So How's Your Isolation Coming Along?

I feel like we are all pioneers in a new world with this Pandemic Isolation leading our lives at the moment.  There's been Pandemics before but not of this level in our life time.  There is a lot that is extremely sad and frightening of course but we still have to deal with our everyday lives.  I don't know about you, but I find the most common question most people have is simply "What day is this?"  Even those of us that are retired still had certain schedules that marked our days.  Maybe a class, a meeting or an appointment on certain days each week.  For many, Sunday was marked by weekly church gatherings.  Tom and I had a senior exercise class every Tuesday and Thursday morning and that helped to mark our week.  No more.  All of those designators of days are gone now.  Except one, very important day - for us that is Wednesday - Trash Day.  I am so grateful that these hard workers are still doing their jobs and I am equally grateful that service is giving us some method of designating at least one of our days.  Now for us, all the rest of the days can be a guessing game but we've got Wednesday covered.

How are you doing with maintaining your food and necessary supplies these days?  A simple trip to the grocery store has turned into a venture into the unknown.  It's a bit nerve rattling to shop for groceries not knowing if you'll be exposed to the virus from another shopper or if it is really safe to touch and pick up that can of green beans.  Now here in the U.S. the CDC has recommended we start wearing masks when we go out.  The last time we bought groceries we did wear masks and it just felt strange.  I've never worn a mask to the grocery store - what is happening in our world?  Of course the other shoppers had masks on too and that made it feel even more weird.  Yes, I think we've landed on some new planet and we are pioneers trying to tame and settle it.  We were buying groceries once a week and now we are trying to do it every two or three weeks.  And then when you get home you have to deal with all those groceries.  Are you trying to wipe them down in any way?  Here it has been recommended that we do that so we've been going over everything with a sanitizing wipe and hoping that is enough.

Are  you finding new things to do around the house now that you are staying home all the time?  How many jigsaw puzzles have you put together so far?  Okay, I know not everyone likes jigsaw puzzles but there has been a big rise in their popularity.  I read that puzzle sales in the U.S. are up nearly 400% in just the past two weeks.  And that is just in one country.  They said the surge in the demand for jigsaw puzzles is similar to what it was during the Great Depression.  That is something to think about.   

A puzzle I worked on recently

We all live in different places, big cities, small towns and even different countries.  Do you think where your home is located has much effect on you during this isolation?  If you are in a big city do you feel safer or more at risk?  And of course the same can be asked of someone living in a small town.  I live in a small suburban town of about 15,000 and for me I think it is easier.  Everyone pulls together for the most part.  Today we had a parade of all the school teachers drive around town honking their horns and just letting the kids know they are still here and still care about them and miss them.  Tonight at city hall the city officials will be passing out a free disinfectant cleaner/hand sanitiser to any citizens that need it.  And yes, many of us are still keeping those Teddy Bears in our windows for the kids to see and sometimes even count.  This morning a father and small son were walking around our neighborhood with a piece of paper noting and counting all the Teddy Bears in the windows they could find.  I love that.

I hope I don't sound like I'm trying to write a downer post because I don't really mean to do that.  We are all going through pretty much the same experiences and at least for me, it helps to know I'm not alone in all this.  Everyone take good care of yourselves!

Escape Puzzle

Puzzle, Instructions and Sealed Envelope

I mentioned in my last post that I was starting a new jigsaw puzzle that was a little different.  It is called an Escape Puzzle but is similar to other puzzles called Mystery Puzzles.  There is a short story explaining that you have accidentally eaten poison mushrooms.  You find a witches kitchen which contains an antidote somewhere but you have to find it.

Instructions

The puzzle was more difficult than most for a couple of reasons.  The actual puzzle was not identical to the picture on the box.  It was close to the same but there were several changes.  In addition to that, the edge pieces were all basically the same shape making my usual practice of working the edges first not a good idea.  

In Progress

Once I had the puzzle together then I had to solve the other puzzle of finding the antidote.   

Completed Puzzle

The instruction sheet said there were eight mysteries hidden within the puzzle that had to be solved in order to find the solution.  It also listed a web page that would give clues to the eight areas of the puzzle.  The design of the puzzle was such that I could not be sure of what the eight areas were so I did check out the web page for those clues.  Here are two examples of the clues showing puzzles within the puzzle:

Numbers Puzzle

Symbols Puzzle

Most of the puzzles were number related involving figuring out sequences of various numbers, etc.  A couple of them involved working with symbols that were translated into numbers.  For example, copies of the symbols were hidden within the puzzle itself with an = sign and numbers.  At first it was a bit overwhelming, but once I caught on I was able to solve four of the eight puzzles.  Each of the eight puzzles answer was a number.  The next step was to find those numbers on edge pieces of the puzzle.  Okay, I had half of the eight puzzles solved but not the remaining four.  I finally gave up and opened the "secret envelope".  It was a bit of a let down because it only listed the eight numbers but did not tell how to get them.  It did confirm that the four I was able to solve were correct.  I next went around the edges of the puzzle and pulled out the eight corresponding number pieces.  I had trouble getting good pictures of the puzzle but if you click to enlarge the next picture you may be able to see some of the numbers on the edge pieces.

Numbers on Edge Pieces

Besides listing the eight numbers the solution also had a picture of the final solution.  The eight edge pieces I pulled fit together to form a tiny puzzle and the one center piece was a piece from the main puzzle showing a small plant - the antidote.  Unfortunately that piece did not even fit properly even though it was listed as the correct piece.

Final Solution

If you have stayed with me this long then you have done well.  I agree this was a little confusing and did not have enough directions.  Plus the fact that the final answer puzzle did not even fit properly.  I checked reviews on this puzzle online and found that most other people working this ran into the same problems.

Would I do another puzzle like this one?  No, not as it is now.  I did enjoy some of the basic concepts of this and the various puzzles involved but it needs to be cleaned up a lot and have some clear instructions.  I enjoy working a variety of puzzles whether jigsaw, number, symbol or whatever but I like basic instructions as to what I am supposed to do!

I hope everyone is having a good week and all the various weather problems out there this week are not causing too much trouble!

A New Week

I can not tell you how happy I am to see a new week!  I am in hopes of getting back into a more normal routine after dealing with my husband’s flu all last week.  He is not yet 100% but he is improving and much better than he was at this time last week.

We celebrated a family birthday yesterday.  My beautiful granddaughter, Annika, actually turns 24 today but we celebrated yesterday.  I can not believe I have a grandchild that is 24!  Those years pass by so quickly.  She is a wonderful, loving and kind young lady and we are very proud of her!

My lovely granddaughter, Annika

We are also very happy today because our local Kansas City Chiefs football team actually won the Super Bowl last night!  We live in the heart of the Chiefs Kingdom and it would be an understatement to say most everyone around here is a major fan.  Even watching the game from home last night there were many fireworks going off with each score and when we won the game it was like the Fourth of July around here with fireworks and excitement going late into the night.  Wednesday there will be a big parade in Kansas City and all the area schools and many businesses are closed for a day of celebration.  As I’ve said before, I am not a huge sports fan, but when you live here you can’t help but be a Chief’s fan! 

I am hoping to get a little better about blogging as I feel like I have gotten off to a very slow start.  I’m still learning as I go, but I follow so many excellent blogs and I consider them all to be great examples.  I may soon have a post about a new type of jigsaw puzzle I have started.  It is a mystery/escape puzzle and totally new to me so I’ll let you know how it goes!

Take care everyone!