BenSpark Family Adventures

Photo-A-Day #02573 I've been playing a solo D&D RPG this year with a daily calendar. I learned about this Transformers deck building card game and I picked it up. It has a solo mode and a multiplayer mode as well. There are many expansion packs. I'll see how the game is before I look into expanding.  Speaking of Transformers I finished reading my first box of comics today. I finished with Regeneration One Issue #100. I'll go put that box back on the rack and bring up Box #2 tomorrow. More Transformers. I think I have 6 or 7 that are just Transformers  related. The kids finished watching The Lord of the Rings tonight. I came down when they were making popcorn and about to start disc #2. I could hear them from downstairs and they both exclaimed "2 Hours!" These were long movies.

Photo-A-Day #02572 The other day when we had a snow day and spent the evening watching The Lord of The Rings Eva and Andy really enjoyed the movie and wanted to continue watching the rest of the movies in the trilogy. Allison was out for the night and the kids decided to have a movie night, just the two of them. they watched The Two Towers, the second movie in the trilogy and plan to watch the third movie tomorrow night. It was really nice to see the two of them enjoying each other's company and a movie together. This afternoon we had a Zoom birthday party for Mem. She and Grandfather are down in Florida and Tara set up the Zoom so we could all get together to wish her a happy birthday.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02571 Today I came out to see that the hood of my car had  several prominent scratches on it. The snow had finally melted off enough to notice it. My first thought was that when the kids were clearing off the car that they used a shovel and that is where the scratches came from. But, Allison was out with them and said that they only used the foam snow remover. Then I thought that someone plowing backed into the hood of my car. I also thought that maybe something happened while I was out parked somewhere but I hadn't gone anywhere. It was driving me crazy. When I picked Andy up from clubs today I asked if they had used a shovel to clear the snow away. They had not used a shovel. I explained that there were several scratches and a bit of a dent on the hood of the car. I mentioned that I couldn't figure out what did it and wondered if a plow backed into it. Well, it wasn't a plow. Andy had been walking on the snow in my old snowshoes and must not have realized...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02570 I've been making great progress in rereading my comics and also reading some I've collected and yet never read before. One series I had never read was Regeneration One which continued the original Transformers run of comics from the 80's some 20 years later. But, since I had never actually read the whole original run I didn't want to read these until I had completed that. So, now I am there and ready to read these books.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #025689 With a major snow day yesterday and a second snow day for Andy today plus a 2 hour delay for both Allison and Eva we had more time at home. Yesterday Andy made some chocolate/coconut cookies and Eva made chocolate chip cookies. Today Andy made everything but the kitchen sink cookies with M&Ms, pretzels and potato chips. Needless to say It has been a challenge to stick to the Virta diet that I am on. I had a few of these cookies. Each was good but my favorite are the coconut ones. Andy did a great job on them. Although next time we figure that they leave out the chocolate chips and dip the cookies into melted chocolate instead. I continue to work on reading my comic book collection.Today I completed the 12 issue series of Transformers Generation 2. Good story, not the best but I was so excited in 1993 when Transformers came back to comic books. I don't think I'll ever tire of reading these stories.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02568 Today we enjoyed a snow day. We got a about 15 inches of snow overnight and through the day. I finished work and slept for a couple of hours and when I got hup Andy, Allison and Eva had all gone out to shovel to the driveway and try to get over to Joanie's driveway to shovel her out. Luckily her other neighbor had already gone ahead and shoveled her out. I got up around 10:30 and went out and did the snowblower on the sidewalks and our driveway and back patio.  After the snow we had lunch and then played Andy's new board game. It is called Hues and Cues. The point is to describe a color in one or two words and that allows the players to guess which color you are trying to describe. Then players can score points by guessing the correct color or by being close. Andy is great at being able to put color hues together but they did not end up winning the game. That went to me. After the game we decided to watch a movie. At first we were going to watch Spaceball...

 Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02567 Eva and Andy were helping me shovel today and as we did a perfect snowflake landed on Eva's sweater. You can see it by her finger. It looked better moments before I photographed it, however, it does still look like a snowflake that one would picture when thinking of a snowflake.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02566 MExican chocolate is one of my favorites. I love mixing spices with chocolate so much. When I learned about Roasty Buds online I picked up a couple of bags of their Mexican chocolate and we made cold brew from it. That was over the Summer. But now it is the Winter and it is cold, very cold and I'm having hot coffee. Luckily roasty Buds makes K-cups and I can make myself cups of this tasty blend to enjoy.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02565 I do love a LEGO food truck. they are so fun. I love the look of each of them and have a few. This one will go perfectly with the Hamburger food truck. They also have a Toy truck that is out but I haven't found it yet. I'm sure that there are also some retired food trucks as well. They are very fun to make.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02564 I purchased these 8 comic books from 616 comics. They are special covered done by two different artists. The ones on the left are by Tiago Da Silva. I have all of his other Transformers split view comics where one side is of a pristine robot and the other is battle scarred. I did not know that he had done Soundwave and Jazz until recently. So when I got some Christmas money I decided to get these comics. The ones on the right side are by Bjorn Barends. They depict Optimus Prime facing off against Megatron. The Megatron one is the perfect comic book for him because in it Megatron returns in a huge way.  I recently reread and read for the first time all 80 comics from the original Transformers comic book run from Marvel. I never had all of them until last year. Now I have them and also a compendium of all of them plus the UK versions of the comic and some short stories and more. There is a lot in the compendium. I've been trying to reread my entire Transformers...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02563 Today I received a new Transformers figure called Road Rage. He is an Autobot that is the same style as Tracks. Tracks is the blue Corvette and that was the original one that I've had since the 80's. Road rage is a great looking figure, too. It arrived in robot mode and I was able to transform it down to a car so that he could slip in with the rest of the Autobot cars.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02562 We had rehearsal tonight and I had brought gifts for everyone but I have yet to give them out. I ordered these cute little stone wolves to give to everyone. I thought that tonight would be a good night to give them out but I think I'll pass them out on opening night.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02561 Today was the first snow of the year. We got enough to have to shovel but not enough to pull out the snowblower. I ended up going out during my break and shoveling off the snow from our neighbor and then I had Andy shovel the rest around our house. Then got some sleep.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02560 With a day off tomorrow andy has been preparing for a D&D session with friends. One thing that andy has done to prepare is to create several Wanted posters for the campaign. Andy had purchased some special paper for one of their new hobbies, Wax seals. Andy has been using the papers for letters but tonight they made some cool wanted posters. Andy found some files of characters to point and on the distressed papers and then used paint to mark up the posters and add Wanted to the top of each one. I thought that was pretty slick.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02559 A while back I bought some different off brand LEGO like sets from TEMU. This three headed dragon was in a blind box and I had no clue that I had ordered it because it was a while ago. So it was fun to see this and build it tonight. Took me several hours but since we had nothing going on at work tonight I had the time. Thi was where I was at 11:58pm.  Finished Dragon

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02558 I popped in on Eva before heading to work tonight and she was working on her costume for tomorrow's Steampunk Festival. She's volunteering at the event and has put together a rather cool outfit. She needed my steampunk goggles to finish it off so I grabbed them for her. I hope it is a super fun day tomorrow.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02557 LEGO has release two Back To The Future Delorean sets. This one above is the latest set and it is at a much better price point. I picked it up and also made sure to grad the light kit from Briksmax so that I could have it lit up for display. I'm trying to figure out a rig to display it on the wall in the over mode and also keep the battery pack attached to the bottom. The battery pack is huge so hiding it will be interesting.