Newest items in the Etsy shop

Hey all!

Just wanted to introduce the newest item in the Etsy shop. Its actually been fun and calming for me.

I got the idea from something I saw in a discount store, that was being sold for only $3.00. Wow I can make those!!!   Ribbon hair ties!!

I started by making some for school spirit day in June, for my girls.

Right now in the Etsy shop, we have some cute owl hair ties for back to school. As well as some plain geometric ones for the older girls, who might like to wear these, but not want them so cutesy.

And last but not least, we are currently taking orders for customer NFL team hair ties.

So stop on by to see what we have new happening, and feel free to order your customer NFL hair ties, or any hair ties. Ones posted on the Etsy page are ready for immediate sale. Our FB page shows customer orders completed and in progress.

Etsy Shop - 3LadybugCrafts
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Fall haul - Dollar Tree, Christmas Tree Shop, TJMax

Hey all!

I'm back!!! Its my most favorite time of the year, and I will have plenty to talk about. I will also have more time to post more, as I have been laid off from another job, but I will write more about that later.
Lets get to it -- FALL!!!!!

One day, a couple weeks ago, I decided to pop into The Christmas tree shop, just to see IF they had fall stuff out and they did!!

So we grabbed a few things. I didn't go crazy. And they weren't bad deals. first off is this large shallow bowl that can be used for pasta, fruit on the table or a centerpiece. It is plastic, but it was too pretty to bot buy.  $1.49

 Next I saw these gel cling stickers. I am not sure where to put them, but they were only $1.00.

 As we passed by these, I couldn't resist, for the Thanksgiving portion of the Fall. They were real towels and not that microfiber stuff that doesn't really absorb. And they were only $1.00 each. I HAD to.

 Now we only stopped at Christmas tree shop because it was on my way to the craft store. And of course, while I was in line, these were looking me in my face. $1.00

 Of course you can't go through Fall without treating yourself to a little Bath & Body Works. No big deals there, except for that soaps were $3, and I had a $10 off $30 coupon. NEVER go to BBW without a coupon. Coupons are Free!!!

 While on a Dollar Tree trip I grabbed these small glittery pumpkins, although I wasn't sure what I would do with them. Then, 10 minutes later, while at TJMax, I saw this gold stick pumpkin, and got this picture in my head. Stick pumpkin was $5.99, which is more then I would want to spend but I really was drawn to it for some some reason. Just like the set of 2 white ceramic pumpkin lights, I placed under the cake stand. I have been obsessed with white pumpkins this season. Again, more then I would have wanted to spend at $7.99 for the set of 3, but I treated myself.

 Another TJMax impulse buy..this...woodland creature. She was only $3.99, not too bad. But it has caused a Facebook war.....WHAT ANIMAL IS THIS???? I saw its a fox, but others say cat. Cats are not my thing, so if I felt it was a cat, I would not have bought it. What do YOU think. Comment below.

 I had these candle lanterns already, but didn't want to buy candles to put in them, for me to just not burn the candles. So I ran to Dollar Tree (yes, we have one IN town that I frequent) , and grabbed a $1.00 leaf garland, and here is the result. Those candles are LED and look pretty at night.

 Last but not least....my Walmart smelly stuff haul. This photo is pretty self explanatory. I again, could NOT resist. Fall here is for my house!! And these wax melts are so reasonable compared to other brands...$2.00 a pack. The candles, small jar is $1.00, that small/medium one on the right was $2.00 and although not pictured, they have 3 wick candles that vary from $3.33 to $4.99 and smell soooo wonderful.

I hope this helped inspire you Fall decor, or you bargain shopping for fall, or all of the above.
Be back soon with some more Fall Lovin Bloggin!!

Supporting my husband with MS ... or enabling him?

With my new job, has come some new changes in our family dynamic. I am home less and my husband is home more. However, I feel as though I am doing more then I did before. And it might just be that I am doing the same amount of chores, just in a smaller amount of time. And this frustration leads me to look at my husband and what HE is doing, while he is home all day.

First off, I want to precede with advising you all I am not blaming him or complaining. I would like to simply educate others in my same boat, and others with a diagnosis of MS....the family supporters you live with and care takers. Its a whole new life change for them as well. 

Below I will just show you how MY thought process goes, on a dialy basis. Its a mental and emotional things for us as well.

"I work all day, the kids are NOT in school, but he can sit there and not lift a finger all day?  Maybe he is having a bad day. I will just shut up, get the kids to help, and get this done myself so he doesn't have to think I am upset about it. Its not his fault."

The next day...


"I work all day, the kids are NOT in school, but he can sit there and not lift a finger all day? I let it go yesterday so he could relax. He hasn't gone out in the heat or exerted himself. WHAT is he doing all day? I don't fully understand, so I'll just  get this done myself so he doesn't have to think I am upset about it. Its not his fault."

