BenSpark Family Adventures

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02212 Andy brought this piece of artwork home from school. Andy made it in art class and I think this is the first piece I had seen all year. It is quite beautiful. Tonight was the first night of Hadestown and Eva had a wonderful night. Allison went to see the show along with Tara, Shelby, Kylie and Tara’s friend Beth and our cousin Annie. Everyone loved the show. Eva came and told me all about it when she got home around midnight.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02211 Today the Feehan theater company performed Hadestown Teen Edition for local grade schoolers. There is one point in the show where one of the characters has blood on their clothes. It is Eva’s job as the costume lead to clean the clothes between each show. I got her this red sox bucket from Lowes with a package of OxiClean that she could use to let the shirts soak until she got them home to wash. She actually created blood packets and they are put into tiny pockets that she sewed into the shirts. Essentially she created squibs for the show. Eva was not familiar with that word. A squib is a fake blood packet that is used in film production. She created those for the show. I was very impressed.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02210 I saw that the Blue Pride Bistro was serving Frnach Onion Soup this week. So, I went there for lunch and since it was close to pick up time for Andy I just went and parked in the pick up line and waited while listening to my audiobook. I also picked up some heart shaped cookies at the bistro for the family.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02209 It has taken several years but we have slowly replaced all of our major appliances in the kitchen and then now match. Today our new gas stove arrived and was installed by our plumber. Thanks to my parents who gifted us a new stove for Christmas. I know it is going to see plenty of use. Already it is light years better than our previous stove. The pre-heat time is amazing and it even tells you what temp the oven is as it pre-heats. No extended waiting or guessing. The stove even has an air fry option. I’m interested to see how that goes and there is a griddle on the top for making pancakes and more.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02208 We are getting a new stove. Today our plumber came by and disconnected the old gas stove so that it can be hauled away tomorrow when the new one is delivered. Andy was home and was fascinated that our plumber was laying across one of the counters to get at the gas pipe. So, later on Andy recreated that move for me and this photo. Andy also did this unprompted for Allison to show her what they saw earlier in the day.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02207 This year when I was ordering the Hallmark ornament I saw that they had a special Optimus Prime ornament. Instead of adding it to the tree, which I still need to take down, I put it with my Optimus Prime figures in my office. Maybe this one will make it to the tree next year.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02206 I found these mini waffle cone treats over at Seabra today. They are just the ends of the cones filled with chocolate. In this case a sea salt and caramel chocolate. I have to say, they are very tasty. I’ve been seeing various versions of this treat all around lately. They’ve been out for some time but I’m just noticing them now. I always liked those ice cream cones with the little bit of chocolate in the bottom of the sugar cone, I just never thought of having just that part as a snack. They are really good.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02205 I picked up a set of markers from Temu the other day. I’ve been toying with the idea of making a series of videos of me coloring. Maybe people might enjoy that, maybe they won’t. I’ve got all the materials. I just need to start. I’ve been trying to get motivated but it is not happening as of yet.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02204 This morning when I went out to start the cars the sky was beautiful. I liked how it reflected on my windows. It is still very cold here, though.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02203 Before the Tik Tok shutdown I ordered a book from one of the authors on there. The story is about a NPC (Non-Player Character) who becomes self aware and remembers all the awful things that the heroes have done to them in the game. So then they decide to get their revenge. So far it is an interesting read and I may pick up some other books from this same author. He has a couple of other series that look interesting.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02202 I was walking through Target and a Hot wheels car caught my eye. I had been limiting myself to only the Character cars for Marvel super heroes but the color scheme of this car was something that I recognized. It was that of my favorite Transformers character, Wheeljack. In the 80’s Wheeljack was a Lancia with a white green and red color scheme. This little hot wheels Kart definitely made me think of my guy, wheeljack, so I bought it. Hot wheels actually made a Lancia car with the exact look of wheeljack in all metal. I have that up on my wall. I figured that this one should be in with my Wheeljack collection, though.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02201 I found a bunch of Marvel soaps at Target and decided on the Iron Man themed one. It has a great scent to it. I haven’t been using bars of soap for a long time. I’d been using body wash instead. I have a special scrubber which works great with the body wash. But I love this new scent so much more. I may have to change things up. I’m also interested in trying the three other scents. They have ones for Captain America, Spider-Man and Thor. They are from Dr. Squatch.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02200 I went to the basement today to do laundry and I checked all the mouse traps. While checking the traps I found some water on the floor near the boiler. I searched a bit and found a small puddle of water under some pipes near the new boiler. Gotta call the plumber. Luckily the leak is very, very small. Just small drips at this point. I hope that does not get worse before we see the plumber.