Since my family isn't originally from around here, I try to expose my children to things that they can't experience in other locations. Both of my children were born in very large cities: my son in Hong Kong and my daughter in GuangZhou, China. We have moved around a lot and finally settled here, in the beautiful Appalachian Mountains.

The things we can do here that we can't do in other more metropolitan cities are really varied.

As I said, I can't list them all, but I can show you some...

Picking tomatoes next to our blueberry plants

My kids and the Virginia Creeper Trail

Playing with friends in our huge yard

Picking pears from our own pear tree

Playing with sheep

Picking raspberries on our property

If we lived in the city, or even a more metropolitan area, we'd be doing vastly different activities every day. But I love the High Country and I love the options we have for outdoor activities, even if it's close to home.

For some reason this post has really stuck with me - I keep mulling it over in my mind and wondering if there really is any truth to it or if it's just a post to write and give an excuse to an already messy house.

The jury is still out on that one, but as for my house - it's generally organized all the time. Does this mean that I am neglecting my children? Absolutely not. Does it mean I'm obsessive compulsive? I don't think so.

What it DOES mean, for me and my life, is that I require order to be a productive happy member of society. It started as early as my pre-teen years, when I wouldn't be able to really study for a test unless my room was organized first. It just distracted me too much. Things around me don't need to be clean, per se, but "organization" is the key.

Other mothers often ask me how I do it, so I will share my "secret."

When it's time to play, it's time to play. It can be messy and downright disgusting in our home during play time. But, once it's time to move on to another activity, I require that everything is picked up first from the previous activity. Where does everything go? I'm glad you asked.

I have baskets all over my home for different types of toys. There's a plastic train track basket, a wooden train track basket, a car basket, a miscellaneous girl toy basket (does it ever seem like girl toys just can't be sorted according to the type of toy?), a homeschooling basket, a stuffed animal bucket, and many more. I find that all of these baskets truly help to keep things looking a bit more organized (or to the untrained eye, "clean") and the children know where every toy belongs. Once I say, "put your trains away," there's no question as to where they go and they are usually put there very quickly.

So, the secret to MY organized home is baskets. What's the secret to yours?

Cleanliness is a different matter altogether!