Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Monday, December 29, 2008
December 29, 2008
This was an AWESOME puzzle session!!! We'll let you see the progress for yourself:
Friday, December 26, 2008
December 24, 2008
A 30 minute Christmas Eve solo session. Again, not a lot accomplished, but here's the stats up to now:
Total of 11.5 hours actually spent. Because of all the solo time, we can figure that if we were working together, we would be at 7.75 hours at this point.
December 23, 2008
A very quick solo puzzling session by Jen. Only one hour, but I got the outline of one of the moons sort of figured out.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Saturday, December 20, 2008
December 18, 2008
This was Eve's first solo puzzle session. It was different...but slightly productive. I kept going where Jen had pulled orange pieces for the sky line then began working on the bridge. This proved to be frustrating. I still prefer dual puzzling sessions, but solos are better than none at all!
Monday, December 15, 2008
Decmber 13. 2008
Two more hours of solo puzzling by Jen today. However, this was a very productive session!
I took the bits Eve had assembled on Thursday and was able to make heads or tails of the bridge. Also, thanks to my resorting efforts, I was able to piece together a nice chunk of the SF skyline.
It's already starting to look like a puzzle rather than a bunch of jumbled pieces.
December 12, 2008
Jen puzzled for two hours today. Well, it wasn't so much "puzzling" as sorting and then deciding I had sorted incorrectly, so there was re-sorting.
I didn't take a photo because there was nothing to take a photo of!
I didn't take a photo because there was nothing to take a photo of!
Friday, December 12, 2008
December 11, 2008
And quadrant 3 is San Francisco! Jen was given the honors of opening the bag:
Since the first quadrant we agree that sorting ALL the pieces really does make the puzzle go faster. Jen, being ever organized, carefully sorted out most of the pieces. This is her handiwork:
I, on the other hand, grabbed a handful of orange pieces and began working on parts of the sky. Here was our progress after a 3.75 hour session:
Since the first quadrant we agree that sorting ALL the pieces really does make the puzzle go faster. Jen, being ever organized, carefully sorted out most of the pieces. This is her handiwork:
I, on the other hand, grabbed a handful of orange pieces and began working on parts of the sky. Here was our progress after a 3.75 hour session:
Thursday, November 27, 2008
November 27, 2008
New York is complete! After 2.25 additional hours of working on the edge, it is now finished.
Once it was done, it was time to roll it up, and then transport it to the basement. There was a small abount of crumbling once it was unrolled, but not as bad as Sydney's crumbling had been.
After a small bit of reassembly, it was time to move the puzzle from the felt over to see if it joined with Sydney. It joined up perfectly!!
The total time spent on New York was 80.5 hours. However, 12.5 of that was solo puzzle time. If we'd been able to puzzle together the whole time, we can assume it would have only taken 74.25 hours, approximately. Either way, this was a MUCH harder puzzle than Sydney was!
So far, a total of 143.75 hours of puzzle time has been invested. We are now half way done. Part 3, either San Francisco or Singapore, is up next!
Once it was done, it was time to roll it up, and then transport it to the basement. There was a small abount of crumbling once it was unrolled, but not as bad as Sydney's crumbling had been.
After a small bit of reassembly, it was time to move the puzzle from the felt over to see if it joined with Sydney. It joined up perfectly!!
The total time spent on New York was 80.5 hours. However, 12.5 of that was solo puzzle time. If we'd been able to puzzle together the whole time, we can assume it would have only taken 74.25 hours, approximately. Either way, this was a MUCH harder puzzle than Sydney was!
So far, a total of 143.75 hours of puzzle time has been invested. We are now half way done. Part 3, either San Francisco or Singapore, is up next!
Monday, November 24, 2008
November 23, 2008
Jen worked for 4.5 hours, and is done with the terrible blue bits. All that's left now is border on two sides, and then transport to the basement to merge with Sydney!
