The Finish Line is Within Reach

Wow, April really must be my month as I have completed each section of the puzzle in the month of April so far.  Though, I am truly hoping to break that pattern with section 4 as I really do not want to be working on this same puzzle a year from now.  As much as I have thoroughly enjoyed every minute I have spent with this beautiful beast, I am ready to move forward with something new.

Here are the current stats:

Section 3 – Completed April 27, 2015 (1 year, 14 days after start)

Section 2 – Completed April 13, 2014 (1 year, 11 days after start)

Section 1 – Completed April 2, 2013 (2 years, 8 months, 10 days after start)

It feels sooo good to know that I have completed 18,000 pieces so far and have only 1 missing piece. Of course that is very frustrating, but considering that this puzzle has seen the growth of one child from age 5 months to just over 5 years old, and the birth of a second child who is now 21 months old, and been through two major moves to its final assembly place in Cumming, GA, I am pretty grateful it’s just the one piece.  :o)

Here are the lessons learned from this section:

1.  I have never been a fan of birds, but after completing this section with all the seagulls at the top, I can officially say, I HATE BIRDS!!!

2.  I still seem to save some of the hardest areas for last.  I am not sure why, but it seems to keep working out like that each time.  This time it was the seagulls, the dolphins, and the surface of the water.  By comparison, the surface of the water was far easier than either the birds or the dolphins.

3.  I think it’s a wise idea to work on two sections in tandem.  Once the puzzle gets to a certain point, like more than 50% completed, it’s very difficult to work on it without being in the puzzle room where the main board is located.  Since at that point most of what I’m doing is fill in work rather than a particular large section, it’s hard to do that upstairs where I can hang out with my husband during the evening.  Otherwise, I’m in the puzzle room by myself which is nice sometimes, but doesn’t allow me to spend any time with Randy.  So, by doing the last two sections in tandem, I was able to get started on Section 4 up in the family room on working boards while still continuing to work on Section 3 when I got opportunities to go down to the puzzle room.  I think I will likely use this strategy more and more in the future when the current section is at a point where I don’t have any major areas left to put together, and it’s down to just small groups of fill in areas like sky, mountains, or water, etc.  This strategy has given me a head start on Section 4 which I anticipate is already at about the 25% completion mark.  Not too bad for having finished Section 3 only a couple of hours ago, right?! Hee hee

4.  Did I mention that I hate birds?!  🙂

5.  April is a good month for me – who knew!

And now for the pictures…