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02556 Today was a good comic book day because I had two of my favorites ready to pick up. The ongoing G.I. JOE and Transformers comics were great. I also get G.I. JOE: A Real American Hero which continues the story from the 80's, it is good but not my favorite. The great thing about the other two was some major reveals. Both had jaw dropping final panels. I did not see one of the twists coming at all and the other was insane. I'm loving these series and I also continue my reread of the Classic Transformers comics including many of the UK ones I have never read before.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02555 Heading downstairs and Torrun was looking photo ready. Had to take a few because she just kept turning away. She is not that cooperative for photos.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02554 Back on Virta and finding different ways to enjoy things I enjoy that are not Virta approved, like pizza. The crust is what gets me and just eating the toppings off a pizza and tossing out the crusts is rather wasteful. I have been enjoying baking cheese. This is cheese that you can bake in the oven for about 10 - 15 minutes and it tastes just like pizza cheese and so I've been making this with pepperoni and mushrooms to enjoy the kind of pizza I like with some sauce for dipping. Limiting the sauce a bit too because of the potential for sugar from the tomatoes but still enjoying a little of it at a time.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02553 I've been working on a 3D project this past week. I'm creating a Character box for role playing games. I created it to incorporate the Thundercats because there is a Thundercats RPG coming out soon. I backed the project on Kickstarter and so I am working on perfecting the box for playing the game. I like how the box came out but I want to make another one with some additions. Also refine it a bit more.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02552 Today was Allison's birthday. We celebrated by going to the Colonel Blackinton Inn for dinner. Dinner was taken care of by a Christmas gift card and another gift card that Allison received from school. We had an excellent meal. Andy got adventurous and then realized that they really did not like spinach. Allison got her favorite which was butternut squash ravioli. Eva went with chicken parm and I went with the Wedge salad and short ribs and asparagus. Both Allison and Andy also had French Onion soup. We were seated in one of the small rooms in the back and hard it mostly to ourselves. It was a lovely dinner with good conversation and a chance to celebrate Allison. When we came home we had some cake that was left over from Allison's birthday celebration last night with friend and also some cupcakes that Andy baked last night. It was a nice time.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02551 I've been back on the virta eating plan this past week and I've been seeing some ads for baking cheese. This is cheese that you bake in the oven or air fryer and cut to be like Mozzarella sticks. No carbs so this is great for me. I got a block o the cheese at the store today and baked it for andy and me to try tonight. I got some marinara sauce to go with it. It was really tasty stuff. I'd go for getting it again and next time cut it in half for myself and cover with pepperoni. It is like pizza without the crust.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02550 The other day Andy asked me to order them some glass bottles and some mica powder because they wanted to make potion bottles. Andy also has a wax stamping kit and has been using the two together to make potions. These will most likely be used as props for some D&D sessions that andy is going to have with friends.  Andy tends to have hyper focus on these types of projects and then moves on to the next things soon. However, Andy has been pretty dedicated to making fun things for their D&D campaign. I saw a great little notebook for D&D that keeps all the character information in one place. I bought 4 of them for Andy's campaign that they've been doing with their friends. If it makes the kid happy and is offline, doesn't hurt anyone then I'm going to go over the top to support their endeavors.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02549 I've been working on getting back on virta and eating as I had been prior to the holidays. I'd been indulging too much and it was being reflected in my numbers. Specifically my blood sugar numbers. so, this week I was back making eggs for breakfast instead of a granola bar and a special soup for lunch. It is really easy and very tasty, not to mention inexpensive. It start with frozen cooked shrimp. I put 6 of them in a bowl of water to thaw. Then when it comes time to chop them I also chop up green onion and mushroom. I add that with a bouillon cube to a pat of butter, heavy whipping cream, and a spoonful of chili crisp. I them put water into the container that I seal up for 10-30 minutes depending upon what I am doing. When I want the soup I pour it into a bowl and microwave it for 2 minutes. When I got to eat it I ad a handful of chili-lime peanuts to the soup for a little extra to chew on. In this one I some bacon as well. I don't do that often but...