Miss Chrissy and Mr. Russ have been spending an awful lot of time with us in Whimsieville lately. They stay very busy pecking away at their keyboards most of the day, but in the evenings, they always have time to stop for some fun. And we Whimsies get to join in! One of the things they love to do (while listening to music provided by the newest resident of Whimsieville, a plain black and gray cylinder with a very pleasant voice, named Alexa) is to work on PUZZLES.
Now, we Whimsies are no strangers to Puzzles. Having lived many many years in a Hoard, both Trixie and I have run across quite a few Puzzles in our time. Tootsie says she vaguely remembers Puzzles, and Tessie says she most definitely remembers them, from back in the day when she and Miss Chrissy were young girls together—but back in those days, the Puzzles were nowhere near as big as the Puzzles that come into Whimsieville nowadays! Tessie remembers Puzzles being maybe 100 pieces, but now we are seeing Puzzles of 500 pieces, 750 pieces, and even 1000 pieces! Goodness! When you open the box and look at all those pieces you have to wonder, “How in the world are we ever going to puzzle all this together??” But guess what? We do! It takes time and patience (and a lot of good music) but in the end we have something that looks just as good as the picture on the box.
We’ve done several Puzzles with Miss Chrissy and Mr. Russ over the last few weeks, but this one in particular really caught our fancy, because it features so many adorable kittens getting into so much mischief! When we say the picture on the box, we all said “Awww!” and “Isn’t that sweet!” because the theme of the Puzzle was a bunch of kittens let loose in a Candy Shop! We couldn’t wait to put our minds to this one!
In fact, we enjoyed doing this Puzzle so much, that there were many nights, after Miss Chrissy and Mr. Russ had retired for the evening, that the four of us crept out of our beds, put on a soft light, and went back to Puzzling out what the final picture would look like. In the morning, Miss Chrissy would scold us, but not very heartily, because she knew how much we were enjoying the Puzzling. She was just concerned that we might not be getting enough Beauty Sleep. But she need not worry on that account! Whimsies actually require very little actual sleep. Mostly, we just like to get tucked into bed because the blankets feel so comfortable. But when there is an interesting Project that needs completing, that Project will always win out over Comfort!
Now don’t get me wrong! There were plenty of days when we worked on the Puzzle as well. In fact, we spent so many hours upon hours Puzzling, that soon we all had to admit that perhaps we were spending a little bit too much time on the same activity. Because after a while, it go to where if we just closed our eyes, even for a brief moment, we would see puzzle pieces floating around, like clouds in the sky.
That was when we knew we had to take a break and go do something else besides Puzzling, like read a good book, or watch a favorite TV show 
(right now, we are rather obsessed with The Mary Tyler Moore Show, because it’s so funny, and actually, it’s Rhoda who is our favorite character, not Mary, because Rhoda is such a good friend to Mary, sort of like we Whimsies are to each other, and of all the sassy ladies on the show, Rhoda is the sassiest!). And of course, we never tire of visiting our Wardrobe and creating new Fashion Outfits to wear while strolling around outside and enjoying all this fine Spring sunshine! So yes, we keep busy. But then…somehow we always end up sitting around the Puzzle once again!
But a Puzzle will not last forever, and I am happy to report that with Miss Chrissy and Mr. Russ’ help, we finally finished this one! And you can see the finished results below, and I dare you NOT to say “Awww!” and “Isn’t that sweet!”
Now one more question, I know you must be asking. Since the theme of this Puzzle is kittens (which are baby cats), and even though Mr. Squee will not often admit it, he is actually more than just the Mayor and Dogcatcher of Whimsieville, he is indeed a Cat, I’m sure you are wondering what in the world he must have thought about this particular Puzzle. Well, to tell you the truth, Mr. Squee is 
sometimes such a serious fellow, he didn’t quite seem to catch on to all the fun, and even though he never actually said so, we feel quite sure he must have thought these youngsters of his species were being downright foolish in hanging around so much candy. Because really, cats don’t give two hoots about candy, no matter what some puzzle artist likes to make you believe.
But I think mostly he was concerned about us giving so much time and attention to a single activity. After he heard us talking about the images of puzzle pieces floating around like clouds in our heads, I think he became quite concerned about our well-being, because on more than one occasion, he actually stood guard over the Puzzle and blocked our access to it, telling us to go do something else instead. We sort of got mad at him for that, but he stood his ground, and when Miss Chrissy took his side, and told us to go play outside in the sunshine, we grumbled, but eventually put on the cutest outfits and went outside to run and play…and forgot all about the Puzzle. At least for a little while.
But all’s well that ends well! The Puzzle is done, and it looks beautiful and we have moved on (at least temporarily) to other exciting activities! Which we will share with you next time!
