Most puzzling

We finished the 5000 piece puzzle! Jim and I worked most nights and weekends on it and it still took nearly a month and a half. We didn't do it like we do smaller puzzles, you know, fill in a section and move on to the next section. That method didn't really work with this puzzle because there were so many similar colors all over the puzzle, especially flesh colored pieces. We tried doing line pieces all at once and were partially successful, but there were line pieces all over the puzzle as well. It really was difficult. And sorting through puzzle pieces was difficult because there were JUST SO MANY OF THEM. Near the end, Katie made it easier by suggesting that we sort the pieces into piles by shape and that made the end go much faster.

Katie has come over the last two nights to be a part of the finishing of the puzzle and we had a good time. Last night, we played fun music, I mentioned how Jake and I used to play Twisted Sister while we did puzzles, and I had Alexa play "We're Not Gonna Take It" and "Burn in Hell," which Jake and I would sing "boll weevil" every time the singer said "no evil." (Try it, it's fun!) I told Katie Twisted Sister is the 80s version of heavy metal and she sort of scoffed at that notion when I played "We're Not Gonna Take It" but then she agreed more with Boll Weevil. She played Disturbed's "Down with the Sickness," which reminded her of high school and then we laughed ourselves silly at the end when the song takes an even more downer turn at the end, which Katie said most times, that part of the song is cut out. I only laughed because it was unexpected to hear that level of awfulness (the content) in a song that got a lot of mention. Also it is so jarring to hear the original version when the only version I know is the bit that Weird Al parodies in a polka medley. His version is a lot peppier and goofy, dare I say even happy?

Anyway, pictures anyone?

One piece left. You can't really see the open area, but I know where it is. It's in the darkest triangle on the right. There might be two openings possibly, because I had the last piece in my hand and there were two open spots. Christian found the second to last piece on the floor under the table.