Hey guys!  Long time no see.  I've missed you.

I wanted to address everyone here first.  As most of you know this is an extremely small business.  We operate off of mostly my efforts and we currently have two part time helpers that work under my supervision.  So, when I'm out things still grind to a halt.  It won't always be that way, but until I get more months under my belt that is the life of a small business owner -- you are marketing, fulfillment, customer service and primary web developer.

I had a family emergency this month.  I'm going to be private about it, but I can assure you I have cried a lot of tears this month and have been left absolutely heartbroken.  Everybody is OK and well, just some unforeseen family stuff that has had a major impact on me, personally.  Usually I would have updated our site during our regularly scheduled upload times, but this particular month I have been unable to do that.

Every small business has ups and downs, every person has little storms in life they'd rather not weather.  This one has been very excruciatingly difficult for me.

I have not been in the office much this month.  I will be back in the office in a full time capacity next week, but I won't be listing again until I get some customer service issues addressed.  We had a lot of orders over the holidays, and there were two packages that didn't make it in and three boxes that were utterly destroyed by USPS and I need to touch base with affected customers and get you squared away.

For those who have been patient with me, thank you.  It was never my intention to leave anyone hanging.  Most of you guys have known me for a year now and know that is not in my personality.  I will do my best to make it up to those of you who have patiently waited on me. 

I truly care about each one of you and I put my heart and soul into what I do here.  There is not as much money in this as you would think.  To run an organization like the one we have is very expensive.  There's a lot of overhead.  I gave up a good job to do this full time and I averaged well below than minimum wage last year and worked very hard in the process, harder than I have ever worked.  I do this because I truly love what I do.  I love connecting with other like-minded people and I love the community we have built here.

I look forward to seeing everyone back in March with fresh listings, lots of fun stuff and resuming our regular uploads.  I will be reaching out to those of you who have emailed starting next week and I will be available the entire month of February.  If you haven't emailed and need something please don't be shy, give me a shout and I will personally email you back as soon as I can.

Warmest regards,

Crystal