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02548 Andy was asked to be a part of a special band for the Attleboro Inauguration of the Mayor and city council. The band was made up of middle schoolers from the 3 city middle schools. It was great that Andy was asked to be a part of this. We went to see the Inauguration. The band played one song and it was very nice. The whole ceremony was good. I enjoyed it.  When we arrived we parked next to a woman that I used to train with at Krav. Her son is the kid right in front of Andy. He's going to be in 9th grade at the high school next year, too. He's also into culinary so that will be nice. I also found out that my friend used to work with the director of my play. Small world. The woman who is playing the mother in the play that I am in was there because her husband was being sworn in as a new school committee member at large. So we did not have rehearsal tonight. But going forward Tuesday and Thursday and Sunday will be our rehearsals.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02547 I bought some D&D dice a while back with a Lord of the Rings Eye or Sauron theme to them. I have been using them since the 1st because I have been playing a daily solo D&D style adventure. I bought two of these page a day calendars, one for me and one for andy. however, I gave mine to Eva because I also have the whole thing as .pdf files and so I can play the adventure from anywhere using the files rather than the physical items. Each day is a new part of the adventure. You are actually playing as a villain and there are 6 to choose from. For the first 3 weeks you try out two villains a week to get a feel for how you want to approach the adventure. I've been playing each villain each day to see where things go. You also have the option of creating your own original character. I may do that but I may just choose one of the pre-made ones to continue for the year.  I don't think either of the kid are going to be playing this afterall. Andy has severa...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02546 This afternoon I had my first rehearsal for The Winter Wolf. It was a special rehearsal just for me and Stephanie. We have to do a dance to open the show and so we worked with our choreographer to get the steps down. It will be interesting but I think by the end we had gotten it. Stephanie figured out the steps way before me. I needed some help.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02545 I had forgotten that I had ordered this Masterpiece Tracks figure from Temu before Christmas. It arrived today. I picked it up because Tracks was another of my favorite characters. I loved the look of his corvette form with the flaming firebird on the hood. The masterpiece version came with a little figure and a miniature Blaster in his boombox mode. This was from an episode of the cartoon where Tracks connected with a kid name Raoul. I thought it was really cool that they added this piece to the set. Tracks was also one of the only Autobots who could fly in his vehicle mode.  The transformation was a bit strange but I figured it out. The instructions were all in Japanese because it is a Takara figure. Speaking of Japan, I just finished reading George Takei's book, They Called Us Enemy. It is a book presented in comic form telling about George and his families lives while in a Japanese internment camp in the 40's. It is a very powerful book and has direct...

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02544 I now have 3 compendiums for comics of properties that were a huge part of my childhood. Transformers was my go to comic and cartoon followed by G.I. JOE and Thundercats. They were all great cartoons and even better comics. It wasn't until recently that I learned that there was a Thundercats comic from the 80's. I never knew that. The day I learned about it and the day that I purchased the first 14 comics I learned that Dynamite, the company that is publishing current Thundercats comics was making a compendium of the original 24 issue series. I recently received this in the mail and it is a very cool compendium. It even has a forward from Larry Kenny, the original voice of Lion-o. I'm going to have to find a better place to display these.

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #02543 I bought two sets of this 2026 Quest Calendar. It is a solo D&D adventure. I got two of them. One for andy and one for myself. However, I'm using .pdf files instead of the physical calendar so I gave my copy to Eva after I 3D printed a holder for her. The way this works is that you do part of a quest every day of the year. You have 6 characters to choose from or you can create your own character. You play as a villain, so it should be fun to be a little bad. I decided that I'd be setting mine up on a document on Google so that I could keep track of everything. Other things I started doing today was reading my comic book collection from the beginning starting with the original Transformers comics. I intend to read at least 4 comics a day, maybe more. We'll see how far I get in my collection this year.