Shout out to Rex Parker

 I started doing The NY Times daily crossword puzzle earlier this year.

Yes, I do it every day. It is a very pleasant part of my life now. 

Early in the week, I complete the puzzle from start to finish in the wee hours of the morning. These are shorter/easier puzzles. 

Over the weekend, I often start the night before and then finish them in the early morning hours the next day. I am a very early riser. I try to stay in bed and quiet so my husband can sleep. 

Very often, I have an error somewhere and use Rex Parker’s completed puzzle to find my correction(s). For me, this is usually a typo or a spelling error. These can be tricky to find. I take a screen shot of my puzzle and screen shot of Rex’s puzzle, and compare them in “photos” on my phone. I turn my phone sideways, so I can see both photos at the same time. It took a bit to work out the logistics of reading the fine print of both cross word puzzles at the same time. I scroll up and down to read the lines.

Rex has become an important blogger for me. In addition to utilizing his puzzle, I really enjoy his writing. He analyses The NY Times Crossword puzzle each day. 

This is a nice bit of intellectual connection for me. I know of no one else who does the puzzle each day and then wants to discuss it. (Youngest got me started in this daily habit, but then bailed.)

I do not complete the puzzle in the traditional crossword format. I utilize the option to view the puzzle in a list format. I switch to list and the scroll to the “down” section and work on the “down” clues first. 

Why do I do this? I find it easier to think when all the words are horizontal. 

Adding games

I have played Candy Crush for many years. I play three versions. 

I play Wordle every day. I have played for a couple years. 

Sitting at breakfast with middle and youngest two Sundays ago, they were talking about the Wordle answer from that day. 

Their letters were different than my letters. 

We discovered they play the NYT version and I play a stand alone version.

I added the NYT games app to my collection.

I now play all the free NYT games (except Sudoku) daily too.

Wordle

 I added a game to my repertoire. Wordle.

Yes, I realize this is not new or exciting news. 

A lot of people play Wordle.

I mention Wordle only because I might play it slightly different than the average person. I play for speed and efficiency. I do not care if I use all six tries to get the word. 

I think many people always start with the same word. They have one favorite word they try first. 

Many people chose a word with the most vowels possible. 

This site lists suggestions -

https://capitalizemytitle.com/5-letter-words-with-the-most-vowels/

I googled “what is the smartest method to play Wordle?”.

My search history no longer has the link listed. It might have been a video. 

But I have a screen shot of the suggestion -

The idea is to have five standard words, not one. And those five words utilize most of the alphabet. Four letters are missing from those five words (above) Q, V, X, Z.

My red dashes (above) indicate the duplicates. 

I liked the concept, but I fine tuned the words to include one more letter. 

I use DERBY, FLANK, WITCH first, every time I play. Those three words cover 15 of the 26 letters of the alphabet. They cover some very common letters. 

Sometimes, those three words are enough. 

If those three words are not enough, I add JUMPS. 

If that is still not enough, I add VOGUE.

My five words are only missing Q, Z, X from the alphabet. The letter U usually tips me off if there is a Q hiding.

If I only reveal four letters and there is not a U, then there is either a duplicate letter or a X or a Z.

Here is a screen shot showing all five of my words with the duplicate letters marked. Q, X, Z are missing. Again, if there is a U, I suspect Q.

Amazon must be a hopping and a bopping

The little things, that one is use to running out to grab, I assume nationwide, we now order from Amazon.

We have also been ordering from Best Buy.

To be honest, before seclusion, I use Amazon (and Best Buy) a lot, because most of the time I do not have a car. And if I go to a store, probably I buy more than the one thing I went to get. Ordering on Amazon, I just get the one thing. Yes, free Amazon shipping. And the cardboard boxes go to recycling. And I look carefully that I am buying from Amazon and not a third party.

Somethings, masks and wipes and tp, Amazon is OUT. (I had ordered masks, long ago, when I saw this coming, for youngest at college. Middle and I use masks regularly, crowds and planes. So we each  keep a supply.)

