At Home With Dot

I love organization. It brings calm and reduces the chaos in my home. One particular thing I TRY to keep organized are the toys! I accomplish this through toy rotation! This is not an easy task with four sets of very busy little hands in our house. As you'll see from some of the pictures, the organization is not neat but its organized. The toys are contained and up on shelves ready to be rotated! This is mainly for the benefit of my 2 and 3 year old. Purpose of Toy Rotation: 1. It reduces how often and how much we have to clean up. More on how we do cleanup here. 2. It gives me a visual/auditory on the Little's at all times. They share rooms with their older siblings which means these rooms are full of specials that belong to the big kids. So toys for the Little's are rotated into the front living room. They rarely play in their bedrooms unless I'm in there with them.  3. It allows for boredom! Yes! Being bored is beneficial. It's important ...

There are long days (really if we're honest there are long weeks, months and sometimes even years). Days when I barely have time to sit and hold the Little's. Days when I don't want to hold the Little's. Moments when I don't feel like being a mom (just a little honesty here). Then there are days I don't make the best choices in guiding my children. You know? Its those days when you use harsh words, yell and end up hiding in the bathroom. Yup...those kind of days. At the end of these days I feel like a failure as a mom. Ultimately this feeling is  a choice I'm making; to feel that I'm a failure. I need to choose to move past it. Here is one way I do just that: I view myself through the eyes of my children. Right now I don't have teenagers so this method could change. Until then, this is what I practice. If I view myself through the eyes of my children, what would I see? I think they would see a beautiful lady that holds them in the morning and...

Oh the thrill of the hunt in thrifting!!! I say thrill of the hunt because I often go into thrift stores knowing what I'm looking for. Searching through the unknown and experiencing excitement when you have success is so energizing for me. Yup. Thrift hunting.  On any given day I will 80% of the time be wearing a treasure I found at a thrift store. During my restart series I discussed my love for this hobby. If you're feeling discouraged as a mom or wife, then you just might need a restart ( for the first post in that series click here ). In that post I also promised a future post on thrifting tips. So here is a simple list of tips I've compiled. Hopefully it will inspire current thrifters (is that a word?) and newbies alike. My thrift store shopping tips: 1) Shop with others. When you shop with others and know what each of you are looking for; more eyes = better success.  2) Know what you're looking for. Try going in knowing a few items you're l...

I am the odd one that gets energized by cleaning and organizing. If I'm angry...I clean. If I'm happy...I clean. If I'm tired I...clean.  Yup I'm weird. We have each been given unique gifts and talents by God and I think He gave me cleaning as a talent. Some have the gift of being able to rest and be still like Mary in the story of Mary and Martha from the Bible. This is a skill I'm not very good at. But that's OK! We can each support and encourage one another in our uniqueness. If we were all the same; how boring would that be? So whether cleaning and organizing comes easy to you or not; I hope this post encourages you!  Random Tips That Support Cleaning Efforts * I always have a box I'm filling for our monthly donation. Less stuff means less to clean. When we were getting ready to move three years ago, I developed a habit of donating items. This has become my new philosophy "if its not important enough to pack up and put in a box to move wi...