Purse Meme

The following post is my "Purse Meme" -- a expose on the contents of my purse. Why? You might ask. Several of my favorite blogs have done purse memes recently, and it's amazing how much is revealed about a woman from the contents of her purse. So, without further ado, the Purse Meme . . .

Here is my purse. It's a backpack-style purse. It always seems that I never go anywhere with JUST a purse, so I actually carry it like a backpack most of the time, and then I'm free to slog a big bag or whatever as well. I've had it for about five years. I am monogamous to my husband and to my purse. I don't own any other purses. When this one finally dies (loses a handle, gets stolen/lost, becomes unsightly), only then will I go back on the hunt for another purse. I would like to stipulate here that if Keith should ever lose a handle, get stolen/lost, or become unsightly, I WILL NOT replace him.

Here's the front of my purse. I got it during my "brown" accessories phase. At the time, I bought cute brown boots to go with my cute new purse. Today, it's looking a little the worse for wear and getting close to "meeting its reward."

And now for the contents of my purse. I want to add here that I did not edit ANY contents. I took the contents of my purse and spread them on my bed and snapped a bunch of pictures. (I know this must be absolutely fascinating!) : )

First of all, I do not leave the house without some form of writing utensil. So I usually have at least two pens stuck in the big outside pocket of my purse. I've been writing stories and letters since junior high years. And now blog posts are just an extension of my writing bug. I'm currently writing a story that I keep in a spiral notebook in the bag that I schlep around with my purse. If I don't have my notebook . . .

. . . then I grab scrap paper and scribble part of my story on that to be alter transferred to my main story. So that's what this paper is, tucked somewhere at the bottom of my purse. I remember writing this particular tidbit while waiting for pizza at Little Caesar's.

Here we have the all-important paint chips. How can one go shopping without having one's color scheme close at hand. And how could one not fully discuss said color scheme without showing friends the many and varied possibilities! The four strips in the forefront are the current colors of choice while the ones in the background are the contenders and/or bedroom color paint chips. Do you recognize the "electric lime" that is now actually on the walls of my kitchen/breakfast area? so it's blue on the left for the living room, a deep peachy color next for family room, the lime that I already wrote about and the red for the dining room. (Ginny might be the only one remotely interested in the colors!)

Hair care, of course. Keva hates this brush! The pony tail holders are for protection against are roll-down air-conditioning in the van.

I had at the very bottom of my purse a packet of AA batteries still in their bag from Kroger. I have to literally hide these batteries from my children who will appropriate them for their various plug-and-play game systems and for their other electronic toys. This cannot happen because I NEED to have batteries for my little $5 cassette Walkman for my walks and for the boredom of dishes and laundry.

One charger for my cell phone. This is a charger that plugs into an outlet because are van cigarette lighter went the way of the air-conditioner. So, just in case I run out of battery power, I have the option of plugging it in when I reach my destination. I also have in my purse (I just realized -- an ear piece -- for talking while driving (always SUCH a good idea!) It's tucked away in the cell phone compartment in my purse. I never use it so I forget it's there. The cell phone should be pictured here, too, but I always put it in a special place next to my car keys when I come home. I never leave home without it.

Next to the charger is my pile of trash -- old receipts mostly and grocery lists. I'm always amazed at just how much trash I can accumulate all by myself.

My purse has a front pouch that contains these items: 1) Mints pilfered from the church's women's restroom. Kade lives for these mints on Sunday mornings while waiting to be let loose to children's church. He's always STARVING until he gets one of them. 2) Three of eight flight cards for when we fly stand-by. Keith has his own and I supposedly have mine and the kids. Maybe Keri Lynn has hers. Why I'm missing four, I don't know. 3) A cute little flashlight key chain my father-in-law gave to each of the grand kids. I ended up with one of them in my purse. I never use it, but there it is anyway -- just in case!

There's an inside zippered pouch that contains my LOADS of change. Said change usually consists of pennies and an odd nickle or dime because the kids like to riffle through my purse in search of money. Then, I have my wallet that contains about a hundred receipts and ATM slips and the usual wallet stuff. Then, there's a little notepad with a running list of books that I want to read. My checkbook -- duplicate one since I'm terrible about keeping track of my checks -- especially because I almost exclusively use my debit card. And this year's Womens' Bible study name tag that is now over for the summer. (I'm going through Bible study withdrawals! boo-hoo!)
There's a make-up compartment at the front of the purse. The story of my make-up would take a whole series of posts all by itself, but I will try to sum it up! First of all, I no longer put my make-up on while driving to my destination. This habit was stopped when we moved to Georgia. There are simply not enough red lights to give me time to put on make-up. It used to be my big time saving strategy. Not anymore. This girl now does hair and make-up at home! So the make-up that I keep in my purse is strictly for putting something in the make-up compartment. I never use any of this stuff, except for maybe the lipgloss. The other lipsticks -- I don't use. Why do I have an eye pencil sharpener when I don't even have an eye pencil to sharpen? Don't know, but I did put it right back into my purse when I took the picture! I might use the toenail clippers on occasion, but I do that mostly at night at home. (Is this TMI?) Anyway, the compact has no make-up in it and is missing one of its two mirrors. I used it for the first time in months yesterday when Keri Lynn wanted to see what she looked like in Michaels wearing a tiara. Oh, and the two syringes in the picture are for Kody's use. I got some worm treatment for him that I have yet to give him. The medicine is up in the medicine cabinet with the people meds (and hopefully I won't accidentally dose someone in the middle of the night with worm treatment when they really have a cough.)

How many readers have I lost now?

I'll lose the rest with the next few pictures. This was in the main compartment of my purse -- library paperwork. When we check out our books, we get a list of the books we have just checked out. Last week, the librarian felt that I needed a reminder of the circulation policies like only five videos out at a time, overdue fines and stuff like that. The librarians might have a system similar to the police using "good cop/bad cop." Last week was "mean librarian" and today's visit we had the "nice librarian".

Visitor tag for when I last went to Keva's school. I never bother filling it out and most of the time I don't even stick it on. I have yet to be questioned. The office staff all know that I'm Keva's mom. Under the visitor tag is a list of family addresses for when I went to the post office to mail out our family picture. Was it January or February that I sent those out?

Cough drops and a receipt from the latest visit to the pediatrician. I was popping cough drops like candy during the pollen season. It's finally starting to go down. Spring is so pretty, but I sure am a coughing, sneezing, nose-dripping mess.

This picture cracked me up as I set up the receipts. In case you haven't yet guessed, they're grocery receipts. Sometimes I actually look at them, but usually I just crumple them into my purse along with the rest of the trash and move on with the next item on the agenda. The receipts also tell me that it's been exactly five weeks since I last cleaned out my purse -- five weeks of grocery store trips.

I accidentally took two pictures of the cell phone charger because it's such an exciting and important part of my existence. And then, there's an empty prescription bottle from my last trip to the pharmacist. I can never handle ordering my prescriptions ahead of time. I always must do it at the last minute. I think it has to do with my need for excitement or something.

Anyway, wasn't that interesting, Mom -- who's the only person still reading this post, I'm sure!