And it's done!

Ok, remember that Goodwill puzzle I started (for $2.99) that promised "hours of fun"?

Well, what turned into kind of a nightmare (due to my obsession with completing it) ended up lasting approximately three weeks.

But, it's finally done! Thank goodness.  Time to move on with my life.

Unfortunately, this puzzle took EVEN LONGER than it should have.  Why?  Well, here's the completed puzzle:

Notice anything different about this puzzle?  Like maybe, SIX pieces missing??

Now, before you go blaming the Goodwill puzzle, here's a little story: at some point during the nightmare of this puzzle experience, I was working on it while my four-year-old dog lay at my feet.  (Note his age - he is no longer a puppy.)  My son walked in.  "What's Wizard chewing?" he asked.  

My heart stopped for a second, as I ascertained that my dog (NOT puppy) was indeed chewing something.  A moment later, a puzzle piece fell out of his mouth.  I found two pieces with bite marks on the floor that ended up in the completed puzzle.

But of course, that begged the question, did he eat any more?

Well, a day or two later I noticed what looked like a wad of gum on the floor:

Can you see the faint candy cane color on this chewed up piece?

I have to say, continuing the puzzle with no idea how many pieces it would ultimately end up with was pretty disheartening.  And whenever I would get really stuck looking for one in particular, I was always afraid I was spending thirty minutes (or more) trying to locate something that wasn't even there, which was very frustrating.

This happened multiple times.

Does this face look guilty to you?

I was really tempted to title this post "When your dog is a loser" or "Great Deal on free dog!" but I refrained.  After all, he IS very cute, and he does keep my lap very warm on cold days, even if he did cost me a half a day of my life trying to finish the dumb puzzle.

And one more note (for which I cannot blame the dog): in spite of my attempts to vigilantly check the floor for dropped pieces, after my son finished vacuuming yesterday, he announced that he found two more puzzle pieces underneath the table.

But I looked!

I guess I can only blame myself for those.

But like I said, when you know your dog's been dining on puzzle pieces, you don't really expect to find camouflaged, hidden pieces when they're missing.

The only problem now?  Well, Wizard destroyed my fantasy of donating this puzzle back to Goodwill.  When I was feeling suicidal over spending an entire day to insert fifteen pieces, the only thing that made me feel better was the thought of destroying some other innocent, "fun"-seeking person's life.

But I cannot donate a puzzle with four missing pieces in good conscience.  Alas, it's time for this nightmare to be recycled.

As for my son, he found it all very entertaining, and has been threatening to give me a puzzle that is only "blue sky pieces" for my birthday.  "Ha, ha, you'll never get it done," he loves to exclaim, rubbing his hands together with a look of utter happiness.  I was forced to make an announcement that I will never again open a present if I shake it and it sounds like a puzzle.

There seems to be no goodwill in his intentions, nor mine in formerly wishing to pass this puzzle to someone else.  As for the person who donated it to Goodwill before I bought it?  You got me!  Somewhere, someone is laughing at the sucker who bought it.  (Me.)

The House of Goodwill will now officially try to begin living up to it's name once more.

The only positive thing that came from this (other than getting it done)?  I really couldn't think of anyone I hated enough to give this puzzle to.  'Cause if I could, the only thing better than giving them this puzzle, would be giving them this puzzle with four pieces missing.

And not even I am mean enough to do that.

I guess that's good to know.