Yes, Virginia! There is a Tajik Postal System

I've been lamenting the fact that a trial run LLBean order wasn't successful. The order shipped December 9 and, according to their website, it would get here between 2-4 weeks. I held out hope that the girls' bunny and lamb slippers would arrive in time to make it under the tree for Christmas. Hope springs eternal, as they say.

Nearly 10 weeks after the order shipped, I had to face the brutal truth - that the order wasn't going to make its way to me. The Freeport-Dushanbe pilot test failed. I got onto Bean's Live Chat (which is brilliant if you live overseas) and shared the sad story with the kind customer service rep. Everyone agreed that ten weeks was way too long and we concluded that the package was MIA and that some customs agent was wearing my cute flannel PJ bottoms with the matching green fleece and bunny slippers. Order was cancelled. Credit card credited.

And then, the very next day this arrived.

The Sturgeon Bay-Dushanbe magazine express however, was successful!

Inside are my secret indulgences. Well, not so secret maybe. But definitely a treat when living in these parts.

I ordered several annual magazine subscriptions last October and had them sent to my sister's house and she graciously offered to ship them to me once per month using this USPS flat rate service. Like the LLBean order, this was a risk. Hey, what can I say? I'm a risk taker that way.

It only took five short weeks for these to make it to me.

And now I can read about this.

And this.

And this, too.

And this, because we can always search for ways to make life simple, even though we know that it never will be!

While still riding the high of the successful magazine subscription test, this happened.

My husband came home from work. He'd been on a business trip over night, which explained the suitcase. But what's that in his other hand?

What's that familiar pine green writing?

Our LLBean package after 10.5 weeks had arrived!

My fleece.

Paul's fleece.

But most importantly, these!

Never mind it was well below freezing a few weeks ago and it's now 48 degrees at 7.15 in the morning.

I got back on LLBean's Live Chat and let them know that the packaged arrived, but that we sort of missed winter and that the chances that the bunny slippers are going to fit this time next year were a bit slim.

And, true to their word, they credited the shipping and the cost of the bunny slippers. Well done, LLBean.