eBAY: OH, I'M SOLD!

Two weeks ago, I had the great pleasure of joining about 20 or so other bloggers that make up the eBay Parent Panel at the eBay headquarters in San Jose. In addition to fun dinners and outings, our two days were filled with sessions about selling on eBay. To say that I learned a thing or two about all things "how to" eBay and that I wanted to come home and start selling immediately, would be an understatement. Sitting through these sessions, I was so deeply inspired and excited: There is NOTHING that can't be sold. From coupons to handbags to old appliances or cords, I realized I was sitting on a treasure trough of trash that could turn into CASH.

Here are a couple highlights and top tips:

What to List:

For ideas on what to list, check out their Selling Inspiration House. This page is AWESOME. The Inspiration House can help you figure out if things that you have around the house are worth selling by browsing through virtual rooms. http://pages.ebay.com/sellerinformation/what-to-sell.html

-Costumes are top sellers on @eBay. People flock to site in Sept & Oct for children's costumes.

-Selling by season @eBay: Biggest trends in selling are during winter holidays and back to school

-Brand names and small items are the easiest things to sell for first time @eBay sellers. iPhones, iPads, iPods = SOLD.

Shipping:

-I learned that if your item weighs 13 oz or less, you can ship USPS First Class Mail... BUT shipping is still making me a little woozy. I won't lie. This is something I'm going to have to figure out. I loved fellow parent panel Caroline Murphy's, of Smarty Pants Mama, post about how to make this process easier.

And if you're really scared, (and I'm of no help), check out 5 Getting Started Tips for Selling on eBay from Sommer of the Green and CleanMom.

Proudly, I had a pretty great week last week and sold 5 of the 6 items I listed. The Target Coupon book didn't sell but I listed that as more of an experiment anyway, so I'm okay with that. Right now, I have a FAB makeup/eyeshadow kit (Brand new) from Urban Decay. Hoping it will sell.... Next week I plan on listing some electronic stuff, and an old maternity gown (and by gown, I mean a FORMAL Liz Lange satin gown I wore as a bridesmaid at 36 weeks preg. Hot).

Wish me luck on my selling endeavors AND if you have an questions, please leave a comment and I'll take it to the eBay Brainiacs that have been guiding me through this all!

THE CHECK IN

Oh, hello there. Hi. Hey. What's up. Remember me? GOOD. I know.... been a while since I've posted anything. I'm well overdue for a story about Jonah and his questions or my unshaven legs (though I must say, shockingly, they're actually quite smooth these days. Jonah on the other hand... his questions are still incessant).

Anyway... What exactly have I been doing that has taken me away from all things perfectly disheveled? I don't entirely know. But I know I've been BUSY. I've got a pile of mail, a slew of phone calls to returns, an inbox of of unread emails, and a dozen shows that are on the brink of DVR deletion... On that note, I'm going to keep it short and sweet, and leave you with 1) a promise that I will start to write more. Soon. & 2) a little story about little J.

Tonight, after returning from an oh, SO fun sesh with my accountant (Three letters: FML), I walked in while Jonah was taking a bath. I sat down next to Tricia (our nanny) and started to catch up with them.

Me: So.... tell me about your afternoon. How was it? What did you do?

J: Mommy, we already told you.

Me: Can you tell me again?

J: Why do you always check on me while I'm with Tricia? Just let us hang out. We're fine. Geeeeee.

Tricia and I laugh.

Me: Oh, my darling.... I will check on you for the rest of your life. In 30 years from now, I'll check on you.

J: 30???!

Me: Yep... when you're married, with children, I'll check on you. I'll ask you about your day then too.

J: But, why???

Me: Because I'm your mom. And I'm jewish. And we want to know what you ate, where you ate, who you ate with, how you feel, how you felt, how you think you'll feel and if you're still hungry.

Jonah laughed.

J: Are you just joking?

Me: Oh, no. I'm pretty serious.

He puts his hand to his head.

J: Oh my god, mother!

And so it begins....

A "MIRACLE" WEIGHT-LOSS PROGRAM

2 weeks exactly before D-day

I gained 33 pounds during my pregnancy with Jonah. Thirty-three. I lost exactly 12 the day he was born. Not that it was anything I cared about DURING the 24 hours of labor/no sleep. But I can remember coming home from the hospital, looking down at what appeared to be a five month pregnant, but blob like belly and thinking, "in addition to the 7lb 5 oz human that emerged from my womb, I muuuust have lost more weight..." So, like a sicko, I hopped on the scale and cursed the amniotic gods for only shedding 5 lbs of fluid.... THEN exhaustion and WTF just happened to my life-ness set in and I didn't think about how much I had or needed to lose again. Well... at least not for another couple months.... Eventually, it all evened out and I was back to my pre-baby weight and bod (minus the newly deflated-breastfeeding ruins everything chest area).