We now have two people working from home and one finishing a semester of college from home, so I ordered (Amazon) ink cartridges for the printer yesterday. I had one cartridge of each (4) color in my stash. I ordered two more black ones. That was my biggest concern. They should be here Wednesday.

We have 3 pleasant, spacious work stations set up in separate rooms with doors that close. No one is in the rooms that I use. Youngest’s bedroom and workstation are both upstairs. She does not have a separate kitchen, but it is like a little apartment. She has her own bathroom and “living room” with a TV and all the game systems are up there. So she is doing okay at home. Her friends are all going nuts at their homes.

It is very weird not to have any extra kids. One kid we normally would have had, possibly had been exposed (student teaching in a big town with cases). And the other kid had in person interviews and appointments scheduled, youngest told her if you leave, you can’t come back, and at the time, she wanted the interviews, so she is not here.

So all weekend, I barely saw the girls (or my husband) even though we are all under the same roof 24/7.

I hear from my brother via text every day. I hear from my mom via email on occasion.

Youngest has now been home for almost two weeks. Her college acted very fast. She was one of the first kids sent home, nationwide.

Puzzles

https://www.whitemountainpuzzles.com/

If you have older kids, a house full, or just yourself, a holiday puzzle can be very fun.

In the winter of 2018, I put together almost every puzzle in the house. I set up a table in front of the loveseat in the living room and just kept going, one to the next. All variety of puzzles. I was checking to see if they were all there.

I recycled the ones that were missing pieces. I sold all the complete but junky ones. I also sold most of the wooden ones.

I saved a great number of high quality kids’ puzzles.

I saved one 1000 piece puzzle of Mackinac Island.

I think the original puzzle came from Mackinaw Island itself when we were there years ago. I think oldest and I put it together at that time. I think there is a picture somewhere of me working on this puzzle.

The girls (and their friends) and my husband have been putting it together this week. It is set up at the end of the kitchen table. Big advantage of an 8’ table, a puzzle can be set up at one end, and the table is still functional.

We have had 5-6 friends of youngest’s floating in and out of our house this break. Only one or two were here to work on the puzzle, I should have gotten it out earlier. (It might be a lot like card and board games that they only do when they are here.)

It is something I am doing (putting puzzle out over Christmas break) from this point forward. And I am sticking with this type of puzzle that can easily be put together/finished over a few days, with many people working on it. It is challenging with lots of pieces, but totally doable.

I have no desire to have a puzzle out for weeks and weeks. And with the pup, really we cannot have a puzzle out all the time. She would take pieces off the table and eat them.

I ordered three 1000 piece puzzles from the same company (above) today. I ordered from their clearance section of discontinued 1000+ piece puzzles. I had a coupon for free shipping. So I spent $30 total on three good quality puzzles.

Absolutely can find puzzles at second hand stores and garage sales. Also could get into a trading system with neighbors and friends.

So I will have a stash for future years. And I think once each is complete, I am taking a picture of the fact that it is complete and then selling it. So we do not develop a huge inventory of puzzles we have already done.

These puzzles are normally in the $15 plus shipping price range. I think I can sell them for $10 used/complete on Marketplace. And that will recoup my money. (They also could be donated to a senior center.)

Our close friends always put a puzzle out for Christmas break. It was very much a tradition. And I think it is a good one.

This could be a good gift to send to older grandkids or have out for older grandkids when they visit over the holidays. Or have out to occupy kids when older relatives visit and they need to be present and you do not want them to be bored. Everyone could sit around the dining room table while some work on the puzzle and others chat, if you have older relatives who do not like to play games.

So I think this could be incorporated into a lot of family traditions in a very positive way.

TV cabinet

This belonged to my husband’s mother.

It came with the TV in it.

The doors have been under a bed here since it arrived.

As you can see from the first picture, the TV was just too low for comfortable viewing.

I wanted the doors on it.

And I wanted all the gaming stuff together and upstairs out of the way.

