How to waste your life (when you have a million things you NEED to do)

I have a little Christmas tradition that I enjoy, and do almost every year.  Inevitably, December is always a really busy month, full of lots of fun stuff, just busy.

So I really like December 26th.  Why?  The week leading to Christmas Day is always the busiest of all, and beginning December 26th, it is followed by absolutely nothing.  No more commitments, no more food to make or presents to wrap.  When I was a kid, I remember feeling sadness when Christmas Day was done.  As an adult, I absolutely love the quiet week between Christmas and New Year's.  There's always leftover food (so no cooking to do), the tree is still up, and once Santa comes there are usually new books to read.

So most years on December 26th I start a puzzle.  I love puzzles; they are one of the best ways to relax I can think of.  Listening to music and putting in puzzle pieces...it's a couple of days of peace.

I also never start a puzzle unless I have a little window of time to devote to it; Christmas week is perfect.

So when I went to pick out this year's puzzle, I took one from my shelf that I found at Goodwill a few years ago, but was saving for the right time.

Here it is:

Doesn't this look fun??

And it was only $2.99!

Here is my progress after day 1 (This is the first puzzle I've ever done, when after connecting the the frame, had no idea if the top was on the bottom, or vice versa):

I'm feeling stressed just looking at ALL those pieces now...

Here is my progress after maybe four or five days (the amount of time it usually takes me to COMPLETE a puzzle):

Ironically, I couldn't wait to start this puzzle.

"This will give me a fun couple of days," I said to myself.

So here is the progress after just over three weeks (note that I have worked on the puzzle ALL day, most days, with just a few breaks here and there):

Once I got the frame and giant candy cane done, there was absolutely nothing remarkable about the other (roughly) 700 pieces.

I averaged 15 pieces a day for the first week.

So this is where I'm at now.  And how's it going?  Well, I pretty much hate my life, hate myself and absolutely HATE the puzzle.  I'm obsessed with getting it done, and I chip away at it all day long.

I'm not working out, my house is not clean, and I should have been back at The House of Goodwill (to start work again) two weeks ago!  But no, I'm still trying to finish this ridiculous puzzle.  (I DO NOT want this half done on my table in March...)

At least I brush my teeth every day.  And walk my dogs.  But that's about it.

Meanwhile, the puzzle box sits on my table, mocking me:

Oh, so this is what I'm having?

So now you know why I haven't posted in a while...Though there is one other really good reason.  Our whole family tested positive for Covid right after Christmas.  So if there's a silver lining here at all, I really wasn't able to do much else anyway, and after a week of Covid and a week of quarantine following, I really couldn't have been doing much or gone anywhere anyway.  So I guess the timing was good...?

So I'm about to return to the table and start on the puzzle today, at least it's going a little faster now that I'm nearing the end.

I just CANNOT WAIT to get this thing done, so I can give it back to Goodwill and ruin someone else's life.

And since I forgot to mention it (due to the dumb puzzle), Happy New Year! 🙂🙄