Construction has begun on the walls in the main work area. This is a happy milestone for us….as walls seem to be very important in running a business!
I have also set up a small, temporary work area. I have begun filling the outstanding orders, as the reordered supplies are starting to roll in. I hope to have most of these orders out by the end of the week with the rest going out the beginning of next week. Once those orders have been shipped off, I will begin to slowly open the website back up. I plan to open the website with the inventory that is on hand then add products to it as they are prepared. During this time, there may be more items out of stock then you are used to seeing at Wylde Ivy. We are working as quickly as possible to get thing back to normal around here.
I’ve had some inquiries about the Reopening Sale I mentioned. At this point I cannot say when that is going to officially take place. I want to wait and run it when we are fully operational, running smoothly, and is totally restocked. It will be a celebratory sale for when Wylde Ivy is back to normal operation.
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Thursday, July 06, 2006
Pictures of the last week.
This is a photo of our street that a friend sent to us while we couldn't get into town to see the damage. This photo did not make us feel good. Our house is the blue house in the center of the picture with the large tree in front. You can see the stop sign at the end of the street for water level reference.
This was taken by us when we were finally able to wade through the water to get to the house. This shows all the water behind the house.
Some people managed to have fun.
This is my husband in the front of the shop showing how high the water got there.
This is the doorway leading into the production room. This is how everything looked when we first got in. It was neat and tidy when we left it, I swear! Can you believe there was a glass of milk I had been drinking the morning the flood started that did not spill? The table it was on floated all around the room and then landed ten feet away from where it started with the milk glass still standing perfect and all the contents ontop dry.
Finally, this is how it looks right now. These next two pictures are of the main room(which will be for product packaging and order packing) and the production room. We are cleaned and gutted and waiting to start whipping it into shape!
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Wylde Ivy and The Flood of 06
Since we’ve gotten so many concerned emails and well wishes from our customers we thought you might all like to know what is going on at Wylde Ivy.
We really wish to thank you all for your thoughts, well wishes, and prayers. It was much appreciated and reading everyone’s emails was a great way to pass the time while we were evacuated and waiting to be let back into town to see our house.
Our business area is the entire first floor of our house. We started to flood a little last Tuesday morning into our business and we did have time to remove almost our entire inventory as well as some important supplies. The flooding quickly turned major as water started rushing in the front door of the business entrance. With the help of family and even the rescue workers (who probably wondered what kind of business we were running with all the bottles and strange powders they were carrying) we managed to get even more of our items out before it became too risky to stay any longer. My husband and I packed our two dogs and ourselves and headed for “higher ground”. We watched the TV and listened to the radio trying to find out what might be happening to our business and home. From the news reports we began to gather it wasn’t good.
The entire business space was gone, we knew that. We could only hope that the water did not reach our second floor of our home. From pictures sent to us we knew it was very close to going in the front door of our home. To make matters worse, all the inventory and supplies we grabbed from the storage rooms were literally thrown up onto our second floor, which was in danger. Finally then next afternoon the roads opened and we were able to get in to see the damages. The entire business floor had been covered by seven feet of water as we had suspected, but miraculously it stayed mere inches from the main floor of our home.
So with inventory and some supplies saved, our home intact, and most importantly all my family safe we feel very lucky and suspect it is largely due to everyone’s thoughts and prayers. The only casualty Wylde Ivy suffered was the loss of the pond goldfish that lived in front of our business entrance for the last 7 years. They were much beloved members of our business and often had customers coming in just to visit them!
So we begin the cleaning process. We were planning on gutting the entire work area soon and updating everything, so this was just a nudge into doing it sooner….with just a little more mud and water then we had planned on having to remove. At this point I really can’t say when Wylde Ivy will be totally back to normal. It was a full time operation that spanned several large rooms and a few smaller storage rooms.
For now I am setting up a temporary workspace and going through the tedious task of logging inventory and supplies to see what needs to be remade and reordered. I will be filling all the pending orders first, then I will begin to adjust the inventory on the website to reflect what is currently available before reopening the website. I am hoping to be able to have the website open with limited inventory around the end of July.
We would not even be close to this stage of rebuilding if it weren’t for the help of family, friends, and all the selfless volunteers that stopped by to lend a hand in the tearing out of walls, floors, and ceilings and the cleaning and removing of debris. While out on a supply run last week, my husband and I came home to find five volunteers from a church over an hour away already hard at work helping our family members gut the damaged areas. The Red Cross has been here from the beginning offering food, water, and supplies and we have also received supplies from the Salvation Army. Actually, as I write this, the Red Cross is outside my home delivering lunch to those that need it. There have been numerous volunteer groups (like the group I mentioned) helping with the rebuilding of our neighborhood and lending a hand where needed. To see people reach out in such a generous way during such a bad time is truly inspiring.
Thank you again.