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
November 15, 2008
A difficult decision had to be made today - one I really struggled with. Looking at our goal, to be done within a year, and looking at our progress, I realized we're pretty far behind schedule and our lives aren't getting any less busy. Therefore, I had to change a rule: now Jen will have some solo puzzle sessions, to make up for some of the time we've lost due to our busy lives and the week we lost on vacation.
So, I had my first solo puzzle session today (it's not the same without Eve!). I put in 2.75 hours and got the "picture" portion of the puzzle complete and started on the dreaded border! The grand total is now 70.75 hours for this portion.
November 10, 2008
An amazingly productive 2.5 hour session, our running total is now 68 hours for this session.
November 9, 2008
We had a VERY productive 2.5 hour session today, bringing our total time spent on New York to 65.5 hours. Unfortunately, this puzzle has now officially taken longer than the Sydney quadrant, but this one was also much harder!
Monday, September 29, 2008
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Friday, September 5, 2008
Friday, August 29, 2008
Sunday, August 24, 2008
August 22, 2008
This week both Jen and I have been attempting to recouperate from long weeks and lots going on. There's been little puzzling happening. Thankfully, our latest session yeielded awesome progress:
THE WATER AND BUILDINGS ARE DONE!!!!!
Once those items were completed we stopped for the night. Our next task: THE SKY. Oh the agony of pieces that are all the same color! Hopefully this is easier than the water in Syndey was.
THE WATER AND BUILDINGS ARE DONE!!!!!
Once those items were completed we stopped for the night. Our next task: THE SKY. Oh the agony of pieces that are all the same color! Hopefully this is easier than the water in Syndey was.
August 14, 2008
My apologies on the lack of blogging....however I forgot my camera when we worked on the puzzle during this session. However, I forgot my camera at Jen's house one night and she was kind enough to take a picture for me before we began our latest session!:
Due to a function at Jen's house the puzzle had to be moved....twice. Thankfully, it didn't fall apart too badly and she was able to repair it for us without placing any new pieces. This also explains the new angle of the puzzle!
Due to a function at Jen's house the puzzle had to be moved....twice. Thankfully, it didn't fall apart too badly and she was able to repair it for us without placing any new pieces. This also explains the new angle of the puzzle!
Friday, August 8, 2008
Saturday, July 26, 2008
July 26, 2008
(posted by eve)
Today we had our puzzle blitz session. It was pretty much an all day session. I personally didn't get as much done as I had wanted to, but Jen says we made pretty decent progress. Here's where we stood after nearly 7 hours of puzzling today:
Today we had our puzzle blitz session. It was pretty much an all day session. I personally didn't get as much done as I had wanted to, but Jen says we made pretty decent progress. Here's where we stood after nearly 7 hours of puzzling today:
Thursday, July 24, 2008
July 24, 2008
(posted by eve)
Tonight was a GREAT night of puzzling! But first, as promised by Jen, we must give a shout out to her friend Doug. He was so excited when he heard about the puzzle blog that he insisted on getting us a present and requesting we prove we got it. So Doug, here you are!:
He bought us a 24 piece puzzle of "My Littlest Pet Shop". Doug, just so you know, we finished this puzzle in about 45 seconds. (Yes, we timed it). Thanks for being a reader! We do enjoy our regulars.
Here's a picture of the days' progress.
For mostly our own benefit, (and mainly because I have a bit of extra time to post on the blog) I'd like to post a few things we've learned and a few key phrases that were created at the puzzle recently:
1. Bailey's + Puzzling = VERY good time.
2. "Speak now or forever hold your piece!"
3. Eve gets giggly when puzzling and drinking Bailey's.
4. Jen would prefer that instead of laughing so hard you cry on the puzzle to laugh so hard you just pee on her expensive dining room furniture. The puzzle is more precious than her furniture.
5. No one, not even Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are allowed to do it on the puzzle. It might mess it up.