A couple months ago, my buddies at How to Be a Dad asked me to participate in a video they were producing for Kin Community. With pleasure, I said of course and showed up to shoot a little video about losing said baby weight (kind of). Though my days of theeeeater and acting are long behind me, I must admit it was fun doing a video with Charlie, Andy, and my girls Jenny Feldon of Karma (Continued) and Morgan of the818. It's no embarrassing meet and greet with Ashton Kutcher, but it still ought to make you laugh. What do y'all think?

"REDSHIRTING" and THE KINDERGARTEN CRAZE

When I first found out I was pregnant and due in September of 2007, I really never considered the implications that giving birth to a child with a late summer birthday would have other than how miserable I thought I'd be at 900 pounds and pregnant during Los Angeles heat waves. As a September baby myself, I pretty much just patted myself on the back for birthing another Virgo and for getting myself (and my unborn child) into the city's most acclaimed mommy and me class for "September babies" at 10 weeks pregnant. That's all I really needed to think about.... Making sure he was in a class (at 3 months old) with other babies (infants, really) who had no more than a 30 day difference age wise than him. Why should my baby already be behind? I'll give him every advantage in the world... always...

But let me tell you, as a new (but lifelong neurotic) mom, when my son wasn't rolling over like every other baby, or spitting up more, or not crawling...etc, etc... I wondered and often blamed his September 20th birthday for the baby with the September 6th birthday. Was the 14 day difference giving that little girl a leg up on my boy? I thought so. After all, I downed folic acid like it was air and flocked to the number one pre-natal yoga guru as if she were god incarnated. I did EVERYTHING right and didn't even look at deli meats or sushi. How could he already be behind? My son is brilliant and developmentally on track isn't he?!?... Oh, those 14 days. They felt like everything....

Eventually things seemed to even out. He walked, talked, and even learned to pee standing up. Those days and weeks that separated my son from the kids that crawled sooner and I assumed were way head of my son developmentally, eventually meant nothing. But 4 years later... I'm back to that place... and now, it's worse than worrying about the fact that he drools more or hasn't given up a bottle.

Now it's about Kindergarten enrollment... AKA: The rest of his life.

Or at least that's how it feels.

Here's the sitch:

Jonah turns 5 in September. He has been in (private) preschool for 2 years. The cutoff for Kindergarten in the state of CA is Nov. 1st. So technically, J can go to kindergarten. However, no one, including his teachers are certain he's ready. Academically, yes. Emotionally, no. SO thankfully, many schools in Los Angeles have what's called a Transitional Kindergarten program.... designed for late summer/ fall born children like little J. Great. The Problem? Thanks to budget cuts, TK might get slashed therefore giving us two options: Send him to kindergarten (like I did when I was 5 years old) OR keep him in preschool one more year (which is really not an option because of financials). So basically, this means, if TK gets slashed, OR if they enroll children starting with December birthdays and work there way back, he won't get it. What does this all mean? I need to wrap my head around the idea of kindergarten at the age of 5... which has become this ooogy boogy, horrific notion amongst parents these days.

Last night, 60 Minutes ran a great segment about this "Redshirting" phenomenon- or holding children back from kindergarten. According to the piece, redshirting has tripled since the 1970's. Now nearly a quarter of all kindergarten classrooms are populated by 6 year olds. Boys are twice as likely to be held bas as girls, and twice more than minorities and of course rich more than poor.

Parents like me are getting scared into thinking that our children aren't not only ready for the curriculum which is now harder and different in Kindergarten as it was when we were children, but that if we allowed our children to be the youngest child, they wouldn't be the leaders.... Socially, they'd be out of place.... weaker... less likely to succeed.

Is it really that serious though? As Morely Safer says in a follow up piece, he doesn't think it makes a bit of difference. (I suppose I would be curious to know how old President Obama was when he started kindergarten.... and also Justin Bieber. Both seem to be doing okay).

In case, you missed it, here's the piece from 60 minutes below. So tell me: What do you think I should do? Kindergarten or bust? TK first, kindergarten second option? Beg, borrow, steal to keep him in preschool one more year? Share your thoughts and experiences here!

Click HERE for the follow up piece.