Well, that may be a little exaggeration, but maybe not.  It isn’t normal yet, but we are getting there.  I want to thank everyone who has written, called, and sent their good wishes and blessings.  Penelope is do well so far.  Orders are now caught up.  Many people said they would withhold orders until we were better set.  We are pretty much there.  I expect turn-around times to remain just a little long, but nothing like they were the past month.

On the cocoa front, I have added a few beans onto the Wholesale  side, will be adding the FT Ghana very soon, and the larger Melangers are in and available.  There is will a hiatus on these and the Alchemist Stone Melangers starting the week of September 8 and lasting about a month.  If you want one, now is the time to get it.  Santha will be closed during that time and no shipping will occur for these, and knowing Santha, I would not be surprised if it is November before they ship again.

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I want to thank everyone for all the emails, comments, notes of support and complete understanding of our situation here.  It is appreciated more than words can say.  Penelope is doing well.
We have been away for 2+ days now at the Gamma knife Center for treatment.  The actual treatment was very short and all went according to plan, so we are very positive and happy about that.  The treatment with the Gamma Knife was amazing.  Alchemy in it’s own way.  The people there were even more amazing with their care and real caring.

I don’t see myself getting to any orders until this weekend.  I need to tie up loose ends, get everything in order, etc.  If all goes right everything should be shipped Monday.  Right now I know a few of you have UPS notifications but  that is all.  All this means is that I was able to process the order, create the label, and get it on the packing bench.  Normally that all happens in one day, but in this case, you can see it didn’t and they remain on the bench.

Again, thank you for your understanding.  Hopefully something resembling normalcy will return soon.

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I realize this almost starts to sound like variations of a theme, and I HATE making excuse, but here it is anyway.

Shipping of orders are backlogged about a week, and in all likelihood, turn around time will suffer in the immediate future for an undetermined amount of time. We’ll fit in packing where we can. If you find errors in your order or shipment, please let me know and we’ll fix them as quickly as we can.

Why? No computer problems, too many irons in the fire or anything like that. This time, life/fate/ill luck/whatever through my family a MAJOR curve ball last week.

Without going into huge amounts of history, the situation is this. My partner/wife/lifemate (Penelope) has had a re-occurance of the Melanoma (cancer) that she battled three years ago. It has metastasized to her brain as tumors, is affecting her motor skills, which has stopped her from driving, and we are hip deep in diagnosis, treatment options etc. Doctors have put her “on the fast track” for treatment.

My family is my first priority. We are keeping our routines and daily rhythm as much the same as possible for our seven year old daughter, who knows little about this so far, but is also very worried. I hope you understand, and if you do not, I am sorry. I contemplated simply closing up shop for a few weeks, but she has urged me not to do that. So I am doing this instead. Asking your support, patience and understanding.

Feel free to write, order, ask questions, etc, just like normal. I WILL answer and do my best but it will be slow.

Thank you.

John

A very stressed, scared, worried husband, papa and alchemist.

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Ok, it appears the store, email, computer and other items of the modern age are back working ok (for the moment). E-mail seems a little slow, but there are no indications that anything was lost. Then again, how would I know I guess. If you have written over the weekend and not heard back, then most likely it was lost to the ether - drop me a line here to let me know and/or try again.

And we received in the 1 oz bar molds, and sold out almost immediately. More should be in a couple weeks from now.

On a different note, we have begun to implement Shipping Notifications.  I am still getting used to the software interface.  Here are a few ‘rules’ to note.

1)  Tracking numbers will be supplied when UPS and UPS only is chosen.

2)  There will be no tracking numbers for USPS (part of the reason USPS is cheaper - less ‘extras’), even International.
3)  Tracking numbers for drop shipped items will not be given in the Shipping notification.  Only that they order has been placed with the drop ship supplier (Melanger, Champion Juicer and Cocoa mill).

Enjoy.

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Hi all. Through a number of really annoying coincidences, we are having computer “issues” all over the place. My apologies in advance if orders are a few days late. We have having intermittent computer interface connection problems, a computer power supply trying to die, an email system with download difficulties and them all occurring together. It’s making the routine job of answering email (don’t worry, none is being lost) and processing orders very trying and taking way longer than it should.

Aside from that, due to popular request, we again have Deodorized cocoa butter available (at a raise price due to transport and fuel costs - it’s everywhere isn’t it). And yes, we are out of quite a few molds. Those will all be back in stock in a week or so.

UPDATE:

E-mail is back up, but UHG, it looks like both the retail and wholesale store is down.  Yet again, Believe it or Not, totally unrelated to the above issues.  No ETA at the moment for time back up.

Sorry folks - working on it.

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Hi folks.  I will be away for the weekend, out of town, and Chocolate Alchemy, that really doesn’t have set hours, will be closed.  I will leave email and the shopping cart turned on, but unlike the standard sub 24 hour response you usually get for email, and 2-3 day turnaround for orders, both are on hold until I return on Tuesday.  Then it will be catch up time, so you may see up to a week delay in the next week.  All orders currently in will go out today.  All e-mails currently in have been answered.

And that price increase I mentioned in the previous entry - turns out it will happen, but not so bad.  The company started listing prices per their minimum groupings.  So the $3 mold with a minimum of 5 was listed as $15.

Until next week….

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