u/1kiki09

This was an emotionally confusing second puzzle ever, and first 500 piece puzzle! I love the bright colors and illustrations but(t)... I started this fun May puzzle hobby as my yearly 'hobby/activity to honor Mom' who passed May 23, 2022. My last puzzle went fine but something triggered a bad grief episode towards the end of this one and my lovely boyfriend woke up to me hovering over a recently completed butt puzzle sobbing🧍

In terms of quality, I can tell this puzzle isn't as nice as the previous one I worked on. Pieces felt looser, and I did grt a few false fits (although, could be a skill issue for that!) I think this one has also gotten more use as some pieces were bent, but I suppose that is expected for some thrifted puzzles.

I do think 300-500 is a sweet spot where I can grt most done in a night which I prefer- hopefully I can expand a bit more once I get a hang of puzzles. I definitely think this will be a staple hobby now.

I made a post a few days ago about thrifting a bunch of puzzles to honor my Mom and how I hated the Great Wave one I was working on! Well... I saw this at the thrift for $2.09 and was immediately in love with the image. It was a lot of fun to work on and the pieces felt high quality to my novice hands- and compared to the MindBogglers one I am working on... this felt great (I was able to do the puzzle lifting thing!!!) This puzzle was open at the thrift with several pieces spilled out so I ended up sitting on thr floor at the store counting all 300 pieces to make sure I didn't miss any.

I have never done a puzzle (to my knowledge) or at least never in my adult life... but, every May I try to do something that makes me feel connected to my late Mom and she loved them in life... sooo $20 and a thrift store trip later, I have puzzles! I started with the great wave one and I am feeling a bit of regret- the pieces don't go together how I had hoped and i can make things fit that arent supposed to fit- not sure if its a me problem or the puzzle but I want to finish it so I can try out the Tea Time puzzle!

Found in SE Wisconsin USA. He is chilling on the wall of my slug tank. It is around 1 cm long with what look to be orange legs.

Who is he, is he native to WI (this tank has invasive slugs, native critters get freed), and should I be concerned at all?