BenSpark Family Adventures

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02330 Eva has been hard at work sewing a new costume for the Granite State Comicon. What she has on now is the proof of concept for her costume. So she sewed this whole outfit before she sews her actual costume. I hope that she does well in the costume contest this year. She hasn’t entered it many times because she did not completely make her previous costumes. I thought that she had made enough to enter but she is a stickler for the rules. This September she’ll be presenting the actual costume. Such hard work.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02329 Today was the Brennan Color Run and I volunteered again. This is a fun event and it was much better organized than last year. I worked with the husband o the PTO president. He was a pretty nice guy. We started with the fifth and sixth grades. We had a ton of color and went through the whole box. When the seventh grade came out I got a shot with Andy. The kids had some events to do prior to actually running. They had an obstacle course as well as a dunk tank and more. they were also doing pies to the face of some teachers, an incentive they got for donations. After Andy ran around several times. One time through they gathered a ton of color in their shirt and then blasted me with it at the same time that I blasted them back. We were covered in the stuff. I left before the end of school so that I could shower and let Andy walk home so that they could get some of the color off on the walk and also not get a ton of color in my car. At the end of the event Andy was se...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02329 We are nearly one week away from opening night and tonight for rehearsal we did the whole show in costumes. My costume changed a bit for the policeman because now I have this very small Bobby hat. It barely fits. The group did a fantastic job tonight. There were a few hiccups but that was because of one guy who hasn’t been at barely any rehearsals. so he missed cues and more. It was annoying but we’ll get him up to speed and he’s in scenes with me. Sunday begins tech week so a full day there.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02328 One of the things that I do because of Virta is have a couple of Bouillon cubes each day for sodium. I’m not a fan of straight up drinking the stuff so in order to get some additional protein and veggies I have made it more interesting with mushrooms, green onions and little shrimp. I can pick up cans of tiny shrimp and get 4 soups out of it. I can also get cans of mushrooms and get the same amount across the soups. I wanted some additional veggies so I added green onions which you can get a bunch for cheap. They add flavor and veggies. So Each day I make a couple of these soups to get the sodium as well as protein and veggies. Taste pretty good, too.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02327 I was at rehearsal tonight and a bit bored because everyone was there and I did not have to fill in for anyone. I had already played out all the games on my phone and social media was all the same stuff so I started messing with the apps on my watch and discovered that I can use my watch to control my phone’s camera. So I took this photo.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02327 We’ve got Mushrooms growing in the yard along the walkway. Andy scanned them with an identifier app on their phone and picked them to inspire some building on Minecraft. I’ll have andy compost them tomorrow.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02326 When I arrived at rehearsal tonight the sign for Sly Fox was out in front of the building. It is great to see that up because we are coming so close to the opening night. Next Sunday starts Tech Week for the show. Tonight there were a couple of people missing so I stepped in to a couple of roles. I was all over the place throughout the whole night. The show continues to come together. The cast is lovely and it has been a lot of fun. The weirdest part for me is when I have to do my actual role, it is rather small but still a role. When you go from doing everything to saying a couple of lines it is a bit strange like there is nothing for me to do in the final play. I am trying to put in some little things to make my character stand out a bit. Let’s hop eit works in the final performances.