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I have been doing some soul searching lately. My anxiety has been raising and, too frequently, I feel like I'm in the middle of an emergency before I am fully conscious. Lack of sleep just intensifies my emotional deregulation and pretty soon, those simple executive functions are gone.  Why? Well, mostly because of small business ownership.  When I took over Madre Beads three years ago I had these huge hopes. I thought maybe this was the chance for me to turn things around. Maybe, this would be when I feel successful. I've worked, and learned and in the middle had...

Invisible Labor- have you heard the term? It isn't easy. For example, right now I am sitting cross legged on the floor in a corner of the vets waiting room. We chose this clinic on a recommendation from our last vet that moved away. But it's walk in only, which means today- I am as far as I can get from the other folks and I have been waiting for 45 minutes. I expect to be waiting for another 45.   While I sit here, I’m scrolling and texting and working on my phone. I have to be focused enough on my...

  Dear Madres,  I'm busy cleaning my garage this weekend. We are slowly remodeling our kitchen and every other part of the house, while we live and work in it. This is normal for us- but it requires frequent garage takeovers. So, we are doing that seasonal shit.  Have a great weekend! Stay safe- mask up, Kelley     

Dear Madres, School looks different. It looks like masks and hand sanitizer and patience and calm. It looks like empathy, for the kids, for the parents and especially the very important folks that make a school run. Teachers, administrative, cooks and janitors. Our year looked different for another reason.  I was chatting with a friend. She was talking about her concerns, anxiety and fear for the things she can't control as her child goes into Kindergarten this year. As we do, as mothers, she asked me questions about when my first born went to kinder. As I told her the...

I have always had a dog in my life. When I was a baby, my mother acquired a puppy and we grew up together. When she turned 13 so did I, and that was also the year she crossed the rainbow bridge. My first dog, but not my last.  Our pets are so very important to us. Something about having a furry companion brings us peace and that essential hit of dopamine.  When I became a mother, we had 3 dogs. My sons grew up getting crumbs cleared off his hands (sometimes a full face lick) by a canine cleaner....