I have a collection of 3-dimensional puzzles my sister gave me. Not the kind where you construct the Taj Mahal out of Styrofoam. The kind with seven or eight pieces that are supposed to add up to a cube or a pyramid or a sphere.

They’re nice looking, too. You don’t mind having them out on a shelf where people can see.

My favorite are the sphere and the barrel.

I got the sphere first. Probably the very first one. And, of course, taking the thing apart was easy. Getting it back together drove me nuts.

The barrel came later. And it was so tightly carved that taking it apart took me more brute force and brain power than it should have.

The experience was radically different. And that made me miss the fact that the two are basically the same puzzle. The pieces are shaped a little different, and that gives them a different shape. But assembling them? The pieces go together the same way.

I won’t tell you how long that took me to figure out.

**facepalm**