As I had mentioned in my previous post, I’m in the process of liquidating my dog boutique items by selling all the inventory on EBay.  Things were going so well that it almost became an obsession until I had my first bad EBay experience.  I sold a really nice dog bowl shaped like a sunglasses.  The dog bowl comes with a placemat and a squeaky ball, so it was a really nice piece.  The item costs me $15 wholesale and I sold it for $20.  I ended up breaking even after shipping and fees.  I knew I wouldn’t make any profit liquidating my inventory on EBay because the original wholesale price is already overpriced for EBay market. 

After the item was shipped, one day I received an email from my buyer asking why she received a different item in the package.  She said she got a “metal thingy” and a lens wipe.  I was immediately in panicky mode after reading her email.  My first thought was this lady was trying to rip me off.  I went to the discussion forum and asked for suggestions from other sellers.  Based on their suggestion, I asked my buyer to send me a picture of the package, the metal thingy she claimed being put in the package, and the package label.  A week gone by without hearing anything from her.  At first I was relieved thinking either she tried to rip me off and decided not to pursue it, or maybe somehow she got her package mixed up or something.  Finally I got an email back from her with the picture of package and the label, and the wrong items she found inside.  The “metal thingy” looks like a metal screw and I can’t really tell what it’s for.  The label does say my name on it.  At this point I wasn’t sure what to do.  So I went back to EBay community forum and asked for some suggestions again.  Could this lady really try to rip me off over $20? 

After reading some suggestions, I did what any sellers should do in this particular scenario.  I gave her full refund.  I lost about $20 sales and $15 worth of merchandise.  I have to admit that it hurts that I lost money.  However I just got a feeling that my buyer is telling the truth.  It just doesn’t seem right that she would go through all the efforts to take pictures just so she can get $20 free merchandise.  Even if she did, there is no way for me to prove it.  So I wrote her an email telling how sorry I was.  I did everything I could to make my buyers happy, however I have no control when it comes to delivering the package.  She emailed me back saying she appreciated all the efforts to get this issue taken care of.  She also appreciated the full refund and left me a positive feedback.

Sometimes bad things happen to you, and you just brush it off and move on.  Who knows?  Perhaps she did live in a shady neighborhood and someone stole the package, opened it, took the bowl and replaced it with something else.  You’ll just never know and you have to do the right thing.  This whole experience actually does not hold me back from selling my stuffs on EBay.  In fact this experience made me focus on my original goal, get rid of the inventory on EBay in order to make room and take a portion of loss instead of 100% loss by letting these stuffs sitting in my closet unused. 

Last weekend hubby and I took our son to visit AHA!  A Hands On Adventures in Lancaster, OH, about an hour drive from where we live.  The first time I heard about this place was (believe it or not) through Jon and Kate Plus Eight when they had one on one quality time with each kid.  Jon took one of the boys (don’t remember which one) to this place and it looked pretty exciting.  Basically AHA is a children museum geared towards younger kids from 0 - 7 years old.  COSI is a pretty exciting place, but I think it’s more for school aged kids. 

I have to be honest, I was pretty skeptical about going to this place.  No offense but I consider Lancaster as a small town compare to Columbus.  I really don’t know what to expect going to a Children Museum in Lancaster.  The entire place is about 4000 sq ft, which is considerably pretty small for a children museum.  In addition, No lunch room facility, not even a single vending machine. I went to the website prior to our visits, so I came in prepare. I brought my son’s lunch box and fed him in the area where they do arts and crafts. Not sure why they don’t even have a single vending machine as they could easily make extra money out of it. Anyway, you’ll never know until you experience it and that’s why we went.  So here are some of my favorites at AHA! A Hands-On Adventures:

Let’s go fishing!
There is a small fishing pond, which is basically a tub filled with blue plastic balls and some fish.  The fish and the fishing poles are both connected with magnetic rings to make it easier for the kids to fish.  It’s not really fancy, but my son had a blast.

Pizza Party
I have a soft spot when it comes to pretend play, especially pretend food, market and the likes. I think they are just adorable. They have a section where you can make “pretend pizza” made of cloth, cut out sponges in the shapes of mushrooms, peppers, garlic, and all kind of pizza condiments. They also have the pan to put the pizza in the oven, and the pizza oven. I put on apron and hat on my son and we had so much fun. I think I had more fun that him on this part.

Shopping Spree
Right next to the pizza area, there is a little shop with shelves of pretend food and cash register with pretend money. Again, I was having a blast more than my son did, partly compensating my childhood. We didn’t have this kind of stuffs when I was growing up.

‘Lil Fireman and His Firetruck
This was probably his favorite and mine too since I got to put a fireman outfit on him. He just looked so adorable in that oversize outfit. The left side of the firetruck has all kinds of buttons that look like the controller on the real firetruck. Behind the firetruck was a frame with lights inside that looks like fire. There are some buttons underneath the fire, and if you shoot it with laser “gun” located on the back of the firetruck, the fire goes out.

Singing and Action
There is a stage in the back corner of the place with piano, microphone, lights that the kids can turn on and off, costumes, and makeup tables. I just thought those kids are so adorable when singing on stage. My son actually sang his favorite songs, Old McDonald and Ba Ba Black Sheep. I didn’t expect that since he’s a pretty shy boy.

The ones I didn’t like:

• The sand box could have had more sand. Actually our sand table at home is much better than theirs
• The obstacle course is pretty basic, really nothing special
• The playhouse looks like the one in COSI.  I wish we could have one that looks like a real house.