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02325 Beef stew is one of my all time favorites. Allison makes a great one in the Instant Pot from time to time. We had some stew beef from Chartley form our last bundle and decided to make beef stew this weekend. However, with the new meal plan with Virta I cannot eat carrots and potatoes, two major staples in the beef stew. So in order to adapt to my new way of meal prep I took some of the beef from the stew and put it in the frying pan with fresh peppers and mushrooms, both marinated mushrooms and sliced mushrooms. We’ve had a jar of marinated mushrooms in the fridge for a while because Andy wanted to try them. I’ve been using them up for dinners and breakfasts. I’m not a huge fan of the marinated mushrooms but I do like sliced up mushrooms with my meals, they give me something extra to eat and count as veggies. I made this for myself last night and tonight. Last night we had Miss Colleen over and she made some homemade bread. I can’t eat that now but it looke...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02324 The Rhododendron bushes are in a bit of a sad state. Several branches are dead or dying but then there are these crazy buds that are growing. elsewhere around the house we have the seeds that are in the raised bed starting to sprout and some are going crazy like the zucchini. The only one not doing anything is the cayenne peppers. I think we may even begin harvesting the zucchini in the next month or so. I will have to get a cage around the thing to prevent the squirrels from getting into the garden. On the Virta front things are going very well. My blood sugars have remained stable since I began the journey. No crazy spikes or anything. I do think that I will have to vary up my meal choices so that I do not get bored with this. I’ll try the recipes but probably not the cream cheese pancakes again. It tasted like eggs with cinnamon. Which, essentially, it was. But I am finding good alternatives to everything. It makes sense and it is working.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02323 Allison and her class had a field trip today and she made this shirt for the event. I guess the teacher in the classroom made shirts for all the kids and since Allison has her own cricut she made a shirt for herself. The kids went down to the Fire Department and got a tour today. They had a really fun time.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02322 I’ve been working on some additional things to enjoy as alternative foods. Since I can no longer have bread I found an alternative for my burger tonight. This is pickle “bread”. You pat the pickles dry and put them side by side with some cheese underneath it and some on top. I probably went and put a bit too much cheese. I’ll try some different cheeses when I make it again. I used the mexican shredded cheese to start. I’m very early in my Virta journey but between yesterday and today my blood sugars were more stable than they have been in a very long time.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02321 This morning I started on my new eating program with Virta Health. This is a service that I am taking advantage of from my Health Insurance. I have a dedicated care team that is helping me make some nutritional changes and lifestyle changes as well as changes to my medications. The program is heavily influenced by KETO. So I will be eating more protein and less carbs. I think I should be able to do that just by cutting out all my major snacking that I’ve been doing forever. My snack stash has been emptied out. So for breakfast I have some ham that we cut up and froze from Easter. I put a half cup of that in the pan with some butter, peppers, 2 eggs and then some cheese. I’ve got to get some other veggies that will work for frying pans and grilling up for other meals. I can also use mushrooms so I am excited about that.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02320 A few days since I installed the Seedsheets onto the raised bed and I have some sprouts from each of the seed packets. These ones are of the zucchini. I’m excited to see how well things grow this first time around. I’m preparing to start with Virta Health tomorrow. It is a whole new way of eating for me. Many things that I have been doing I am stopping. Fast food, candy and lots of carb filled snacks. It is going to be a major adjustment for me but I know I can help myself ween off of many of my meds and hopefully lose some weight. Another project that I have ben working on has been to move all my blog posts from my WordPress blog, which I have to pay for monthly, to my free blog on Blogger from Google. The thing is that I can only move 100 posts a day. I figure that as I work backwards through my archives I can do 3 months at a time. So it will take some time but I have gotten a rhythm together for this and I will also be putting my Photo-A-Day photos into their...

