Got more information from Pastor Tim Drougemille.

Temperatures dropped as the cold front moved through. Very windy this morning.

OYB!

Español!

Rained almost exactly 4″ over the last couple of days.

Still checking to see if I can get a discount because of no tickets, wrecks or DUI. Haven’t heard from my car insurance agent, even though I’ve called twice and today sent an email to the boss.

Picked up one of J’s devices that she loaned to Ashley for Thanksgiving.

Went to my office to pick up checks, process them, and later deposited them after I picked up the girls.

Took the girls out to eat today. I haven’t been doing that.

Went to the Mission to help the kids with their homework. Others came to hang out and play games.

Listened to Don Cheto on the way home. Took nearly an hour and a half. Brutal.

Beautiful sunset.

Today may be the highest score I’ve ever done in one day, 5480 XP. That’s a lot, kids.

That’ll preach.

The Pink Magnolia that I planted at Azalea has really suffered with powder mildew. I ordered som Neem oil to fight it next year. I can use it as a preventive which I think will really help.

Rained off and on all day long. Shockingly warm! Mid 60s!

OYB!

Had a good talk with Tim Deter our health insurance agent. He let me know that he was able to get Jessi some coverage at least for the next 90 days if all goes well. J & I tried to do her taxes but it was above our ability to figure out. We sent it to Tim Deter’s brother who is a CPA to submit.

Talked with our heater guys today. Turned out the total bill for fixing our system was only $115. Thank you, Jesus!

Ordered groceries.

Español!

Google Maps had an upgrade today. I like the look of it.

I had a productive meeting with Pastors Tim and Phil from a Lutheran church plant in Norcross interested in apartment ministry. Always fun to hang out with like-minded people.

Everly is doing great in school. Both of the girls are.

Love my girls!

It was raining when the girls and I got to the Mission. Not surprising that no one showed up. We had fun playing Uno. I also cleaned the door.

Listened to Don Cheto on the way home from work. Rainy and dark. Takes about an hour to get home these days.

Got contact info from Pastor Tim.

Picked up groceries on the way home.

Just. Keep. Going.

Came in #3 last week in the Finals of the tournament on Duolingo. Español!

Good ideas from Eric Barker’s blog.

OYB!

Drizzly weather.

Filled up my water bottles for my plants and birdbaths outside. It’s a hassle to use the hose when I’ve got it winterized.

Fun chat with my buddy Anthony.

Enjoyed a chat with Nana.

Went by my office to pick up checks, process them, and water my ficus.

Put the toys that were given for the kids at the mission in my storage area.

Ate at Taco Veloz. So good.

Picked up Everly at the bus. Stopped by the bank on the way home.

Picked up Penelope after Drama Club. They have a presentation on Thursday evening.

Went to the Mission to help the kids. Not really much homework. We played Uno instead.

Drizzly on the way home. Traffic was bad. Feels like I’m driving in Africa with cars coming at me with their lights on.

Listened to Don Cheto. Learned a new word I kept hearing them say: Chulada.

I think I made the most points ever today.

I want to watch this.

Interesting concept.

I experienced this over Christmas when I had the flu. I was quarantined for nearly two weeks by myself. Horrible.

Always learning.

Español!

Listened to Don Cheto while I was working on the leaves.

Repaired my rake. The handle was falling apart.

So many leaves and they’re still coming down!

Worked for over three hours.

Also cleaned off the deck.

Painted two pairs of shoes. Sadly, I got little specks of paint on my short pants.

I should come in #3 in the Finals of Duolingo this week.

Spanish joke.

Nice this afternoon.

Español!

OYB!

I found this very interesting. Salado!

Listened to Don Cheto while I did yard work.

There are a lot of leaves in my yard. So far I’ve raked and blown for about nine hours.

I keep the path up to my driveway full of leaves. They get stomped down pretty quickly. If I don’t leave leaves, I track mud.

I worked longer than this shows. Put in about 2.5 hours.

Blew the driveway.

Released a new episode of Verbal Surgery called “Cold Snap.”

Keep going. I’ll come in #3 in the finals. Good effort.

Cold morning!

OYB!

Called Don Maloney this morning. His Model T club collects toys for kids at their Christmas meeting. They’re giving them to Whirlwind Missions this year! Amen!

I studied Español outside on my porch as usual this morning. It was brisk.

Found out why I couldn’t get through to my Mom yesterday.

After a breakdown of communication through texting, the heater guy came over to my house around 2:30 PM.

Turned out the capacitor for the fan was dead. He put in a new one and everything worked perfectly! Only wrinkle is he replaced a 6w capacitor with a 5w one. Seems to be working fine, but might have to be swapped out with the more powerful one eventually.

Went to Stone Mountain to record an episode of Verbal Surgery called, “Cold Snap.”

I liked these comparisons.

Interesting!

How long can Russia keep this carnage up?

Pretty mild today! Cold air is coming.

OYB!

I was supposed to have the heater repairman come over today, but he got sick. I called another company instead. He’s coming tomorrow. Pastor Bill gave me his name and number.

Did some car insurance research. I’d read that if you tell them that you’re over 65, no DUI, no tickets and no wrecks in the last three years you should get a really big discount. I called my Progressive agent to see if there’s any truth to that.

ATT came over today and moved their telephone wire over to the new pole.

Tightened up the screws on our front door handle.

