It snowed, again!

So it snowed again yesterday--another day with Lake Effect Snow Warnings and advisories from the police to stay off the road. But, it was the February birthday party day for Brian (February 14th), Dad (February 18th), and Emma (February 28th), so there was no choice about staying home and being cozy. It was a fun day filled with Calvin girl's basketball at the new sports venue (what a place!!!), eating pizza, and opening presents. A very busy but fun day but the drive home was oh so not much fun! I'm really hating winter and driving in this yucky stuff (unless the yucky stuff warrants me a day off from school so I could get tons of homework/paperwork done....) and am counting the days until Spring! On the up side, all this snow (we're only a few inches from an all-time snowfall amount record) is doing great things for the water table for the Great Lakes. I guess that's a good thing, in the long run.

The Puzzle

So I got this 1,000 piece Barack Obama puzzle from my paraprofessional, Luis, for Christmas. He thought it'd give me something to do in my spare time! It was quite a joke at the time but little did I realize it'd take me almost a month to get it done. I started it Christmas Eve, while staying at mom and dad'd house. They helped some with the border. The next day, Christmas, I worked on it off and on. I wasn't sure this puzzle was going to happen or not as it was quite the challenge. So many pieces that all looked like each other and all of those quotes from his speeches!!! I decided to stick with it but then getting it to my house was another challenge. *One of the drawbacks of starting it someplace besides the comfort of your own kitchen. I used a spatula and one of mom's trusty cookie sheets and was able to take it apart, in sections, place it on the cookie sheet, prop the cookie sheet in the back window, and drive it home. Once home, it was reassembled on my kitchen table.

I worked on the puzzle off and on during my holiday break and into January. Two weeks ago I made a real dent in it and got 2/3 of it complete. Last Sunday, my dear friend Heather, who was in from Atlanta, came over to spend the day. She loves puzzles and is true political friend so together we completed the puzzle, just in time for the inauguration of our 44th president, Barack Obama. It felt great to finally have it all put together! Such an accomplishment just like the accomplishment of our new President residing now in the White House.

I've now made up a puzzle glue and have applied 3 coats to it. I'd like to get it framed and eventurally bring it to school. I don't glue puzzles, to keep, very often, but this one I felt the need to preserve.....as a testiment to sticking with it and as a memory of the fantastic shift that is taking place in the government of my country. Plus, it was tons of fun having my dear friend around to help me finish it!