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02199 In the first episode of the Transformers cartoon in 1984 two of my favorite characters were in the very first scenes. Wheeljack and Bumblebee were scavenging for energon and hiding from the Decepticons. They found some energon rods and were attacked by Starscream and his seekers. Bumblebee got damaged and ended up having to get inside Wheeljack’s vehicle mode so they could get to safety. These two toys are the Cybertron forms and I’m excited about this because the bumblebee figure can actually fit inside the Wheeljack figure so you can recreate that opening scene.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02198 Over Christmas we were introduced to a pickle dip that my sister made. It was really good. I had been thinking about it ever since and decided that I would make my own. Today I picked up some greek yogurt and some sour cream as well as a packet of Knorr Onion soup. I took those items and added some mayo and chopped up pickles. I had enough to separate the mixture into two portions. It took one of them and added cajun spices and also some fried chili flakes in oil to make a spicy one. I also found these new pretzel rings called Pressels over at Big Lots, (sadly our store is closing) and made sure to get as many bags as I could. These are perfect for dipping and they are light, crispy and tasty. I especially like the ones with sesame seeds.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02197 The current run of Transformers and G.I. Joe books from Skybound have been awesome. In the latest Transformers Book the character of Astrotrain is seen in a fight in this month’s issue and It so happens that the kids got me an Astrotrain Funko POP! figure. I am hoping that the series will also introduce Blaster. as for G.I. JOE the new series is great and they have introduced a brand new character that I think will be an interesting addition to the team. There has been a slow build to this series over the past year or so and it is paying off.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02196 When I picked Eva up from school today she was all excited because her friend had come back from college to visit and she brought Eva a special apron that she had made for Eva. The apron says Costume Lead on it because that is what Eva is for the Fall production at Feehan. It is the perfect accessory for her as she is getting costumes ready for everyone in the play. It also meant a lot to Eva to receive this gift because she really looks up to her friend and enjoyed working with her, especially last year. Eva is pretty amazing in her own right and she’s been a great Costume lead for the Fall production. We cannot wait to see it.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02195 With one of the most pitiful raises ever this year I have to get creative in making money. So, I saw this ad for something a bit creative. There is a company called Sticker.co that will pay me in restaurant.com gift cards for advertising on my car. Does it sound like a scam, yes. Am I going to give it a shot? Yes. The good thing is that the sticker for my car finally arrived. I had been getting a bit worried that it had not arrived but it finally did today so I put it on my car. Each month I take a photo of the sticker with a printout of a keyword so that the company can track that I still have the sticker on the car. Then they will pay out a portion of advertising dollars into my restaurant .com account for gift cards that I can use to go out to eat. While it is not bringing in actual money it can help defray the cost of eating out which in itself is so expensive now. We’ll see how this works out in the next couple of months.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02194 Back in May I backed an amazing Kickstarter for the G.I. JOE Compendium. This leatherbound book set contains the original run of G.I. JOE A Real American Hero from 1982 plus a bunch of great extras. The compendium collects issues 1-155 plus so many additional books from that time including Transformers Vs. G.I. Joe. It was expensive but today when it arrived it was so worth it. This is an incredibly beautiful set! I can’t wait to get reading!

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02193 When we were in Florida and we visited that giant candy store I found this candy bar called Jimmie Stix. These are pretzel sticks covered in peanut butter and then chocolate. Thesy sounded really good to me. I looked for things that I would like but I had never had before. Today I tried them and they were very good. Not as good as the original Take Five candy bar that had pretzels covered with chocolate but also caramel and peanut butter and I think one other thing to make it five things. Those used to be very good.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02192 When we were at Disney we went to the Laugh Factory Floor show and during the show I kept getting highlighted as “That Guy”. At the end of the show I was given a sticker to commemorate being “That Guy” Andy suggested that I add this new sticker to my water bottle. Andy has been getting stickers in one of their classes and putting those stickers on their water bottle. Andy enjoys showing us the new stickers each night at dinner.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02191 Today was Allison’s birthday and to celebrate we got dinner from Blue Moon Thai and I picked up some Awesome Sweets cupcakes from my friend, Sue. I hadn’t been by her shop in some time so it was nice to catch up and to have a reason to pop over and buy some of her great pastries. Allison picked out her favorites from Blue Moon and we had a very nice meal. The kids were wonderful with cards and gifts. Eva had been to the MFA today and got Allison a magnet of her favorite statue from the MFA. I got her a special side table for her Cricut that should be arriving later next week.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02190 We just came home from Florida the other day. Today was the second day back and I dropped Andy off at school and then hustled over to my new hangout spot, the Emerald Square Mall. Gone are the glory days for this building, now it is home to dwindling storefronts and a haven for former Mallrats turned Mall Walkers. That is what I am now. I had to find a physical alternative to my Krav Maga classes that I am no longer taking. It had been nice to do a lot of outdoor walking when I was in Florida but the weather here is quite cold.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02189 It has become known in my house that Dad likes the ends of the fresh breads that we have with dinner. That is not entirely the case, however. Dad knows that no one else in the house cares for those slices so he eats them. That is what a Dad does.