I bought the kids a puzzle today. I thought it’d be something we could do, to have set up over Christmas break. We cleaned up the mud room and set up a card table. That room used to be a lot cozier before it became the catch all room for backpacks, shoes, and everything else. I’ve rearranged it several times since we moved here, each time reflecting the particular season of life. This is the season where I’ve kind of taken a break from decorating the entryway bench.

Before Covid one of the stores I used to frequent was Ross. If I bought clothes, they came from there. It was where I found many of my holiday decorations, gifts, household items, and random trinkets to switch things up from time to time. Their prices were reasonable enough so you didn’t feel like you were spending a fortune, like you would if you bought the same stuff at Hobby Lobby. Anymore the store looks pretty barren and it’s sad. I hardly ever go shopping now.

In Barnes & Noble I also found a “vintage” puzzle of the night sky. I think I bought it for myself, saying this could be a way to study more the constellations. It drives me nuts that I don’t know more of them, and yet I can’t really envision myself taking the time to put together a 1,000 piece puzzle with everything else there is to do. I thought if I had the patience to sit with it that long, to be forced to take it slow while finding each little piece, then maybe I could learn them.