6. Eve is white. Very white. Too white. There are phrases I'm now banned from saying.
7. Even though he's threatened to, we will believe that Tommy did NOT in fact take pieces from the Syndey puzzle. However, they are still missing....
8. Tommy WILL be punished in a most formidable way should he EVER AGAIN mess up Eve's freshly sorted box lid full of pieces that are all facing up.
9. We will agree that if we listen to music while puzzling, there will be ABSOLUTELY NO Rush, Sting, Phil Collins, Elton John and most live songs. Badlands is also quickly working their way up the list.
10. A history lesson will probably accompany every puzzling session. This gives Jen the opportunity to share her vast knowledge of history of many things and educate Eve who gets her history lessons from obscure places (like Wayne's World.)
11. Druids were not famous for having sex. That was a different culture.
12. Never EVER get into a discussion with Jen if you're going to compare a band to the Beatles. Whether drinking or not, she'll probably end up making you cry.
13. Eve's geography knowledge is completely useless and wrong 99% of the time.
14. We have a few assigned friends. We accept this. We don't like it.
15. The puzzle table is an open place to vent.
I think that should cover it...for now. Thanks everyone for your continued support and for continuing to track our progress. You reading gives us the motivation to keep documenting and to keep puzzling!
Tonight was a GREAT night of puzzling! But first, as promised by Jen, we must give a shout out to her friend Doug. He was so excited when he heard about the puzzle blog that he insisted on getting us a present and requesting we prove we got it. So Doug, here you are!:
He bought us a 24 piece puzzle of "My Littlest Pet Shop". Doug, just so you know, we finished this puzzle in about 45 seconds. (Yes, we timed it). Thanks for being a reader! We do enjoy our regulars.
Here's a picture of the days' progress.
For mostly our own benefit, (and mainly because I have a bit of extra time to post on the blog) I'd like to post a few things we've learned and a few key phrases that were created at the puzzle recently:
1. Bailey's + Puzzling = VERY good time.
2. "Speak now or forever hold your piece!"
3. Eve gets giggly when puzzling and drinking Bailey's.
4. Jen would prefer that instead of laughing so hard you cry on the puzzle to laugh so hard you just pee on her expensive dining room furniture. The puzzle is more precious than her furniture.
5. No one, not even Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are allowed to do it on the puzzle. It might mess it up.
6. Eve is white. Very white. Too white. There are phrases I'm now banned from saying.
7. Even though he's threatened to, we will believe that Tommy did NOT in fact take pieces from the Syndey puzzle. However, they are still missing....
8. Tommy WILL be punished in a most formidable way should he EVER AGAIN mess up Eve's freshly sorted box lid full of pieces that are all facing up.
9. We will agree that if we listen to music while puzzling, there will be ABSOLUTELY NO Rush, Sting, Phil Collins, Elton John and most live songs. Badlands is also quickly working their way up the list.
10. A history lesson will probably accompany every puzzling session. This gives Jen the opportunity to share her vast knowledge of history of many things and educate Eve who gets her history lessons from obscure places (like Wayne's World.)
11. Druids were not famous for having sex. That was a different culture.
12. Never EVER get into a discussion with Jen if you're going to compare a band to the Beatles. Whether drinking or not, she'll probably end up making you cry.
13. Eve's geography knowledge is completely useless and wrong 99% of the time.
14. We have a few assigned friends. We accept this. We don't like it.
15. The puzzle table is an open place to vent.
I think that should cover it...for now. Thanks everyone for your continued support and for continuing to track our progress. You reading gives us the motivation to keep documenting and to keep puzzling!
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
July 22, 2008
(posted by eve)
FINALLY! A session where both Jen and I felt that we made breakthrus! This was an awesome session lasting about 2.5 hours. This weekend we're planning a marathon day for Saturday where we puzzle for as many hours as we can. We need to get this quadrant done before her party in the middle of August!