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02319 A few months ago I got a letter that was from Virat health but also through my health insurance. I wasn’t sure if it was legitimate but when I inquired further through the insurance website and also talking with my doctor I decided to check into it. The program is a nutrition and medical program for members with type II diabetes. I’ve been managing things pretty well for a while now but I figure anything else may help so I joined up. Turns out that the program actually supplies me with lots of things to help with diabetes including test strip and a new glucose monitor.; I still use the Dexcom for constant monitoring but will also do single checks with the glucose and ketone monitor. This is connected to an app where I am connected to my care team. They also supplied me with a scale and a food scale and some samples of an electrolyte drink. There is also a nutrition guide and recipe book. I get started with this in earnest on Tuesday.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02318 My member pack for Marvel Unlimited arrived today. This is a membership program where I have access to a huge library of Marvel comics. Each year members get an action figure, a pin, some comics and more. It was rather light this year with only one comic book but the action figure was cool and the pin was also really cool. It was Wolverine themed this year.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02317 Right before midnight tonight I saw some lights outside the window. Flashing Red and Blue lights. I guess an ambulance was across the street. I went downstairs to take a look and noticed that the light coming through the front door window looked funky. I shot a bunch of photos of it to catch multiple colors.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02316 All around the house the rhododendrons are starting to bloom. I have some plants that have died, though. After everything blooms I’ll trim off all the bushes and also cut back the dead plants.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02315 I’ve been considering trying to grow some arborvitaes along the fence in the backyard for some time now. I picked up one the other day and planted it. Then I got a couple more. I am hoping that over time they will grow large enough to make a natural privacy screen instead of the fence. The fence is falling apart and I’m not thrilled about replacing it. I think that some trees may look nicer.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02314 My purple controller started acting up with stick drift recently so I picked up a new controller. Trying to fix stick drift has proven very difficult if not impossible so far. So I got the new controller and it is the same as the purple one with the special buttons. I find it near impossible to play the game now without these special buttons. I set them to be the same as pushing down the sticks. So much easier than pushing down the sticks. When I plugged in the new controller it had the same stick drift as the other one so I then checked the settings in Fortnite and realized that the settings were what was causing the drift. So now I have a backup controller.

  Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02313 I received the Seed sheets that I had ordered last month. I filled the raised bed with the rest of the soil and compost that I had set aside as I waited for the whole thing to settle more. It has been settling quite a bit with all the recent rain and I figure it may take a whole season to get it to perfectly leveled out. But I took the seed sheets and installed them today. We got Zucchini, two types of lettuce, dragon carrots, cayenne pepper and scallions in the mix. They each came on a sheet of anti-weed material with the seeds in dissolvable pods. I watered them with the rain barrel by putting the water into a watering can. I have a pump coming tomorrow so that I can use the rainwater like I would the hose. That way I can mist it and spray it much better than just dumping the water on. I also planted the arborvitaes that I bought. I may have to pick up a few more and get that area along the fence going with a row of them. I’d like to replace the whole are...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02312 Eva came home from her trip to New York. She was there with Tara and Erik for the weekend. It was a quick but very full trip. They went to check out two colleges, F.I.T. and Pratt. and Tara and Eva went to see The Crane Wives, Eva’s favorite band. We celebrated Allison tonight with a steak dinner. the kids made her cards and I picked up new sheets for the Cape and a very cute planter. Allison will be making a trip to Briggs soon or maybe Seven Arrow Farm.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02311 The kids got me this Optimus Prime model kit for Christmas. I had a chance last night to put it together. Blokees are model kits that have various sizes. The smallest sized models are in blind boxes. I did pick up the first set of them when they first came out. They are expensive so I did not keep up with buying them plus I didn’t want any doubles. There are a couple of Wheeljack ones and I would like to find those ones. They also have larger ones like this one where you know what you are getting. I’d rather buy one that I wanted so I do have a couple of these, Two different Optimus ones and one Bumblebee one. There is a Soundwave one coming out soon, too.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02310 Ever since moving over to a new Comic Book shop I’ve taken a renewed interest in the Thundercats. I was already enjoying Transformers and G.I. JOE but this other 80’s group The Thundercats is seeing a resurgence and I got right into their books. I’m now pretty caught up. It is making me think that I should go ahead and reprint the Sword of Omens and try and get that painted and colored. Now that I know more about 3D printing I think I can do a much better job of it.