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02188 Our flight home today was good, very uneventful and easy. Very early, though. We were up at 3:00am and on the road by 3:30. Luckily Dan and Marcia’s place is only an hour or so away from the airport. There was also very little as far as traffic on the road. I ran into one little snag with the rental car. I stopped and filled it up but the gas gauge did not register it as full or rather, it took a long time to have the gauge move to show that it was full. So I pulled back into the gas station until it showed full. Then we got that returned, got through security and got ourselves some breakfast and waited for the flight. We were able to get seats together and it was a smooth flight. We were home before noontime. Now it was time to catch up on sleep. But before bed I did enjoy one of the candy bars that we picked up at that Giant Candy store. This is a Bar None and I do not think I’ve ever had one before. Pretty tasty. Also, since we got home early enough I di...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02187 On our last full day in Florida we drove out to Crystal Prings to a spcial preserve to observe the manatees. This place had a bunch of manatees all floating around in a protected space. there was also an option to swim with them. People had snorkels and pool floats to swim near the manatees. It was interesting and a nice place to walk. after visiting the manatees we drove to Ocala and had an early dinner at Harry’s which was a New Orleans themed place and the food was excellent. I got shrimp and grits and it was the best meal of the trip. We followed that up by going to the giant candy store next door to get a couple of things. This place had so many different candy options. It was huge! when we got home we found out that the flight for tomorrow was cancelled. We were supposed to leave at 10:40am but then we got rescheduled to the 1:15pm flight. The problem was Baltimore. We were scheduled to fly through Baltimore but they were getting slammed with snow and...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02186 For our final day at Disney we went to The Magic Kingdom. Most of the family was going there and were going to take photos with the bride and groom near the castle but we did not end up doing that. We did, however go to The Haunted Mansion. Eva really wanted to go to that attraction. We also did It’s A Small World and several others. One of the attractions we went on was the Laugh Factory Floor which was a Monsters Inc themed attraction and I got singled out as “that guy”. Every time there was a punchline of a joke they’d put me on screen and say That Guy. It was pretty funny and the kids loved it.they were laughing like crazy. At the end of the show I was given a sticker that said, “I was That Guy at the Monsters Inc Laugh Floor”. So that was fun. We caught up with The bride and groom at the end of the day and had lunch with them. Then we got a bus back tot he hotel and headed back to Dan and Marcia’s. While we were in the park we found more shoulder pals ...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02185 Tonight is the wedding reception but for the day we decided to get tickets to go to Hollywood studios because we had never seen Galaxy’s Edge before and I really wanted to see it. We were able to get on one ride, the Smuggler’s Run and that was a decent ride but we could not get anywhere near Rise of the Resistance unless we wanted to start paying extra for special passes. But we explored the park for a bit and went to two attractions. The park is just so cramped. We also saw Muppet’s 3D which is a great little show to see plus there is virtually no wait for it and we were tired and cranky so that was good to do for a bit. We got some lunch and then searched for a special little shoulder pal for Andy. Andy wanted to find the Remy shoulder pal from Ratatouille. We were able to find him in one of the emporiums and Andy wore that for most of the rest of the trip. When we were in Galaxy’s Edge we wanted to get some of the blue milk but found out that it wasn’t ...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02184 Today we drove down to Disney World where we will stay for the next couple of days to celebrate my cousin’s wedding. We checked in to the All Star Music Resort a little after noontime and visited with some family, had some lunch and then got ready to go to Epcot for the Dessert reception that we were having in Italy. This would be a casual reception with tasty treats and access to great views of the fireworks and lights show. We thought that we would hop over to Epcot and then get our park passes at Guest Services and then ride the monorail. Well, we got the park passes pretty easily but then we found out that the monorail was not running from EPCOT at the moment. We debated hopping over tot he transportation center and then getting a monorail but then getting back in time for the reception would become an issue. So we stayed there and waited. It got cold. I had left my sweatshirt at my in-laws in their front hall closet so I only had a t-shirt and I was co...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02183 On our second full day at The Villages we did some shopping and at night went over to one of the town centers for their live music. There was supposed to be vendors there as well but that did not happen. The music was good but it was a bit chilly so we did not stay long. We went home and enjoyed more of the cake from Allison’s birthday.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02182 We’re in Florida for a few days for my cousin’s wedding and before we head down to Disney to celebrate we’re spending a couple days with Allison’s parents in The Villages. Allison and I took a walk around the neighborhood this morning and then I went for a longer walk because I have been trying to do 10,000 steps a day whenever I can. Walking around The Villages is nice because there are so many walking trails around and the weather is pretty warm so I didn’t need to bundle up. Tonight we celebrated Allison’s upcoming birthday. Her parents got her a great big cake and we had a meatballs and pasta for dinner. We would not go hungry all week. The day was pretty relaxed, we did not go far from the house. Allison and Eva and Marcia went for a ride on the Golf Cart but otherwise we stayed put.