In this issue:

New Soap
Blog
Soap of the Month
Monoi de Tahiti seconds
Bonus Points
After-Christmas Clearance Sale
Seconds
Alabu Farm
Featured Feedback

The weather has been interesting so far this winter. First it is very cold and then unusually warm, snowstorms one day and thunderstorms the next, but it does seem that atypical weather is becoming the norm lately.  The animals didn't waste any time to go out in the pasture and find some grass to eat when the snow melted.  It was nice to see the goats follow the horses out in the field as they had stayed in or close to the barn since we got our first snow.  We have had a productive month here at Alabu, although it did seem to go by way too fast. The guys were finally able to complete our construction project in our soap shop except for some minor finish work they decided to do when the weather is warmer. So we now have pictures of the new improved soap shop.

I have also been busy creating some new Essential oil soaps. So far I have one ready; Lavender Mint. Right now I'm working on Lemongrass which I should have ready in a few months. We were able to squeeze in going to a Railroad Hobby Show at the Eastern States Exposition Fairgrounds (The Big E) in West Springfield Massachusetts.  My brother and his wife have a model railroad company (The Showcase Line)  and they exhibit there every year.  So we went to visit as we don't get to see them as much as we would like. My brother and his wife have friends from NYC, Chicago and England that come to Springfield MA to help them at this show.  We had a nice visit and it was nice to get to know some of their friends better. It is a very large and a nice show if you or your kids like model trains.

We hope you enjoy the newsletter this month.

New Soap: Lavender Mint

Our Lavender Mint was made to fill a request. This person loved Lavender mint so much she would buy Lavender and Peppermint and bind them together with dental floss. We tried the combination and knew at once we had a winner. Relaxing Lavender and cool refreshing Peppermint. Lavender is said to relieve stress, headaches and help reduce the spread of colds and viruses. Mint is uplifting and said to relieve a headache, reduce mental fatigue, increase alertness. This soap leaves you feeling soft, clean and refreshed.

Alabu Blog

Our son Hal has started a new blog on his experiences in the family soap making adventure. You can check it out here .

Soap of the Month

We have had many requests to have a soap of the month sale, giving folks an opportunity to try a featured soap at a reduced price. This month in honor of Valentines Day we are featuring Rose . Over the years I have made numerous Rose fragranced soaps but my mom never thought they truly smelled like a rose until this one. It is the closest to the romantic smell of red roses of all the ones I have tried.  NOTE: Coupons and special offers do not apply to Soap of the Month items.

Monoi de Tahiti seconds

This batch of Monoi soap turned out very soft due to the fact that I forgot to subtract the amount of Monoi de Tahiti oil ( a type of coconut oil) from the amount of coconut oil in this batch. This is a nice soap to use, it is nicely fragranced but will not last as long as our regular soaps due to it's softness.

Bonus Points - What are they and how do you use them?

We have a Bonus Point program for our customers that place orders over the internet. Customers collect 1 bonus point for each dollar in product ordered. So a purchase of $50.00 worth of Alabu products will earn you 50 points. The redemption value of 20 points is $1.00. That is, for every 20 points you have, you can redeem them for $1.00 off of your order. A 100 point redemption would equal $5.00 off of your order. The bonus points are roughly equal to a 5% discount on each order once you have redeemed them.

How do you redeem your points? I am glad you asked. To redeem your points, first login to your Alabu account. After you are logged in, click on "Bonus Points" in the "Your Cart" section of the page. This will take you to the Bonus Points page. Read through the directions to gain a complete understanding of how the program works but in short, you click on the "Convert to a Gift Certificate" and convert your Bonus Points into a Gift Certificate that either you can use when checking out yourself or you can send it on as a gift to a family member or friend.

After-Christmas Clearance Sale
We still have some Seasonal Christmas Fragrances on sale , Gingerbread , Maggie's Christmas , and Winter Wonderland ) Bath Bars and Guest Bars will be on sale until we run out.

Seconds

We still have some seconds this month on our seconds sale page. We have increased production on our most popular soaps, and now have a limited supply of seconds which we are going to offer on our web page while supplies last. Our soap seconds are the same as our regular soap, but are made by taking the ends from the soap log and molding them to form a regular size bar. The only difference is that they do not look as pretty. We wrap seconds with a tissue paper band around the middle and seal it with our label. They are about the same weight and size as regular bars. The price will be $3.00 a bar, a substantial savings from our regular bath bars. NOTE: Coupons and special offers do not apply to Soap Seconds.

Alabu Farm
Some pictures from from around the farm and new soap shop.

Click on a picture to see a larger version.

Featured Feedback
We love hearing from our customers. We get a lot of notes each month and many we put up in our Testimonial section. We do not alter the notes that we get (other than the occasional spelling error or misplaced word). We thought it might be helpful to highlight one each month that we found particularly interesting.

Dear Alabu: I Love your products my skin has become more youthful and radiant. Thank you and God Bless
Evelyn - Tulsa, OK

A reminder, we do offer free shipping on orders over $60.

We truly enjoy the notes and visits from you all, and yes, if you're ever in the neighborhood stop in and say hello

We thank you for all your support over the past year and hope you all have a safe and Happy 2008.

Sincerely,

Maryclaire, Dean, & Hal

Valentine Gift Bag

An indulgent selection of our natural beauty products. Out Valentine Gift Bag is sure to please any valentine and as an added bonus they won?t wilt or add pounds :o)

All wrapped up in a pink heart gift bag and topped with curly pink and white ribbons.

Contents: Valentines gift bag includes our luxurious baby face oil, a Rose fragranced Goat Milk Soap Bath Bar, one Stress Relief Bath Blast, a French Vanilla Lip balm and a soap saver.

Featured Products
Tahitian Vanilla Soap
Soap Of The Month
Foot Care Spa

Gift Items
Gift Baskets
Gift Packs
Baby Gifts
All Gift Items
Shaving Soap
Mug & Brush
Deluxe Mug & Brush
Moisturizer
Lotion Sticks
All Products

Coupon Reminder

When redeeming your coupon be sure to enter the entire code including the word

"COUPON-"

All Alabu coupon codes are in the form

COUPON-xxxx-##

See Alabu news-letters from previous months.