Keal Family Letter, November 2004

Hello all y'all. Sorry for the tardiness of this month's Keal Letter.
I've been very busy.
This is the first month that I have been without a paycheck.
Fortunately we were able to save up enough that we're still living fine
off of our bank account. It turns out I might not be eligible for
Unemployment Compensation because I'm trying to start my own business.
We'll see what happens. I'm actually working part time for Hendricks'
Historic Doors because they needed help for a few weeks. I'm only
working in the afternoons there, and I'll probably be done that this
week. Other than that I'm working hard at getting my music career off
the ground.
My daily routine is this: I get up at 6:00 to be working by 6:30. I
then work for an hour in the morning before breakfast, before Tirah and
the kids are up. Then 7:30 to 8:30 is wake-up time, and family
breakfast hour. Then I work for three hours from 8:30 to 11:30.
11:30 to 12:30 is family lunch hour before the kids go down for naps.
Then I work four hours in the afternoon from 12:30 to 4:30. So that
way, I get in an 8 hour day, but also have an hour-long breakfast and
lunch break.
Currently I'm working on three main priorities. 1. Getting my website
up and running. 2. Getting my Business Plan written and out to
prospective benefactors. 3. Taking my Recording Engineering course.
These are occupying most of my time right now. Other things near the
top of my priority list include reading my Music Business book,
learning more about my music software, practicing the piano, and doing
marketing research. Hopefully very soon, I'll be sending y'all a
message telling you to go visit my website at www.solomonkeal.com.
It's great getting to be home most of the day and being able to see my
family more. We're able to go on family walks. My routine is flexible
enough that I can help out if the kids are sick or something. It's also
been great not doing physical labor all day... it means I'm not
exhausted by 5:00 and I can actually help out and play with the kids
and not be a zombie.
Tirah is done working at Hawk Mountain for the year, which is nice
because we have our weekends back. So now she's just working for Carl
which she does from home. We are planning our Christmas trip out to
the Echols'.
Cirdan just turned 5 months old! He's almost sitting up. He can sit
up on his own if he's sitting in a boppy. Thea is 21 and a half
months. She is talking more every day; putting together little
sentences. Her latest thing is that she knows the numbers 8 and 9 and
can point them out on a clock or in a book, saying very clearly, "Et an
nan." Why 8 and 9? No idea. But it's wonderfully cute.
Well, that's all for now... I've got to get back to work. Over
and Out. - Solomon