FINALLY! A session where both Jen and I felt that we made breakthrus! This was an awesome session lasting about 2.5 hours. This weekend we're planning a marathon day for Saturday where we puzzle for as many hours as we can. We need to get this quadrant done before her party in the middle of August!
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Sunday, July 13, 2008
July 10, 2008
(posted by eve)
As you can tell by the dates, we've taken a bit of a break from the puzzle. Not because we're tired of it, but because our lives just got so busy. This last session I (eve) relented and asked Jen to help me place the buildings in the general area where they will end up going. I like being able to put the puzzle together without using the picture. This puzzle has not allowed that to work out that way. When she started figuring out where they went, we had buildings that connected with sky and even the side of the puzzle. Now it really seems like we're making some progress!! And it shows.
As you can tell by the dates, we've taken a bit of a break from the puzzle. Not because we're tired of it, but because our lives just got so busy. This last session I (eve) relented and asked Jen to help me place the buildings in the general area where they will end up going. I like being able to put the puzzle together without using the picture. This puzzle has not allowed that to work out that way. When she started figuring out where they went, we had buildings that connected with sky and even the side of the puzzle. Now it really seems like we're making some progress!! And it shows.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Friday, June 13, 2008
June 12, 2008
Jen has completed the border and I've done as much as I can with the clouds for now. She started on the water *shivers* and I began work on the buildings.
June 10, 2008
The border is nearly complete! Now we'll have a better idea of where to place large chunks of puzzle we get assembled.
June 8, 2008
Jen worked really hard to get the border laid out. I began on the clouds. The going was slow.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
June 7, 2008 - 2nd Quadrant
(posted by eve)
This afternoon I got a call from Jen with some surprising news: She managed to move the whole rest of the 1st quadrant of the puzzle without me! I was stunned. That was quite an undertaking! She was also as anxious as I was to begin the second quadrant. When I arrived, the dining room was already cleaned and ready for another round!:
It dawned on me that most viewers probably haven't seen the room we're in to puzzle,
so here's a picture of that:
Jen was kind enough to let me open the second bag of pieces!!!
As I'm opening them...
Dumping them on the table...
While Jen sorted I began working on the clouds in the sky. I managed to put the first pieces together!
From the first piece we picked up we both agreed the next puzzle is the New York City skyline. It's right on top of Sydney, so that's perfect!
And after 2.5 hours of working on the puzzle, Jen had all the pieces sorted (picture of all the bags of pieces to come later) and I had just a few pieces together from the sky.
Jen and I both agree that sorting the pieces is key and will really help speed things along now! She plans to work on the border of the puzzle that has both that bluish-purple tint and puzzle picture so we at least have a border to work with. From there she'll move to water. I plan to work on the sky and get the clouds arranged before I move onto the buildings.
This afternoon I got a call from Jen with some surprising news: She managed to move the whole rest of the 1st quadrant of the puzzle without me! I was stunned. That was quite an undertaking! She was also as anxious as I was to begin the second quadrant. When I arrived, the dining room was already cleaned and ready for another round!:
It dawned on me that most viewers probably haven't seen the room we're in to puzzle,
so here's a picture of that:
Jen was kind enough to let me open the second bag of pieces!!!
As I'm opening them...
Dumping them on the table...
While Jen sorted I began working on the clouds in the sky. I managed to put the first pieces together!
From the first piece we picked up we both agreed the next puzzle is the New York City skyline. It's right on top of Sydney, so that's perfect!
And after 2.5 hours of working on the puzzle, Jen had all the pieces sorted (picture of all the bags of pieces to come later) and I had just a few pieces together from the sky.
Jen and I both agree that sorting the pieces is key and will really help speed things along now! She plans to work on the border of the puzzle that has both that bluish-purple tint and puzzle picture so we at least have a border to work with. From there she'll move to water. I plan to work on the sky and get the clouds arranged before I move onto the buildings.
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