough excuse for wearing asymmetrical neon glasses and thundercats shirts. Now I try to abide by a rule of getting people something for their birthday, no matter the circumstances. In this case I hadn't put much thought into a proper gift so instead of being late, I grabbed some placeholders from the thrift stores.

Jigsaw puzzles. Never enjoyed them, always felt they were a waste of time, though given my odd assortment of hobbies I'm lacking a strong position to judge. Fact is the SIL among other family members enjoy piecing these things together into the wee hours of the night so I knew I could pull something off in that regard. The stores had most of the usual fare puzzles on display. Nature scene here, city scape there, old painting over that way. As luck would have it, a few companies have tried their hand at innovating this old standby which provided the opportunity for somewhat unique gifts. Let's take a peak.

Clue Mystery Puzzles

Somehow I found two different entries in this series on the same day in stores on opposite sides of town. The trick here revolves around a story that ties into the puzzle proper as you try to solve a mystery. There's also a red decoder magnifying glass to reveal some secrets and make the final page of the story readable. No clue (oh the pun) how much actual mystery solving comes into play when putting these together, so expect an update on such topics once one of them is completed.

Crossword Puzzle.

Two forms of entertainment I dislike combined into a perfect storm of boredom. Actually I love the heartless idea of building an unsolved crossword table only to face the reward of solving the secondary word puzzle. I felt lucky to find this one still in plastic wrap though I love the idea that completing the whole thing would leave a completely different challenge for the poor bastards who attempt it after the initial run-through. We suggested that she writes the crossword answers using different colored markers for each letter and then give it back to a thrift store. Pity the soul who buys it after that.

Buck Rogers.

Look at this beauty! No gimmicks here folks. Just straight up gaudy scifi. I had to count this piece by piece to make sure it was all together and somehow, despite being a good thirty plus years old, it's still intact. The image is clearly inspired by season one since there's a notable absence of hawk and oh my god how neardy am I for knowing that? I'm honestly tempted to ask for a crack at this one once the birthday girl has had her fill of it cause just look at it!

Frankenstein

Ok so I acted greatly out of character and bought myself a puzzle. In my defense, Halloween is just around the corner and a 200 piece image of literature's finest abomination is tough to pass up at just seventy nine cents. In a somewhat serendipitous event I'd learned of this thing just a few days prior on ebay where the prices weren't so kind to us slacker types. Now I shall take comfort in the knowledge that Frankie will adorn the kitchen counter in the coming months at a fraction of the cost.

In case you couldn't tell, I'm starting to fade here. Man was not meant for morning shifts. I'll try to get another post up before next week beats me into a state of sleepy submission. Until then, you all be good to each other and wish me luck. Believe me, it'll come in handy for a job where I kick dead birds across a parking lot.