I feel like I’ve been apologizing for something since I moved in August, and I suppose it really has been one thing after another since then, really. Short version: I’m behind on communication again, and some orders are probably going to be later in arriving than you expect, but I’m still here and I haven’t forgotten about anyone. There have been quite a few things going on lately that have contributed to the state of things around here being kind of crazy, but here is some news:
If you watch the news, you probably know that Alabama got slammed with totally atypical winter weather during the week of January 26-Feb 1 and large segments of it just plain shut down. Obviously this slowed down everything – from having supplies delivered to me to making orders to getting the orders to the post office. I wouldn’t expect scanning at hubs to have been handled as usual, but in any case, the usual procedures — the ones listed in the payment acknowledgment email you received — will apply: if it has been 20 business days from the label ship date and your domestic/US package is still not showing up, I will put in a trace on my end, and from there we will talk about next steps depending on what was in your order. But in the last 10+ years, *NO DOMESTIC PACKAGE* shipped USPS Priority Mail to a US address has remained unaccounted for by the 20th business day from the label ship date, and 99.9999% of them have been delivered intact by then.
If you read the pages, news sources, and blogs of any of my AIRR colleagues, you may have heard that the hoodoo community has experienced some great and stunning loss so far this year. I won’t say a lot more here yet because I haven’t been able to catch up with the news and the family members wishes and such in terms of announcements, notifications, etc., but I will share these links, one from the Lucky Mojo Hoodoo Rootwork Hour episode dedicated to remembering Dr. E, a worker well-known and well-respected in many circles far beyond just those of AIRR, and this one, to his memorial fund page. I’m late sharing the memorial fund info, but it’s never too late to remember his family and friends in your prayers.
Still working on the new storefront/shopping cart. Still not done. But that means the sale is still on at my current website.
Finally, if you have been reading for a while, you may recall that I have some structural issues with my back and hips that can really throw everything into chaos when they flare up. And they’re flared up. I can stay on top of altar work and I can stay on top of making most items, but *sitting* of all things is one of the most painful activities I can do, and standing still isn’t all that far behind it. That means that typing has been happening only in bursts while I’m standing (making email, reports, photos, etc quite backlogged), and driving has been really hit or miss (mostly miss). Tonight’s the first night I’ve sat down to deal with emails in just about a solid week, and I have to cut this short now because my leg is letting me know it’s had all it can take. Packages going out for the last week or so have been delivered to a postal facility by various friends and assistants because driving is seriously agonizing when my back is out and because scheduled pickup has been feasible only some of the time.
To top it off, I have been relying on memory and random assistance to stay on top of inventory, which means I haven’t really been staying on top of inventory. I have not been able to print any labels yet this week but I am getting ink *tomorrow* and will get the packages that should have shipped over the last few days out by tomorrow night.
In short, your order/service/report will probably be delayed and I am very sorry if that is the case; I genuinely hate this and I dearly want to be back on schedule here ASAP, and I promise I am working as quickly as I can to get caught up.
Happy hoodooing!
Big Lucky Hoodoo 