The Benefits of Doing a Puzzle and a Puzzle Review

 

Disclosure: I was sent this puzzle in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Are you a puzzle person? As the country shut down the sales of puzzles went up. In fact there was a puzzle shortage back in April. Puzzle manufacturers could not keep up. One company said that in one day in March they sold more than they sold in the entire month of December. (Source) I have always loved puzzles. However when Hazel was younger I often had Steve do them with her. She found out why a few years ago at my parents condo building. I become a little obsessed with the puzzle and will stay working on it for hours and hours and not go to bed because I want to find one more piece. My focus is completely on the puzzle and not much else. However we have started to do more puzzles as a family. Or at least they will help me a bit with puzzles now. I shared a new puzzle awhile ago as one of our stay-cation activities. (Which Hazel has found 1 of our missing pieces--under the chair cushion. Now we are just missing 1 piece. I know it will turn up.) Today I am going to share another, but before I do I thought it would be fun to look at some of the benefits of doing a jigsaw puzzle!

Back to School Picture Books

 

Disclosure: I was sent copies of these books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Back to school is going to look very different this year. Many schools are doing remote only. Some are doing a hybrid model and others are opening back up but with masks and social distancing. The decision on parents and teachers is a hard one. The kids will do better in person but what if someone gets Covid? Hazel's school is offering the choice of everything inbetween. Each day we can choose to keep her home to learn remotely or bring her into school. Since it is a small school and they did eight weeks of summer camp without anyone getting sick, we have decided to send her in person. Today we are preparing for her new student orientation. Since it is a new school and a strange year our anxieties are high. It reminds me of the years where many of the books I am sharing would have been helpful. As the school year begins teachers and parents turn to creative books to help put kids at ease. Today I am going to share some new ones of those as well as some books to help younger kids begin learning concepts. We will start with a book about getting to school on the bus and first time fears.

Black Athletes -- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilma Rudolph #blacklivesmatter

 

Today for our Black Lives Matter Series I have decided to share two Black athletes. I struggled today with whom I should share. I thought about writing a post about Chadwick Boseman. As I read about him I will be honest I wondered if I am doing these amazing people justice with my posts. I was wondering if I am making a difference. I decided there is so much out there right now about Chadwick Boseman that I don't need to feature him here. I know I am a small blog and I don't really expect to grow big because I am not willing to monetize and I am not about pushing my own work plus I accept our work as it is and don't make it perfect. But sometimes I wonder if you are really reading this and caring about what I write. If you are I would love a comment (other than spam). Anyway, today we are going to look at two Black athletes: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilma Rudolph and the roles they have played in our society.

Machine Quilting -- 2 Books to Help You--A Crafty Sundays Review

 

Disclosure: I was sent a digital copy of this book in return for an honest review. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review. The links are affiliate links where I will receive a small percentage of any purchases made through them at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting Crafty Moms Share!

This week it has been about quilting--machine quilting. Today I am going to share two books that will help you with machine quilting skills. The first book is for beginners as well as anyone who wants to learn some new skills and designs. It is Walk, Jog, Run: A Free-Motion Quilting Workout by Dara Tomasson. 

Who's In the Backyard? -- Squirrels -- American Red Squirrels and Eastern Gray Squirrels

 

This week I promised to talk about some of the other critters in our yard besides our birds. Although I love watching the birds. In our backyard we have squirrels and this summer we not only had our usually gray squirrels but we had some red squirrels--lots of them. Most of the red squirrels have moved on now but we had so many of them. I named them all Squeakers because of the noise they made at me and at each other. We do not have black squirrels but I have seen them in my friend's backyard in New York State. Now both types of squirrels in our yard chased their own kind all around and stared at me when I was in my hammock. The red squirrel even squeaked at me when I was reading and not watching him in the tree.