Day: February 10, 2010

We got about another 8 inches or a couple inches more (so on top of the 24-26? or more inches we already had, that is a lot of snow!).

The post office was closed today (see this article in the washington post ). I am glad that I didn’t print out labels for the packages (which need to be delivered on the date that is on the package. I am not sure what would happen if I tried to deliver it on a different date, I don’t know if they would accept it or not). I have no idea if the post office is going to be open tomorrow. Apparently, according to some people who posted comments in the washington post article, some people in my region haven’t had service in many days. (My local post office has been open on and off, so I was able to mail some packages, but after the incidences yesterday I won’t try driving through it again until the roads are clear, so I will only be shipping through pickups. So some post offices have been open, and some closed over the last few days, though all of them in Northern VA/D.C./some parts of MD were closed today).

I have tried to call 1 (800) ASK-USPS to see if my local post office will be open but all I got was an automated voice message, and when it directed to info about my post office, it said to call my post office 🙁 I’ve already asked when I was at the post office if pick up was guaranteed in this weather, and they told me that no it wasn’t. So I have no idea if they will be open or not.

Hopefully by friday they will pick up. Though I am not 100% sure, I don’t think they will pick up tomorrow (thursday) since it has been snowing all day and I heard on the news the roads are still really bad. In some places in this region, it was so bad they pulled the plow trucks off the road for a while (one major problem, aside from the icy roads, is that there is no place to put all the snow that fell, because of the previous snow).

I will get out the packages as soon as I can. I am very sorry for any delays; thank you for understanding!

Yesterday I shipped a lot of boxes out (most of them from last week except for a couple), and I will be doing the refunds (discounts and some for shipping) for those today.

The roads were pretty bad, especially around the neighborhoods (since many of the neighborhoods were only plowed once early on so have a lot of icy snow on them). Though it was kind of scary driving in the neighborhoods, for the most part I had no major trouble driving until I got home: as I was making the turn to get into my neighborhood, my car slipped a little bit 🙁 but luckily the breaks worked. Also I got stuck trying to drive up my driveway. The snow started late in the day: at first it was mixed with rain so I was hoping that the forecasters were wrong but then it began to snow heavily as I drove home from the post office. Though it started late, the forecasters are still calling for a lot of snow: 12 inches. I just looked out the window, there are several inches of new snow on the ground.

I will not be shipping today (since I am afraid to drive in this snow again and didn’t schedule a pick up last night since I wasn’t sure if the post office would be delivering or picking up because of the snow) but I will try shipping tomorrow (I will call the post office today to see if they are open and will be picking up tomorrow). If not I will definitely ship on friday.

I will work on packing the orders I got over the weekend today, and will also try to craft some new products today 🙂 which will be released soon (formulation/testing for those products are totally done, just need to craft them, package it, create the labels, edit the product info on the website for that–the ingredients, directions, faq sections, etc). Many products I need to add to the website, and also some limited edition ones too (such as elixirs, toners, perfumes, dreams, soaps, cleansers, and mineral makeup multipurpose powders). I will be adding them over the coming weeks.

I am sad 🙁 because the absolutes for a special limited edition perfume I was going to offer for the start of Chinese New Years (which this year starts on Valentines’ Day; it will be the start of the Year of the Tiger) have not arrived yet, and since essential oils/absolutes have to age/merge/blend together for a while, I won’t be able to release it by then. It is a lovely blend made with violet leaf absolute (violets are one of the flowers associated with the Year of the Tiger 🙂 ). I will release it this month though.