Sincerely,
The Wyle Ivy Family
We really wish to thank you all for your thoughts, well wishes, and prayers. It was much appreciated and reading everyone’s emails was a great way to pass the time while we were evacuated and waiting to be let back into town to see our house.
Our business area is the entire first floor of our house. We started to flood a little last Tuesday morning into our business and we did have time to remove almost our entire inventory as well as some important supplies. The flooding quickly turned major as water started rushing in the front door of the business entrance. With the help of family and even the rescue workers (who probably wondered what kind of business we were running with all the bottles and strange powders they were carrying) we managed to get even more of our items out before it became too risky to stay any longer. My husband and I packed our two dogs and ourselves and headed for “higher ground”. We watched the TV and listened to the radio trying to find out what might be happening to our business and home. From the news reports we began to gather it wasn’t good.
The entire business space was gone, we knew that. We could only hope that the water did not reach our second floor of our home. From pictures sent to us we knew it was very close to going in the front door of our home. To make matters worse, all the inventory and supplies we grabbed from the storage rooms were literally thrown up onto our second floor, which was in danger. Finally then next afternoon the roads opened and we were able to get in to see the damages. The entire business floor had been covered by seven feet of water as we had suspected, but miraculously it stayed mere inches from the main floor of our home.
So with inventory and some supplies saved, our home intact, and most importantly all my family safe we feel very lucky and suspect it is largely due to everyone’s thoughts and prayers. The only casualty Wylde Ivy suffered was the loss of the pond goldfish that lived in front of our business entrance for the last 7 years. They were much beloved members of our business and often had customers coming in just to visit them!
So we begin the cleaning process. We were planning on gutting the entire work area soon and updating everything, so this was just a nudge into doing it sooner….with just a little more mud and water then we had planned on having to remove. At this point I really can’t say when Wylde Ivy will be totally back to normal. It was a full time operation that spanned several large rooms and a few smaller storage rooms.
For now I am setting up a temporary workspace and going through the tedious task of logging inventory and supplies to see what needs to be remade and reordered. I will be filling all the pending orders first, then I will begin to adjust the inventory on the website to reflect what is currently available before reopening the website. I am hoping to be able to have the website open with limited inventory around the end of July.
We would not even be close to this stage of rebuilding if it weren’t for the help of family, friends, and all the selfless volunteers that stopped by to lend a hand in the tearing out of walls, floors, and ceilings and the cleaning and removing of debris. While out on a supply run last week, my husband and I came home to find five volunteers from a church over an hour away already hard at work helping our family members gut the damaged areas. The Red Cross has been here from the beginning offering food, water, and supplies and we have also received supplies from the Salvation Army. Actually, as I write this, the Red Cross is outside my home delivering lunch to those that need it. There have been numerous volunteer groups (like the group I mentioned) helping with the rebuilding of our neighborhood and lending a hand where needed. To see people reach out in such a generous way during such a bad time is truly inspiring.
Thank you again.
Sincerely,
The Wyle Ivy Family
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Vacation Closing Announcement
We have been getting some questions about our shipping turnaround time before our closing. We thought that we should clear things up and set up a cutoff date by which orders must be received if they are to be shipped prior to our closing.
We will be closed from June 12th to the 21st for vacation. Our website will remain open during this time, but we will be unavailable to answer emails, phone calls, or to ship orders. All orders received during this time will be processed and shipped in the order they were received starting June 22nd.
IMPORTANT: To ensure your order will ship before our closure, it must be received and paid for no later then Noon (EST) on Friday June 9th. Due to our current turnaround time, orders placed after June 9th may not ship before our closure.
Thank you for your understanding.
We will be closed from June 12th to the 21st for vacation. Our website will remain open during this time, but we will be unavailable to answer emails, phone calls, or to ship orders. All orders received during this time will be processed and shipped in the order they were received starting June 22nd.
IMPORTANT: To ensure your order will ship before our closure, it must be received and paid for no later then Noon (EST) on Friday June 9th. Due to our current turnaround time, orders placed after June 9th may not ship before our closure.
Thank you for your understanding.
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Soap Releases for June
I know it has been quite awhile since I have updated the blog. The Mother's Day and Spring rush caught us quite off guard this year. Many of our popular soaps have gone out of stock. We are working hard to get everything remade and ready to be put back up on our website.
The soap release dates for June are as follows:
June 1st:
Tuscan Garden
Pink Chiffon
Lemon Ozone
Sweetgrass
Tuscan Cypress
Fathom
Rescheduled to June 22nd (due to our vacation closing):
Shea & Sandalwood Deluxe Handmilled Spa Soap (pictured)
Sandcastles
HoneyBee Good!
Raspberry Lemonade
Pure Butter Spa Soap
Crystal Blue
Blackberry Cotton Candy
Creamy Coconut
June 26th
Beachin Berries
Neem and Tea Tree