A-puzzling we will go

I like to do puzzles. About a month ago, I got a 300-piece artist's rendition of my beloved Mickey Mouse. I thought it would be fun for my mom and I to do. Well.... it was, kind of. The thing took us, plus Bob, nearly a month to put together. We did it a half hour at a time, because it was on the floor and made our necks hurt to look at it. I was hoping for this to be a puzzle I could do frequently, but there's no way I'm taking that sucker apart. It's going to get puzzle-glued onto some poster board and hung up in my new apartment.

So I had a task for Sarah and I today, regardless of where we went. I wanted to get a smaller puzzle or two. I thought maybe 100 pieces would be good.

She came 'round about 11 am, three youngest nannying charges in tow, and we set out to the park. We stopped at McDonald's because neither she nor the kids had eaten yet, so we got a picnic lunch of cheeseburgers and fries (not me, though, because I'd already eaten). We sat and ate outside while the 3-year-old freaked out about bugs, the 4-year-old took the tiniest bites ever, and the 19-month-old threw his food around on the ground. Did I mention how cute these kids are? They're absolutely adorable, and they actually behave pretty well for Sarah. After lunch, I went on the swings for a little while (gosh, it wears my arms out though, and I think I have some trunk instability going on because a swing is hard work for me to sit on for very long). The kids chased each other on the playground, and Sarah and I sat with the baby. Eventually, we let him out of his stroller too, and chased him around. It was hot but lots of fun.

After an hour we headed to Walmart (the closest place around that would have puzzles). I thought Sarah was brave for being willing to take the three little ones in there, but she was up for it, so we went. I got a cats puzzle (took some digging!) and Monsters vs. Aliens, which Mom and Bob and I watched not too long ago and I found hilarious. For $2 a piece, who can beat it?

I came home and relaxed for a half hour then headed into the city for my CET (Cognitive Enhancement Thearpy, a.k.a., the computer portion of the research study I'm in at the University). After some memory work on the computer, I met one-on-one with one of the psychologists doing the study. She wanted me to pick on something to work on during the group sessions of CET, which started this week. The group is all about social cognition and improving it. She mentioned that my attention/vigilence is in the 13th percentile, and that my thinking is very rigid and impoverished (some of the impoverishment is due to medication, though). Anyway, I decided that since my attention is so ridiculously bad, that I'd focus on that for the first few months of the study. I have to write something up about it (note to self...).

I came home and tore into my puzzles. I did the cats one first, which took about 15 minutes, then Mom helped me to do the Monsters vs. Aliens which took about 10. They're perfect. I can whip them out, put them together, and put them away. Exactly what I was looking for!