We weren’t around much this weekend due to Mother’s Day and a party we threw for our now 1 and 3 year old daughters! It was very fun and tiring at the same time but now we’re back to work on projects. Things are moving along…Andrea is doing more work and helping out greatly and I have started on the next couple of projects from the waiting list so things are moving along.

I’ve had some of my emails not make it to recipients last week, I think they are getting marked as spam again so if you are waiting on something from me, feel free to email again. I’m also working on finishing up a project management system where you can log in and see the status of projects at any time. I’m hoping this helps out with the amount of emails we receive as we would be able to communicate and check progress through this new system. Stay tuned…

I would like to announce that we have a new person on board helping with projects, website maintenance, support and anything else she wants to take on.

Andrea has been helping out a little here and there for a while but will now be helping out in a much larger capacity. She is a member of the support forum here (I believe her username is “Andrea”) and has already helped with several shopping cart questions. So far she is scheduled to be doing website maintenance, product data entry and shopping cart support!

You can read a little bit about her on the “About Our Team” page here: http://www.redpeachsolutions.com/pages/about-us.htm

After a horrible last two months, we’re finally moved in to our new house and I’m back to work. Still getting settled in and I don’t have a printer hooked up yet but overall I’m “back in business”.

Couple of things…

I am still working on the AlohaCart upgrade - I found a bug and am getting that fixed by the developer and then will FINALLY be releasing it. I know many of you are anxiously awaiting this upgrade and I am really sorry for the delay.

We did have problems getting internet access at the new house and so things did get a little backed up more than I expected during our move, but I’m working a lot and getting back on top of things so if you haven’t heard back from me about something in the next day or so, feel free to shoot me another email just in case I didn’t get it. My spam box worked overtime during this last week since I wasn’t able to clean in out regularly and I may have missed something.

I’ll post another update in a couple of days as things return to normal with info on our new work schedule.

Thanks!
Danielle

I was the sickest I have ever been in my life. I’m still feeling pretty bad but I am at least able to get out of bed and it doesn’t hurt to keep my eyes open anymore! I had/have bronchitis then I got sinusitis on top of it. The antibiotics are finally kicking in for the sinusitis so I no longer have blinding pain in my face and head, more of a dull ache now. Talk about miserable!! I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy!

Anyway, unfortunately I was able to answer only two, yes two, emails over the entire last three days but find myself able to work a little bit today. I just wanted to give an update. Every other time I’ve been sick, I was at least able to put up a notice on my site but I couldn’t even do that this time.

As some may have noticed, my site has had “we are moving over the next week” for a while now. So what’s going on?

We have NOT moved yet actually. Our 30-day escrow hit the 60-day mark early this week and we’ve been hearing “it will be tomorrow” for about a month now. Well today should really be the day we sign the papers, which means we should have the keys by Friday or maybe Monday, at which point we can start moving in. Just for clarification, the delay is due to Countrywide, not us, and they have even waived all escrow and per diem fees due to their “gross mis-management”.

On another frustrating front, our telephone, cable AND INTERNET services have been turned off, because even though we called Verizon again to push back the date of our move, they messed up again and turned it off anyway. So I am working from home using my modem that works off of cell service, which is only slightly faster than dial-up on a strong signal. Problem is, cell service in our current home is very weak (only 1 bar at best).

What all this means is that with intermittent service and (finally) moving, things will be slow and there will be delays in responding and getting things to you. I know you’re probably thinking that things have already been slow. Well, this entire process has been extremely stressful for all of us and came at a very poor time in relation to work stuff (trying to catch up from the holidays) and we are doing our best. No one could have anticipated the problems we are encountering so we’re taking it one day at a time.

And now, every single person in our household is sick. Our son has a fever that spikes up to 103 regularly and then the rest of us have horrible coughs and head congestion. Our youngest is 9 months and needs to be held a lot during this time, plus sleep for all of us is not readily available.

If you’ve made it this far, thank you. I do apologize for the delays over the last two months. The good news is I have a brand new scheduling and billing system that I’m hoping will be ready in the next two weeks that will help keep design projects going while giving both myself and our clients information about the status of their project at any time. In addition, I am looking for someone local to come work in our home office with us for a few days a week. So once we’re settled in the new house, things will be better and I can get back up to the level of customer service that I had before.