Day 3...

" "I work all day, the kids are NOT in school, but he can sit there and not lift a finger all day? I let it go yesterday for a 2nd time. By now I am SURE he can muster up the energy to get SOMETHING done. A load of dishes can't possibly wear you out THAT bad. WTF?!?!  Why should I have to do it ALL?"

A little under my breath complaining, and then he gets up like he knows he is wrong and helps a little until I calm down....

"He obviously can tell its not fair to me that he can't help as much anymore. Is it fair to me to get mad? How do I know he isn't just milking this to get days of doing nothing? I can't do that even when I am sick.  I know I should just shut up and assume he is not having a good day every day, and eventually I will get used to it....like I'm a single mom. But if I just do everything for him, is that enableing him? Shouldn't I make him keep himself mobile and force him to learn new tricks at how to live with MS?"

After a small converstaion of letting him know that I think he is getting worse and he says he feels better? WHAT????  He admits that its the depression and he's going to try to force himself out of it.

"Here we go, I don't understand the physical aspect of depression. I know that he has a reason to be depressed. He needs his meds, although he thinks he doesn't. Do I know better than him in this case, as I have to live with the outcome of his moods?  Is it fair for me to judge him? Its not his fault. But I can't just let him mope around and not do anything. That will make his depression worse and will make his physical capabilities worse, which will make the MS worse."

As a caregiver or loved one living with someone with Multiple Sclerosis, its a constant battle for us too. We want to help, but also don't want the person to feel as though they are useless.
Its a constant fine line of learning what we need to push them on, and when we need to back off.

Please, talk to your spouse, loved one, or caregiver. Let them know how you feel, what you need from them, how they can help you. Don't forget that its a learning process for you BOTH.

Updates & new things happening

Hey all!!!

First off I wanna say Happy 4th of July!!! I know you might be wondering why I am blogging on a holiday? Well, we celebrated the last 2 days, so we are kinda of taking today off. Just gonna do the fireworks thing...if the rain hold out.

But I also had time to finally update you all. The Etsy shop has added a new item. I have added a few new social media outlets. And, yes I have been absent, but that's mostly because I got a new job, and the hubby hasn't been pretty good, so I've been doing a lot of house stuff as soon as I get done work.

New item in the Etsy shop are ribbon hair ties.  They can be customized, for orders of at least 2 or more. Ones that are posted, are ready for immediate sale/shipping. My daughters love wearing bows in their hair so..I thought, why not? I have done some hair bow holders int he past, and plan to do a few more in the upcoming months as well. Again, they will be able to be customized as well.

Along with the ribbons, we are now doing canvas art again. Below are a couple of canvas pieces we've done. The fish one, is for immediate sale. Again, customized requests are welcomed.

Along with new shop items, there is currently a Christmas in July sale going on my FB page and Etsy shop. I really need to get rid of some of my Christmas stock, to make room for this upcoming Fall/Winter season.
To help promote the shop and anything else that pops up I have also joined the Twitter world!! And I have finally joined Snapchat as well. the snapchat thing I am using as a daily vlog type outlet. I would like to start vlogging someday, but feel a little nervous. So thought I'd try it on Snapchat first to see what response I get.
I really hope you decide to join me in my journey. All links for all social media are below. Thank you for stopping by!

Facebook craft page - https://www.facebook.com/3ladybugcrafts/
Etsy Shop -- https://www.etsy.com/shop/3LadybugCrafts
Google+ -- https://plus.google.com/u/0/104635149469701589958/posts
Instagram,Twitter & Snapchat ---  @hjsmoons

Baked Zuccini chips

Hey all!

I am finally back with a recipe blog post - yay!!

I've seen a few of these going around, and they looked so good I wanted to try. But I put my own little twist on it.  I have to say, I was surprised at how crispy & crunchy they actually were.

Ingredients:
-1 zucchini ( a good sized one makes a lot)
-2 eggs
- 3/4 cup of Italian salad dressing
- 1 cup of Bread crumbs (I don't suggest using Panko for this)
-1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese (can add more if you'd like)
- Season All salt (can use regular salt)
Feel free to add any other seasonings you might want. I actually wanted to add onion powder but forgot.

Directions:

1 - slice zuccini into thin slices

2 - Wisk the eggs and italian dressing

3 - Combine bread crumbs, parmesean cheese and salt

4 - Toss ziccini slices in the egg wash

5 - bread all of the slices and place on a non stick cooking sheet. if your cooking/baking sheet is not so non stick, use some cooking spray on it.

6 - bake at 400 degrees for about 15 to 20 minutes.

And, they are kid approved!!!

