You guys like to put together puzzles?

One of my favourite librarians asked our library mom group that a few months ago. I was all excited, talking about my puzzling strategy, what kinds of puzzles I like to do, etc. Two of the other moms said they enjoy puzzles, but not the competition and stress that goes with it.

I didn’t think too much about it until a few weeks ago when I popped into my local library and the director and youth director asked if I wanted to pull together a team for the puzzle competition. (They were putting it on with another library) I told them I was interested and would talk to my girlfriends.

I promptly forgot all about it until my librarian friend sent a group text to our mom group asking who was free and wanted to be on a team. Two moms already had plans, but Sugar Britches and I were free. So, we signed up! I thought we would end up partnering with another librarian, but our favourite librarian joined us as a surprise!

When I got to the library Saturday morning, Sugar Britches and Miss E. were already there, and we were told we needed to come up with a team name. I just went to ChatGPT and asked for ideas. It came up with a bunch of different choices, and we ended up selecting “TnT” (for Think Tankers).

With only 5 minutes to come up with the name, it wasn’t the best, but it worked.

At 0930 the timer started and we unboxed and got to work. We sorted by color and outside pieces. Miss E was putting pieces together as she found them, while I was focusing on the edges. Sugar Britches got everything sorted, and then we started working to get everything put together. After about 20-30 minutes, we needed a break and switched seats. It was a good idea so we had fresh eyes on the pieces in the different parts of the table. We switched spots several times throughout the morning, signing as we worked. It was funny, we’d hear other tables make comments, which would remind us of songs, and one of us would start singing.

We didn’t get first place; the winning team finished in 1:15 or so. Team TnT ended up finishing in second place, with a time of 1:57. Miss E went to take pictures of the other teams, their puzzles, and just see how everyone was doing, since she was one of the co-hosts. Sugar Britches and I just sat and chatted about how much fun it was, and how we were going to do more puzzles over the next year to get ready for the next competition.

We then started talking team names, because we just didn’t LOVE Team TnT. I told her it would be hilarious if Miss E’s middle name was “Lou” or if anyone called her E Lou. We could be the “Loonies” or something like that. You guys all know that I’m Lettie Loo. Well, Sugar Britches goes by C Lou, and as luck would have it, Miss E has some family who do call her E Lou. So, our new team name for anything else we end up doing (trivia, puzzles, etc.) is “The Loonie Loos!” I think we’ll get shirts or hats or something fun like that.

Are you guys into puzzles? Or trivia competitions? Or anything cool like that? I’d love to hear what you do. I cannot promise I won’t share them with my two libraries though.