The fact that I’ve been to a much better children museum in Indianapolis and Chicago does affect my opinion about AHA! A Hands On Adventures here in Lancaster.  Did my son have a fabulous time?  Absolutely.  Is it worth driving 45 minutes - 1 hour away?  Probably not.

For more information visit http://www.aha4kids.org. 

In preparation of our trip to Disney this coming December, I have made my son watching Disney Playhouse on tv.  I want him to familiarize himself with the characters.  We don’t really watch tv a lot, so we have a lot catching up to do. 

Fortunately Disney sent me its latest DVD “My Friends Tigger & Pooh: Bedtime With Pooh”.  One thing that I love about Disney movies is it’s very easy to get the message.  In this DVD, Winnie the Pooh and his pals from the Hundred Acre Wood show how important it is to stay healthy, get enough sleep, build friendship and have fun.  Eeyore wakes up and has no idea how he wound up outside.  Lumpy prepares for his first Moon Party but wonders if the moon will come out.  Tigger is really sleepy from staying up all night and needs Pooh and the rest of the gang’s help to keep him awake. 

This DVD also offers bonus features of Handy Manny: Tool for Sale and Discover Mode, an interactive feature with three fun ways to watch and play.  As always, my son loves Disney movies and kept on telling me some of the episodes.  This movie is highly recommended and it’s available retail for $19.99 or you can enter to win because I’m giving away this DVD.  How to enter My Friends Tigger & Pooh, Bedtime With Pooh DVD:

Required entry:  Leave a comment and tell me which one is your favorite Playhouse Disney Characters and why.

Additional entry (Valid only after the required entry is completed and each additional entry counts separately):

• Follow mommylicious.net publicly on Google Friend Connect on the right side bar and tell me you are. (1 entry)
• Become a fan of Mommylicious on Facebook and leave me your Facebook name.  (1 entry)
• Follow Mommylicious on Twitter and leave me your twitter name.  (1 entry)
• Join Mommylicious email list.  (2 entry)
• Post this giveaway on your blog and leave me your link to the blog post.  (1 entry)
• Add Mommylicious to your blogroll.  (1 entry)

Rules:

Open to US residents only, both bloggers and non-bloggers.  The giveaway starts August 15, 2010 and ends August 29, 2010 at 10 pm.  One winner with valid entry will be selected randomly through random.org.  The winner will be announced and must respond with a current email address within 48 hours to claim.  Otherwise, another eligible entry will be selected.  You can enter as many additional entry as you like as long as the required entry is completed.  Good luck!

After finishing up bathing my son, I stepped a way for a few minutes while he was playing in the bathtub.  All the sudden I heard him crying.  I went over to him and asked what was wrong.  Before he even said anything, my jaw dropped, my heart sank to my stomach, just couldn’t believe what I saw.  His poop was floating around in the tub!!!  He really pooped in the tub!!! 

OMG I have never been so mad before in my life.  I yelled and screamed at him.  I lifted him up, drained the water, and removed all his toys from the tub.  Once the water was drained, I grabbed a bunch of toilet paper (still screaming and cussing), grabbed the poop and dumped it in the toilet.  I scrubbed the bathtub with Clorox, Lysol and anything I could find under the sink.  Then I washed him again just from belly down, dried him up and sent him to his room… still naked.  I went back to my room, slammed the door, and screamed on top of my lung.  Yes, I lost my cool.  Yes I turned into a momzilla.  And yes I was having a “moment”.  I just couldn’t help it.  The thing is, this is not the first time he had “number 2″ accidents.  In fact, he’d been pooped in his pants just days ago. 

After I calmed down a little bit, I went back to his room.  Still didn’t say anything, I put on his jammies.  He said he’s sorry.  Still couldn’t bear my anger.  I walked away from his room and went back to my office trying to cool down. 

Now I’m really cool down.  I went back to his room and found him sitting on his bed in the darkness, looking really scared.

He whispered, “Sorry mommy. I’m really sorry I pooped in the bathtub”
Me: “And I’m sorry I was screaming”
Him: “Okay”
Me: “Do you know you’re supposed to poop in the potty? Why didn’t you tell mommy you need to poop?”
Him: “I should poop in the potty. Sorry mommy”
Me: “Don’t ever do that again, OK?”
Him: “Okay”
Me: “For your punishment, you go to bed right away. You will eat apple and milk for snack, brush your teeth, and go to bed. No bedtime story”
Him: “Okay”

I opened up my arms and he crawl back into my arms, hugging. Why he kept on having “number 2″ accidents still a mystery to me.  Now looking back, I don’t know whether I should laugh or cry.  I just grabbed a floating poop in my hand today.  What a freakin’ day!!!

A dear friend of mine one day said that it’s important to show some appreciation to our hubby.  I know it sounds cliche, but it’s the same concept when our hubbies tell how beautiful we look.  Somehow showing appreciation boost their self esteem, making sure that they really do something in our household. 

Having said that, I decided to make a list of things that I appreciate from hubby:

• I appreciate that he clips coupons and do the grocery for me.  I didn’t realize how much work it involves and how tedious it is until I tried to do it myself
• I appreciate that he is there for us everyday
• I appreciate that he cuts the grass knowing how much he dislikes the job
• I appreciate that he is always supportive to everything I love to do beyond my current job and motherhood, e.g. blogging, selling on EBay

Dear hubby…
I know we went through ups and down
But one thing for sure
I can’t do all these without you
So Thank You….

Luv u… muahh!!