The following is a post from my website Chrissy…In Her Sixties, which I am currently working on shutting down. The website you are now looking at, That Hobbit Lady, has been with me since November 2004 (nearly 20 years) and contains over 500 posts. In Her Sixties only goes back to 2017, with less than 40 posts. So, you see…in the interest of consolidating, I could either send 500+ posts from That Hobbit Lady to In Her Sixties, or 30+ posts from In Her Sixties to That Hobbit Lady. In addition to the math of that first option not making much sense, it also happens that the term “In Her Sixties” will only to apply to me for a few more years. But I will be a Hobbit Lady forever. So: no-brainer.
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October 27, 2017
As previously mentioned, I caught the “Puzzle Bug” from my parents. So, when it comes time to give gifts to Dad, who already has everything he needs, a puzzle seems like a good choice. In years past, he and Mom would do 1,000 piece puzzles on a regular basis, but as Dad slows down, I notice 500 and 300 piece puzzles are more likely nowadays.
In recent years, Mom developed a system for making puzzles even easier! After putting together a puzzle the first time, Mom would put it back in the box in two or three bags, labeled “Top,” “Bottom,” and sometimes “Middle.” This way, the next time the puzzle came to the table, it feels more like they’re doing two or three puzzles, each of significantly less pieces.
This is what Dad has gotten used to, so for Christmas this year (don’t tell him!) we’re going to give him this puzzle:
It’s 5000 pieces, but as you can see, Russ and I have already done it. But I’ve put it away in three plastic bags, labeled “Top,” “Bottom,” and “Middle.” I know it’s not really kosher to give a “used” puzzle as a gift, but in this case, I think Dad will appreciate the effort we’ve gone through to re-create the puzzle experience Mom worked out.
And one more thing: the reason I chose this particular puzzle is because all his life Dad was an auto mechanic (one of the best!) so I feel like he’ll appreciate the 
garage and car theme, with all the oil cans and signs, and license plates. Also, the whole image has a sort of nostalgic 1950’s feel, doesn’t it?
(For myself, to make sure I enjoyed doing this puzzle, as I almost always do, I made sure there was a CAT in there somewhere!)
