And yet I found her anyway.

I took a nap this afternoon and dreamed that BratzBasher snuck out of school when her P.E. class took a field trip to the park.  In order to avoid being caught by me, BB hid in our trash can.  How’s that for weird?

Quality Time

Merkin goes to the gym just about every day, and BratzBasher is required to go at least twice a week.  I’ve resolved to match BB’s twice a week rule.  So yesterday found us all at the gym.  Merkin says it isn’t exactly quality time because we don’t stick together the whole time.  He does his own thing on the elliptical, and my preferred exercise is the stationery bike.  BB likes to walk (okay, run if she has to, but not for very long) — treadmill or track, but she opted to try the bike with me last night.  Merkin showed her how to do it, but she often went slow enough that the machine either paused or decided she was done with her workout.  She had to start her program over again at least twice.  She did spend 25 minutes on the thing, though.  She’s not a cyclist, in case you couldn’t tell.  She’ll probably go back to the treadmill again next time.  She toughed that one out longer than I did my one and only time on the elliptical.

As far as whether or not we spent “real” quality time together?  I think we can at least count dinner and the accompanying conversation, don’t you?

I’ve been in a bit of a funk lately, but I think the exercise last night helped.  I was able to do thirty minutes on the bike at my target heart rate without wishing I’d stayed at home.

The gym wasn’t too crowded.  Probably because it snowed yesterday/the night before/I don’t know because I was sleeping.  Well, I was sleeping the night before, not all yesterday.  It was a snow day, and the roads weren’t that great.  Linda was actually disappointed that today wasn’t a snow day.  “But there’s still snow on the ground!  It should be considered too cold to go to school.”  Yeah, I didn’t want to get up this morning, either, kid.  (Should I have put that comma before “either”?  Do I really care?  Don’t know, and no.)

So am I going to the gym again tonight?  Maybe.  Or I might just go to the City Museum with Merkin and BB tomorrow.  That’s definitely a workout when you do it right.  I know it’s a workout for Merkin.  Last time we went, he did the ten (?) story slide three times in a row.  Good gravy.  I can barely do it once.  All those stairs.  I need a nap just thinking about it.

 

Somewhat Happy Accidents

I made some banana bread this week — two loaves, in fact.  They turned out…different than normal.  I forgot to add the sugar.  It’s actually not as bad as you might think.  It’s just like regular bread, only with walnuts and banana in it.  It tastes really good with butter or jam.  BratzBasher likes it with honey.  I don’t know that I’ll ever make it that way again, but it’s definitely edible.  We’ve almost finished the first loaf already.

Have you ever had a somewhat happy accident where things didn’t turn out as great as you planned, but they turned out to be a new, okay experience?

Okay, I’m not mad anymore.

In my previous post, I ranted about Paper House Productions and their horrible puzzle.  I think it only fair to share the email I received in response to the one I sent to them.

Hello Foo4,

Thank you for contacting us.

I’m sorry to hear about the issue with one of our puzzles. Please accept my apologies for this. We appreciate hearing feedback even if it is negative because that helps us to improve our products or make adjustments if a process is not working correctly. If you could assist me, I am wondering if you were able to complete the puzzle and had 46 extra pieces or if the extra/duplicate pieces simply made it impossible for you to complete it? A “500 Piece Puzzle” is a category of puzzle and not necessarily an exact piece count (especially with shaped puzzles). Although, a complete Monarch Puzzle has a 497 piece count and it sounds like you had a lot more than that.

I understand you feeling regarding our puzzles especially when it involves time, effort and expense. If you wouldn’t mind, with your mailing address, I would like to send you some related gifts free of charge. Butterfly cards, magnets and stickers.

Thank you and once again, my apologies.

Sincerely,

Guy Reed

Account Manager & Customer Service

Sales Department - Paper House Productions

I wrote them back and told them that the free stuff wasn’t necessary and answered their questions.  I think they were very nice about the whole thing, don’t you?

The Puzzle from Hell*

I just finished a 500-piece, shaped puzzle — you know, the kind that is cut out according to the outline of the image rather than the traditional rectangle or square?  This puzzle’s box advertised an additional challenge in the form of special pieces shaped like flowers and butterflies within the main puzzle.  Okay.  That would be doable, right?  I like a challenge, and it was only five bucks.

It didn’t take me long, however, to realize that something was very, very wrong.  The puzzle had duplicate pieces.  Extra pieces.  You know, like those puzzles that advertise on the box that they have extra pieces — only this wasn’t one of those puzzles.  Absolutely nowhere on the box does it say that there are extra pieces!  Nowhere!  I don’t do puzzles with extra pieces.  They’re insane.  And here’s one masquerading as an innocent, straightforward, exactly-as-many-pieces-as-you-need puzzle.  Diabolical, I tell you.  It took me three days to finish it. With a little help from Merkin and BratzBasher.

Here’s what it looks like all put together:

Here are the 46 extra pieces:

Here is the box that does not warn of extra pieces:

I’d also like to point out that nowhere on this box does there appear a picture of the completed puzzle, and the picture on the cover is not an accurate representation in regards to where the special shaped pieces go.  It’s just there for pretty.

If you wish to avoid similar frustration, I recommend you do not purchase a puzzle from Paper House Productions.  I promised myself I’d send them a nasty email when I was finished, but I decided to simply inform them that they’d lost a very dissatisfied customer.

So…anyone want a slightly used puzzle?  I took out all the extra pieces.  I have loads already.  I get one every year for our New Year’s Eve festivities.

*Please read my follow-up post here.