Why do women have to have a BFF?

Forewarning:  I know that some of you will read this and just think that I am a miserable bitch and have no real friends. However, that is not the case. I have always felt like this. And yes, maybe some instances from my teen years have caused me feeling this way, but I feel its just a logical way to see this.

WHY do women feel the need to call each other BFF?? I just don't get it. Does it validate your feelings that you have a close friend out there that you can go to anytime you need a shoulder to lean on?

I have only a handful of friends. And this is my choice. I don't needs tons of people in and out of my life. Its bad enough, my close friends are sometimes in and out of my life. But that is called LIFE!!! People grow up, and move on. The more you realize this, the less you will feel like you've been "screwed over by who you thought was your best friend".

Think about it. How many "best friends" have you had in your lifetime? How many of them are no longer in your adult life? The term BFF should be left in high school (sorry not sorry).

A real friend is not categorized by someone who is up your ass daily.
A real friend is not someone who offers you money or is always trying to do things for you.
A real friend is not always the person in all those selfies you take together. 


A real friend will be there if you call them crying and say they really just want to talk.
A real friend will be there to help you move, when you finally realize that guy she warned you about really is a loser.
A real friend will help you pick up the pieces, if you have fallen apart.

A real friend will be that bitch who told you the TRUTH, whether you like it or not.

I have seen many friendships fade, and have realized one thing. There is usually one party who EXPECTS things to be a certain way, and when they don't pan out like that, they blame the other party. This is not fair. Don't expect a person to be a certain way towards you. If you truly love them, you will appreciate what they can offer, WHEN and HOW they offer it.

As a friend, if you need to vent to me, call me & I'll be there to listen. But I am not a mind reader.
As a friend, if you can't catch up and need a boost or help, call me & I'll be there. But I am not a mind reader.
As a friend, if you feel the need to reveal a deep secret, call me & I'll help you work through it and keep it to myself. But I am not a mind reader.

I strongly feel that calling someone a BFF is validation that you feel loved. I don't need that validation from anyone outside of my own family. What my husband and kids think of me, is all that matters, and all that should matter.

In conclusion, I don't have any BFFs and I don't want any. All I want is my circle of friends who I know I can rely on when I call on them. If I don't call on them, I don't expect anything from them in return. The only thing I do expect, is respect.

So can we please just stop with the BFF title and just call them our TRUE FRIENDS?!

What do you do?

I'm in limbo with my morals and responsibilities. I don't know what to do or how to handle it.
I'm not liking my new job.

It may just be that I am used to big corporate ways. I have been programmed like a robot maybe? If so, its odd that it seems I like it that way.  Ive been trained that this is how you accept your work/orders, this ish ow you process it, this is how you close you it, this is how you notate things. No veering off track. If its not "your" job, don't do it.

Now I am at this smaller company, where there is no process. There are no rules in place of how things should be done. I am having to figure everything out as I go.
A coworker asked me the other day how I receive my orders. I said I don't...people just email me and tell me what to do. I've been given no real "process".

I was not told that this is how I will receive orders, this is what they will look like, this is what this means and we do things, and from this point on, its YOUR responsibility. the only thing that was fully handed over to me, is stuff that I have never done before. OK, its billing....I do billing for my home life, so I can figure it out. But that's not my background. I have never been in accounting.

I have offered suggestions on how to make things a little more streamline and offered to take things as my own, so others can take some pressure off themselves. I mean, isn't that why I was hired?

I am vaguely being taught how things are done and what the processes are. It's a very "wing it" environment. A lot of times, I feel as though I am simply just others personal secretaries.....someone to send emails for them. I copy and paste a lot.

 I don't feel as comfortable as I think I should. I often wonder why I was hired.

The drive home, although its not as bad as others have it, its very tedious and stressful to me. A lot of sitting and waiting in traffic. My car never gets above 25 mph.  By the time I get home, I want to do nothing, although there is tons that still need to be done, because I am not home all day anymore.

I often have off feelings in the beginning of jobs. But my last job, was exactly my field, doing what I knew, and I didn't need to be trained. So basically, I have been doing the same thing for all these years. I took this job with the hopes that I could learn different aspects of the business, but I am not learning anything behind the information I am pushing around. So I am trying to help keep things organized....which is not going well. Each time I try, I am basically told they don't want to do it that way.

My husband is in process of applying for disability. He's has to cut his working hours to 10 hrs a week. Mainly, its just to get him out of the house, I think. So all financials are on me. I can't just quit this job...we would be screwed.   And for now, I need to ensure I have a job where I can work from home as needed. And this job has that flexibility.

I guess only time will tell what happens. Maybe things will change at the job so I can shine. Or maybe another job will come along that will allow me to shine.

"Just keep swimminng...."