So we built a set of shelves. They fit exactly, but are not attached. It was built as a unit and simply slid into the cabinet.

We replaced the back because it had a large hole cut in it (for an old box TV). We cut a small round hole in the new backing, tucked under a shelf, in case someone needs to run a cord out the back.

We bought wood, *paint and four European hinges for this project.

* Sometimes it takes a couple tries, but Lowe’s paint department is very good at scanning a piece of stained wood and mixing paint to match. We paint part of a wooden stir-er before I leave to check the match. Sometimes I get a clerk who tells me it will not work, and then I pull out my phone and show pictures of projects I have done. I find it is much easier to match paint to stain (vs trying to match stain to stain).

Pretty pleased.

We will have extended family here over the holidays.

And most everyone loves games. That is what we do when we have a house full.

I listen to several podcasts. And games have been mentioned.

I got three for this year:

Note, youngest and her college friends went thru the Meme cards and removed the ones which were more gross than funny. We now have three stacks - PG, MA funny, MA gross. Same college kids have been playing these games, so youngest knows how to do all of them before family plays.

Also note: prices have gone up on a couple of these since I ordered.

One of my xmas boxes - Bananagrams, Yahtzee, extra Yahtzee score pad, Monopoly Deal, UNO, Phase 10, Skip-Bo, 2 decks of regular cards

More gift ideas from my Amazon Orders page

Yes, these are all things I have ordered in the last couple years. Some of them I have ordered many times.

WET BRUSHES. Available at Walgreens and other local stores too. My girls have two each. One stays home, one is at school with them. These work extremely well. We have given them as gifts also. They come in different sizes.  

Youngest has a set, I have a set. I just ordered a set for middle at her request after she saw youngest's. The zipper tab is behind a cover when closed so they do not come unzipped. Two sizes in each order. 

Math or science or drafting/drawing person inyour family? I have been buying these for youngest for years. We used to get them at Office Depot. Now the only place we can find them is Amazon. The whole thing is an eraser (it is a stand alone eraser). 

Have given these as gifts (several times) to math and science type families. Maybe I should be giving them to non math and science families to get them going too.

Middle has several pairs of the girl version. My husband has these. Keen Sandals are really great. 

I cook big breakfasts when I have a house full. We tend to eat two meals per day on these weekends.  I add protein powder and extra egg to my Red Mill Waffle mix. And I make waffles for my extended family, a lot.

Space saver Vacuum bags for suitcases. Do not need a vacuum, they roll. We all use these. I have ordered many sets. 

This is what I use when I travel. I think mine is the style on the top. Middle had the one on the bottom when we traveled to England/Scotland/Wales. I put it under my clothes. Not glamorous but super practical. I put my credit card, passport, driver's licence, a little cash and some wipes in there too. All flat enough, then I do not carry a purse. 

Good family game. (We also play the card version which is called Bikini.) We love the larger size tiles.

If you have a drawing kid of any age, Ed Emberley is great. I sent one of these books with youngest to college. If she has to draw something for a project, which happens a lot, she will be able to do it with this book. Everything starts with lines, circles, squares, etc. Would be extremely good gift for kid who likes to draw and is still learning how. (When someone taught middle the ratio for where to put the features on a face, it was like someone turned on the light. So if you have a drawing kid, look up a diagram on the internet of how to draw a face too. )  I think the Green Monster book might be a story book, not sure.

Middle found this for friend who loved Winnie the Pooh as a boy. He is getting it for xmas.  Really great (true) story.

My kids all had these as children. It is how they learned to skate. I bought these for 8 year old a few years ago. 

I bought this for 8 year old for xmas this year. She opened it early at Thanksgiving. It is all one piece, it does not come apart. There is some type of mechanism in the rings, it is sort of like wheel clogs as you put your pen in it and move around the wheel (It does not work with your finger, put the pen in and it it goes).  The kid has to be able to hold the red frame stationary as they work the pen. So some kids would need a holder. Good fine motor skills art practice.

