Puzzles and Miniatures

     I love miniatures, just as many people in the model horse hobby do. I also really love puzzles. In the past several months I have seen a whole ton of ads for Book Nooks, likely because I have paused on them, so the algorithm shows me more. A while back, maybe a year or so ago, I bought a miniature cafe room kit. I then didn't have time to get into it, lost it, found it, and finally pulled it out to get started. The instructions were confusing and kind of hard to follow. The time needed to assemble the various miniatures to go into the cafe was more than I have. I worked for hours, until I got bored, and had made very little progress. I put it away and may eventually get back to it and do some more work. 

     Once I started seeing the Book Nook kits I was very interested. Really, it's like a miniature AND a puzzle, all in one! I love that. But they are also kind of expensive. There also seem to be a ton of fake websites that may or may not ever send you an item, which may or may not be the real thing. I did finally cave and I purchased one, on Amazon. I hate that I buy so many things from Amazon, but they offer very easy returns. If I received a counterfeit item I wasn't out $60 (yes, this kit was $60.)

    When you open up the box you see a bunch of flat packed items, with a very extensive manual on how to assemble everything. So it is a puzzle only in the sense you put things together, not that you have to figure out where the pieces go. The kit arrived last Friday while I was at work and I was very excited to get home from coffee-date with Travis to get started. 

     The first thing I had to do was assemble 198 tiny books. That involved punching out the tiny book shaped pieces of wood and putting a book cover sticker on them. It wasn't hard, but it did take a lot of time. 

     198 teeny tiny books. But it wasn't boring or challenging. There are a lot of duplicate books in the library. Which is OK and actually realistic. I don't actually know how many times I have accidentally bought a book that I already own. Thankfully, Barnes and Noble is also good about returns. 

    So I got started on assembly of the library, after I finished putting together 198 miniature books, paused to watch a show with Travis, and then got back into assembling for an hour or so. I only stopped on Friday because I was very tired and decided to go to bed. 

    

     Saturday morning I got up, had coffee, and almost immediately got back into building my library. And then I obsessively worked on it all day. And by all day I mean ALL day. I started at probably about 10:30 in the morning and didn't stop until about 7:00 at night. And then only because Travis wanted to go dancing. The assembly time says 8-10 hours, but I am pretty sure in total it took me longer than that. But I did have issues with the stairs not staying together.

      I also eventually discovered I had somehow missed putting 2 pieces in, I had to take some stuff apart to get those in. Most of the pieces on these do fit together very snuggly. The stairs however should have been all glued together before I even tried to put them in. Not that that was in the instructions. Some things did require glue, but the stairs were not one of them. I did end up gluing some parts that didn't require glue. 

      I did also figure out very far into the assembly that I had messed up the wiring for the lights. So I took apart as much stuff as needed to come apart so I could take out all the wiring, measure everything, mark which light was which (with painter's tape) and then put everything back together again. That took up a lot of time. But having the wiring correct seemed like a really great idea. 

     Travis and I drove an hour and 20 minutes down to New Haven, Connecticut, to go to a dance class and social my friend Alan was having at a studio we have never been to. I don't usually bring Travis to venues I haven't checked out myself first (I know what things will make him comfortable and make me feel he is safe and comfortable) but I had seen some photos and I was willing to risk it. We hadn't been dancing in weeks. As it turns out it was an amazing place. Alisa, the owner of the studio, was immediately welcoming. The bathroom was located right outside the studio, which meant Travis wasn't going to have to wander to find it, or forget how to get back to the studio. And I had a handful of friends there that also look out for Travis. The lesson was potentially the best I have ever had, and the most athletic (Latin dance is a full body workout anyway, but this was extra). The social was also super fun. Someone handed Travis a maraca at some point and the look of pure joy on his face made me realize I needed to buy him maracas (done). The studio is a really far drive but I would be willing to make the drive again. 

     I didn't have time to get back to my library building on Sunday, or the entire week. As I have mentioned before, my life is super busy. But last night (Friday) I got a couple of tiny pieces done. Then this morning I got back into it. Last Saturday, when I finally stopped the assembly, I was actually fairly close to done. So this morning I worked for an hour or two (I didn't check the time when I started) and got it all finished. Then I cleared enough space on the bookshelf to put it in. I love this piece!

     The lights all work and one simple to use touch switch turns them all on. It's just a circular decoration on the floor that you gently touch. I have no idea how it works, but now I kind of want to do some research and figure it out. I don't know if it's pressure (you barely have to touch the thing) or maybe slight vibrations. I just know it's very cool. And if anyone knows the how of touch switches please let me know. I will likely research it, but I have no idea when I might have time to do that. 

     Before I had even finished building my library I already bought another little miniature to put together. I briefly looked at the instructions but I am not sure it is going to be as user friendly as the library. There are also more things controlled by electronics, as well as several lights. I will make sure to follow all the directions very carefully. I am looking forward to putting this one together too and may get started today. 

      So last weekend I spent my time doing exactly what I wanted to do, without regard for much of anything else. I did do laundry on Saturday, but I didn't put anything away. I didn't wash the dishes for 3 days. Society didn't collapse. I did pay for my lack of chores by having to catch up on putting laundry away on Sunday. It did also take me two or three days to catch up on dishes. But I had a really great time building my library and going out dancing. I think I will remind myself that sometimes I should do things just because I want to, not just because I need to.