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02309 Tonight was the yearly play that Andy’s Middle School puts on. Last year one of Andy’s teachers suggested that Andy be considered to help run the lights at the play because Andy had such an aptitude for technical things. Last year Andy ran the spotlight for the show and this year Andy did the lights for the talent show and also the lights and sound for the play this year. The play was called The Big Bad and it was the trail of the Big Bad Wolf. The kids did a nice job of it. My mom and my Aunt Donna also came to see the play. We chatted with Andy after the show. I had to get a shot of Andy’s t-shirt. Allison made it based on a sticker that the guy who runs the lights at ACT has on his light booth. He wasn’t there at rehearsal, which I had to run off to right after Andy’s show, but I’ll show him Sunday. After the play Andy helped clean up all around. Allison said that Andy worked really hard cleaning up all the equipment. Andy will work hard if given a clear task...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02308 I picked up a new series for Andy to read. I’m reading it ,too. The series is called Amulet and it is a graphic novel series. There are 9 books and I picked all of them up between my old comic book store and my new one and Amazon. Amazon was the last resort but I did complete the series. I’ve read book 1 and Andy has read books 1 and 2. Andy seems to like it so far. I am enjoying it but am reading many things at once.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02307 I finally got to see the Thunderbolts movie this morning. I was going to go yesterday but I had forgotten that Andy had a physical. I did have a ticket for yesterday that I got with a discount but never got to use it. I considered going to see part of it yesterday but that didn’t make much sense. I did see it today and I liked it very much. I did get spoiled about a couple of things, one from the Internet and the other from Marvel marketing. Neither really ruined my enjoyment of the movie, more of an annoyance than anything else. I’m really looking forward to seeing Fantastic Four next month, too. I hope that is done just as well.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02306 I got a new pair of glasses. I’d been wearing an old pair that was broken for some time now and it is great not to have a scratch right in my field of vision. I do have a pair of META glasses but they are so thick and heavy. I’ll use those for the beach since they have the transition lenses and you can listen to music with them. Otherwise they are not that practical. They were a novelty but in no way practical for everyday wear. These new ones are Oakley and they are very light.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02305 The Arbor Day Foundation has designated Attleboro as Tree City. I was noticing all the trees along the road at Judy Robbins Park. I walk along there most days and the other night I noticed that many of the trees were blooming. The city must have put some nice new mulch around each tree. It made such a difference that I thought that the trees had just been planted. It looks great. I had rehearsal in the late afternoon today but there were many people not at rehearsal. So, I had to do multiple roles again. I swear, I have no clue what I actually have to do in my own role.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02304 Today was Free Comic Book day so instead of heading to Wild Time Comics (first time in 20 years not going to them) for my free comics I ran by the mall to Newbury comics because there was a special Energon Universe comic that I had to make sure to get. I wasn't sure if I would get the comic at my new store, The Laughing Shield. The store is great but it is small and I know that smaller places are going to have a smaller inventory. I was right because Laughing Shield allowed everyone to take 1 free comic and Newbury allowed everyone to take 3. So, I did end up getting all the free comics that I was looking for. I even found one Minecraft one for Andy. At The Laughing Shield I picked up a new book that caught my eye, Moonshine Bigfoot. It looked as if Bigfoot was one of the duke Boys from The Dukes of Hazzard. It is a 4 issue run so that was fun.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02303 Tonight was Eva’s prom. She went with four of her friends and is staying overnight at one of their houses. And that person’s dad just so happens to be Andy’s 6th grade teacher and the one who runs the theater program. He’s very fond of Andy and was singing his praises to me when I dropped off Eva to get ready with her friends. Allison and I came back for 5pm with all the other parents and we were able to take a bunch of photos before the girls got into the car service to be taken to the Prom. Before all that though, Eva had a half day and I took her over to get her hair done before the Prom. Mom and Dad came up from the Cape so that Mom could give Eva a pocketbook to take with her.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02302 The Blue Pride Bistro had a special menu today. This was there Cinco De Mayo menu and they had a great Elote , or rather Mexican Street Corn and Birria Tacos. Both were pretty good. I walked over for lunch and then walked home. Later on I walked to rehearsal and back again. During rehearsal I had to cover for the main character again. And then did my own role and a couple of others. I jump in and out of everything. The play is coming around though.