Sent a text to my brother in law.

Fun talk with my buddy Anthony.

Put the lights on our Christmas tree. She grows all year long. Nearly a foot last year!

Blew the leaves off the driveway.

Left my Mom a voice mail.

Don Cheto.

I got a new clicker for Penelope that turns the volume up and down and turns the TV on/off. She was SO happy.

Took J’s comforter to Azalea to wash it in the industrial size machines. Dried it for 1.5 hours. It’ll still get more drying at home.

Put a new plastic case on my Mac Air. The old one developed a crack and a couple of days ago came off. New one now.

I usually check with the church secretary to see if I have mail in my box.

I liked these oak leaves.

I ate at Pho 24 today for lunch. Lots of tagging there. Most of it by the same guy.

Took the girls home for a snack and to check on the pup.

Went by the church to check the mail.

I liked these at Publix. I went there to get us a Key Lime pie.

Went to Azalea to help the kids with their homework.

Cleaned up the mission before I left.

I’ll return his call tomorrow morning.

Helped Jessi with her taxes. I went through about fifty documents, figured out the ones we needed. We still ran into some questions that we weren’t sure about. I sent the docs to a tax man I know.

Good competition.

Sent a note to my friends the Blackmons thanking them for giving me gloves for the kids. I gave a bunch out today to the older boys.

Been super cold, down in the 20s! I turned my space heater on. If I keep my room above 60 I feel fine.

I’ll be up early tomorrow in case the Heater/AC people get here at 8:00 AM.

OYB!

Not sure what was going on with K’s phone. Probably stupid Mint Mobile. Get what you pay for I reckon.

Español!

Cleaned out the ice that was in the bird bath. Refilled with water so they could drink.

Topped off the feeders.

Good chat with Anthony.

K and I picked up the girls at the bus and took them home.

Helped the kids at the mission. I have a kindergartener that just barely speaks English. It’s exactly why I study Español every day.

One of her N words was “nest.” I had to look up the Spanish word for it: Nido. I was close, but not quite right.

The boys like to play games.

I took a group of boys outside to see the ISS, but unfortunately it was too cloudy. Bahd luck.

Gassed up my car and checked the oil.

This is the Finals of the Duolingo Tournament. Everyone pushes harder this week.

OYB!

Really cold. I still studied Spanish outside, however.

Good chat with Anthony. Colder here than in the UK.

Went to my treasurer Jon Paul’s house to get the Amazon reimbursement checks signed. I only cash one when I really need it.

Went by my office to check the mail. Letter from NAMB showing the amount of donations.

Picked up the girls and brought them home.

Late last night I remembered that the manager of Azalea told me that it wasn’t necessary to drip the pipes. She said they’d never had a problem with that. So I immediately turned off the dripping faucet when I got to the Mission.

Went to Azalea with PE and Ryder. Helped the kids with their homework.

Everly outgrew this bike. I gave it to one of the kids today. She may very well leave it at the mission for other kids to ride. That’s typical. Pumped up the tires and checked the chain.

I enjoy looking at the decorations around the Mission.

Beautiful Moon!

If I’m at the mission at the right time, I’ll show the kids the ISS tomorrow!

Just keep going.

Came in #1 this week in the Semi-Finals of the Duolingo tournament. The competition seems very tough this week. Hopefully, I’ll be in the top five.

Year end report.

Got an email from a guy who I talked with years ago. Looks like I’ll have lunch with him and his Pastor next week.

Our heater isn’t working that great. It’s heating but the fan isn’t blowing the air much.

Cold.

OYB!

I met with my banker Kaberi Besu at PNC at noon. She has helped me out a lot over the last few years. She explained to me exactly how much I ended up paying this year. I wasn’t sure the exact amount because they just sent me a big check to reimburse me. She also gave me the good news that our house will be completely paid off August 2026. I’ve been paying every other week and that accelerated the end date. Originally the mortgage would’ve been paid off in April 3030! That’s nearly four years early. I thought that was pretty good.

Not sure what happened to this. I sent their letter to our health insurance agent.

Apparently, there was a massive data leak at Bank of America. I had to change the passwords on the Whirlwind Missions and my personal account. What a hassle. Once I got the mobile app working again, I ordered some more checks for Whirlwind Missions, Inc.

I let Jon Paul and Ashley know about the change.

Mileage for the month. It sure was nice to have a break from driving over the holidays.

Frigid weather on the way. Yow!

Good talk with Nana.

Everly colored a picture for me. She also made a little book and read it to me.

Went by the church to check the mail. Nothing there, which was kind of surprising.

The girls put up the tree this weekend.

Picked up Penelope after Drama Club.

I set up Penelope’s new monitor. Got her a new Roku clicker that also adjusts the TV’s volume for her on the way.

Ashley brought us a form to fill out for K in case she wants to renew her driver’s license on line. The DMV in Gwinnett County is really good.

Went to Azalea to check on the kids. They don’t have much homework if any. I gave some gloves out and dripped the sink to run overnight. In fact it’ll probably run constantly for the next five days.

I set the mission back up after the Thanksgiving party.

Picked groceries and put them away.

I’m getting a new case for my Mac air. Ironically, the case usually cracks when I’m trying to put it on. It never actually hits anything.

Interesting graphs about Duolingo. I’m glad that Spanish is the #2 language. It’s a very good course.

Push.