Middle and youngest each have a set of the straight ones and the round ones. 

Boye Long Loom Set and Boye Round Loom Set which Amazon does carry.

I also called the company and got extra pegs proactively. 

They have been used and used and used. I just bought another set (Good Will) of the round ones for our eight year old who will be able to do it with youngest or middle helping her. 
An artistic boy might like these too.
We buy THICK YARN so it goes faster and takes less skeins. 

Older kid game ideas in comments

Qwirkle

At resale shop today, wandering while husband was at library.

What did I see? Qwirkle.

I remember it being in the recommendations.

I asked if I could open it to see if the pieces were all there.

108 tile pieces later, we realized it was intact.

Directions included.

$5.

Sold.

It looks very fun.

Saved collection of game ideas, Jill started it

Here is Jill's post.

Very good list of ideas in her post and in comments.

I added a "card games" label to my blog.

I think I have my previous posts on card games all linked now.

I am Christmas shopping, birthday shopping, graduation (2015) gift shopping, BIG TIME, actively working to get it all done, and because I am doing it now, things are in stock, prices are good, and it is, very, very fun.

Back to school, college/dorm stuff is on sale now. A lot of the people on my list are in that age range.

I have a friend who will have one in college next year, I have been taking screen shots of good sale items that (next fall) freshman will need and sending them to her. She is ordering now, while things are on sale. She will be very glad next summer.


I bought a total of three vacuum cleaners. Identical, on clearance/sale. Earlier I bought one for middle for her dorm room. It picks up hair off her rugs. Really well. That is hard to find in a small vacuum. So, I knew it was good (for $ and size). Second one is a high school graduation gift for next spring/summer. The third is for oldest for either his (January) birthday or Christmas. Oldest was borrowing a friend's vacuum until she moved out of state. He does not have another vacuum connection. He will be glad to get it. 

I also bought a solid gray, back support/leany pillow for middle's boy this fall. We were all looking but could not find one that was firm enough. So I bought the firmest one I could find, opened the bottom seam, stuffed a whole bag of stuffing in, resewed the opening. Husband helped, it required multiple hands. Works well for him. I bought a second one, in the black dots below, for a girl graduating from high school next spring.

Middle's boy has his birthday this next week. I thought of something very good for him that they can do as a couple. I had both of them mark a specific day on their calendar. The information is in his birthday card, envelope sealed tightly. He has the card. They are both sort of dying of curiosity. Having the date marked on their calendars and the sealed envelope adds to the fun. I did a (really) good job with this.




Nephew graduated from high school this spring. He is going to auto body school rather than college. He is sharing apartment with three other boys. My brother is condensing his own household in preparation for moving in with his new wife. Translation - nephew does not need good, new stuff. So, I have not been able to think of good gift (his sister got laptop case from us for graduation and all her dorm stuff for her birthday/Christmas). We try not to send $. Nephew leaves in a couple weeks to start school. I (finally) sent 9 card games. My middle and oldest have card games (their own sets, that stay with them). They LOVE having their own. They love to play. Nephew loves cards too. I think this will be very good. Maybe the four roommate boys can play cards and stay out of trouble . . .

Of those shown below - Monopoly is our favorite,
Fluxx is beloved by middle and her boy,
We all love Uno, Phase 10, Skip Bo.
I have heard good things about Pit and Rook.
Dutch Blitz and Ratuki looked good, but I don't actually know.

Oldest and youngest have January birthdays. I birthday shop for them at the same time I Christmas shop.

I thought of an idea for youngest. It is a collection type thing. I have been looking for them and ordering them. This is a good idea too. Very youngest. Very clever.


I have been actively, seriously shopping. Christmas, birthdays and graduation. I will be totally done and wrapped by Thanksgiving. 


I have been doing most of this on line. I pay as little shipping as possible (almost always free, I have had to pay a little for youngest stuff because it is coming from odd places).

There is NO stress. I have been enjoying this hugely. My husband has enjoyed it too.