It is with a heavy heart that I write this post.

The Galaxy Puzzles blog has not been updated in a while. In addition to running Galaxy Puzzles and all that it entails, my time the last several months was dedicated to caring for Shayna, the Galaxy Puzzles mascot. She was more than a mascot to me. She entered my life at the ripe age of 8 1/2 weeks as my husband's birthday present and stayed with me for the next 17 years. She was at my side while I worked and often in my lap as I took orders and phone calls from customers. I lost track of how many times she barked during a phone call from a customer, because she needed a lap at that very moment.

Shayna provided many years of laughter, entertainment and companionship for me and my family. She brought us together for evening walks as a family. We enjoyed those walks until July when she suddenly was incapable of her regular length walk. We carried her home most evenings. She was no longer able to jump onto furniture or negotiate her way down stairs. Her decline continued into the fall with weight loss accompanying her physical difficulties. Despite medications for arthritis and an appetite stimulant, she continued to fail. Shayna had been deaf for quite a while, but her eye sight began to fail as well and she became extremely sensitive to light and had difficulty with depth perception. She spent the last two months being cared for virtually 24/7 by members of our family. It reached the point that while she was still mobile, the kindest thing for her and our greatest act of love for her was to let her go. She went to the Rainbow Bridge on February 21, 2009 with her loving family members at her side. We miss her tremendously.

Puzzles are a classic gift idea.

The Parents' Choice Foundation has made a list of 10 Classic toys and has included one that we have long been aware of; puzzles. They make a great, economical gift that can be used again and again. Here is the full list of 10 Classic Toys.

Crayola crayons
Radio Flyer Classic wagon
Paper Airplanes
A Doll (that neither talks nor performs bodily functions)
Legos
Play-Doh
Bicycle or skateboard
Puzzles
Action figures
Non-electric toy cars and trucks.

While you will have to seek out another retailer for many of the gifts on the list, we have an entire category dedicated to children's puzzles. Some are for boys, some are for girls and some are unisex. All are reasonably priced.

Do you want to save some money on your order?

Of course you do. We all do. It is simple as pie or rather simple as signing up for the Galaxy Puzzles newsletter list. Get a 10% off coupon simply for signing up. The newsletter has additional exclusive discounts to save you money. Keep money in your pocket and keep the puzzles coming to your door. The sign up form is on the left side of every page of the web site.

M.C. Escher comes to Galaxy Puzzles!

No, not the real artist. That would be most interesting during this Halloween season considering he passed away in 1972. Our powers aren't that great though. We sure would wonder what other ideas he could come up with. We will have to settle for the fascinating works he did creat in his lifetime.

What have have gotten and made available to you are some of his terrific works turned jigsaw puzzle. Ascending and Descending, Drawing Hands and House of Stairs are a fun activity for anyone ages 12 and up. Each of the puzzles has 1,000 pieces and is in his signature black and white and well as shades of grey. Try one or all three of them out. You are sure to be pleased with these or any of the high quality puzzles made by Pomegranate.

The dog takes a hit and puts dog jigsaw puzzles on sale!

Shayna, the Galaxy Puzzles mascot, is still hanging around at almost 17 years old. Her days are getting sleepier and her movements less sure footed, but she still enjoys putting in a full day snoozing next to my desk during work hours. Nights are a different story. She spends those with all members of her family and enjoys sleeping in as much as the rest of us. She usually enjoys a chauffered (er make that carried) trip outside in the morning. Usually it is a pretty mundane morning, save for a brief bit of excitement a few days ago.

On this unfortunate morning Shayna was chauffered downstairs by my husband for her morning constitutional. A minute or two later I hear, "Shayna, where are you? Shayna, where did you go?" a bunch of times. Shayna is almost completely deaf so calling her doesn't do any good. Then I hear, "OMG, are you okay?" at which time I really perked up my ears. He opened the screen door to let her back in the house. He didn't look behind him and reached to turn off the outide lights. He shut the front door almost all the way. He assumed Shayna was in the house. He accidentally shut poor, very skinny Shayna between the front door and the screen door! She was fine, just cold from standing facing away from the directions next to the metal screen door. She hadn't made a peep. I suppose she was just too stunned to do anything. Upon her release from her confinement, she trotted off to resume her napping.

In honor of her surviving this traumatic ordeal fully intact, Galaxy Puzzles is giving you a coupon code to use on all dog puzzles good through next Friday, October 17th, 2008. Simply put Shayna into the code section to get 15% off of an or all of our great dog jigsaw puzzles. And if you run into my husband, please give him a good ribbing on my behalf. I told him I was going to let him forget it and here it is in black and white for all the world to see.

Only a few left of these discontinued jigsaw puzzles

TDC Games, a manufacturer of jigsaw puzzles, has discontinued a few popular styles of 300 piece puzzles. The puzzles are both part of the Visisble Puzzles series. Visible puzzles all have larger than normal pieces making them ideal for the elderly, because they are easy to handle. In addition they come with a magnifying glass which makes the pieces easier to see. In addition to being popular with the elderly, these 300 piece puzzles make a great gift for kids.

While there are other Visible Puzzles available, the following two puzzles are out of stock at the manufacturer and we are unable to obtain any more once they are sold out. The puzzles are:

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Tulip Tunes

"Teddy Bears"

Environmentally friendliness and Galaxy Puzzles

Galaxy Puzzles is well aware of environmental issues facing our world. We are taking steps to do our part and will incorporate more whenever possible. For example, Galaxy Puzzles no longer purchases styrofoam peanuts which do not degrade in landfills. We buy brown paper in rolls. It takes up far less room in the trucks delivering to us than peanuts do, thus saving both gas and carbon emissions. You may occasionally receive a package with peanuts in it, but rest assured that any peanuts used are recycled from local, nonsmoking only resources. Reusing the peanuts has the double benefit of keeping them from the landfill and helping to keep your postage costs lower. Please reuse the peanuts. If you are unable to do so, please check with your local packaging store to see if they will accept them for recycling.