Thanks and please cross your fingers that we sign today and get this move over with soon!

EDITED TO ADD: We signed today! So we’ll be getting the keys hopefully Friday. My husband needs to pull the old carpet and install the wood floors over the weekend then we’ll be moving in starting Monday. Our internet service is scheduled for next Thursday so I may be on dial-up-speed until then.

I must be psychic because Verizon did, in fact, turn off our internet and television to transfer it to the new house which we’re not moving into until next week! I was able to get it turned back on this afternoon and am emailing everyone back as I write this…well, shortly after I write this.

Well, we still haven’t closed escrow on the new house - there’s just so many people refinancing right now that it’s causing major delays with the banks and loan people. Plus, we’ve had more than our fair share of hiccups along the way (it wouldn’t be us if it were a smooth process). So we’re supposed to sign tomorrow and then move this coming week.

Things are getting a bit hairy here, with all the commotion of an impending move and all that. We’re also still dealing with some extra care and testing of our 9 month old daughter to see what’s going on with her, so stress is high.

Also, Verizon - ahhh, lovely Verizon (not) - turned off our telephone service here at our current home because they think we’re moving tomorrow…even though we had spoken with them to reschedule the appointment. I would not be surprised if our internet access at home gets shut off as well. Luckily I have separate internet service for my laptop that works anywhere for when I’m on the road, but is not much faster than dial-up so it makes uploading files and websites quite time consuming and sometimes impossible.

So I’ll do my best to keep up with things but please bare with me - we did not expect things to go quite this wrong with our move but we’re doing our best to keep working through it.

Hi all, I just knew I shouldn’t have mentioned that we were caught up because it’s just my luck that it would jinx me. I am now fairly current on projects themselves, however my emails are a mess. I have been having intermittent email problems over the last few weeks that have been driving me absolutely insane. I do about 99% of my communication through email so it has made BIG problems for me.

In addition, my younger daughter (now 8 months, my where has the time gone???) has been sick for over a week now. As of this very moment, she is being treated, however we are awaiting a culture to be done to see what exactly it is which will determine which tests to do next (to figure out WHY she got sick).

In addition to all that, I had mentioned we are buying a house, and we are supposed to close escrow on Monday. We have a bit of work to do on the house before we move in so it has been crazy and will be even more crazy over the next few weeks while we get the work done, move in and then get settled.

Soooooo…long story short it has been very difficult to find ample time to work, and coupled with email problems that’s why there have been delays in responding (or no response at all, as not all of my emails are being received or sent).

I’m sorry about any inconvenience I have caused or am causing, however please know that I am doing my best right now and customer service has always been my number 1 priority.

I know I just wrote about how we’re “full steam ahead” but we’ve had a small hiccup in a personal issue but it shouldn’t be a big problem. To summarize, we’re in the middle of escrow of our new house! Yay! We’re ecstatic, however over the last month a lot of time was spent looking for the house and doing lots of running around trying to get things in order. Now, this month we’re getting everything ready so that when we close on the house, it will actually be ready to move into which is taking lots more time.

Anyway, long story short, we’ve almost got that all finished up (it’s fun but stressful playing interior decorator!) however at the end of this month and beginning of February we will be taking some time off for moving and getting situated in the new house. Just FYI… I’m really trying to wrap up all existing projects before then and then will proceed with caution as that time approaches so I don’t leave anyone hanging. I’ll post again as it gets closer to that time so I can keep everyone updated.

Thanks everyone!

This past month was a busy one for everyone! In addition to the usual holiday rush, we were shopping for a house as well! We are now in escrow (yay!) so that part is over and I can focus again on work. Well, work plus a bazillion paint and floor samples sitting here on my desk! But really, I’m happy to say that we’re back to work full steam. Aside from a day off for New Years’ we’ll be working hard on our projects that are already in progress and on starting new ones from our waiting list.

I know I’ve mentioned it before, but please check out our new support forum. I recommend that ALL clients, whether you use the shopping cart or not, register an account. I would like to use the forum as the primary tool for communicating important updates and announcements.

Have a safe and happy New Years’!