Spill it
Posted on | July 13, 2007 | 14 Comments
I was sitting in the car today, poking desperately through my bag to find something to entertain Bean with while waiting for DH to pick up some last-minute essentials at the General Store just down the road from our house (Yes, we really have one. It
s fascinating. There is a stuffed bobcat that has seen better days atop the freezers, and the man behind the counter has a comb-over and lives with his mother in the house up the street. His dog’s name is Jasper. And he carries a bit of everything: nails, tackle, popsicles, potato chips, tampons, lemons, matches, ice cream sandwiches, steaks) and concluded that the eighty-nine things I’m toting around are a dead give-away about who I am. Maybe.
First of all, I never used to even carry a bag. I was anti bag. I stuck my wallet in my butt-pocket and sometimes even skipped that, opting only for cash and my ID. But I’ve come around. I didn’t have much of a choice. Once you’re somebody’s mother, certain things become essential. Like bag-having. And extra arms.
Second of all, I’m not sure what I’m really supposed to call It. A bag or a purse or a pocket book or the ever chic sounding ‘handbag?’ My every day bag is a pale green Gucci knock-off (remember this?) made of beautiful soft leather that is big and floppy that swallows it’s contents. Especially my car keys. Without fail, I’m stuck in the parking lot holding an umbrella, two bags and Bean who is determined to get down and drive away without me, trying to find them. I know. It should be simple. I should always put them in that tidy little front pocket. But that would be utterly out of character. And I never think of it until times like now.
These essentials that can always be found in my bag are as follows:
1. A Ziploc baggie of wipes. I remember shopping for a to-go wipes container while I was pregnant. I was very attached to the idea. Certain I’d need to whip out a perfect little compact case of wipes—as if the things have to stay serene and neatly folded or something. Now it’s down to a Ziploc which fits beautifully in any bag, and can double as a trash-bag if necessary (I used mine today, when Bean decided he needed to poop in the woods while we were on a mini-hike.)
2. Random non-perishable snacks including Ziploc baggies of animal crackers and fruit-leather. I’ve always been awful about remembering to eat. Then I’m utterly famished and miserable. It seems I’ve passed this gene on to my kid, and though it took me about a year to get the hang of it, I now always carry something in my bag to proffer when the traffic gets heavy, when the lines get long, or when the playground was just so much fun
3. An extra pair of Bean underpants. Just in case. Have I mentioned Bean is totally potty trained (except for the occasional night accident, and the odd time when we don’t make it to a bathroom fast enough)? It’s lovely. Except for I think I was a little unprepared for the whole public bathroom with small child who wants to touch everything business. Is it wrong that I just let him stand ON the seat while peeing, so that he doesn’t have to sit on it?
4. Lip gloss. My last minute instant pretty look. It’s the only makeup I wear. Except for mascara sometimes. Because really, when is there time for more?
5. Cell phone. I hate it. Yeah, I’m one of those people. I never answer it. But I like knowing it’s there, just in case. Also because it’s a fabulous distraction for a two-year-old when all else fails.
6. And then the eighty-nine other random items, some of which I’ve sketched for your viewing pleasure. Others include: two cancelled tickets to a mini train ride. A very beaten bottle of Motrin. Hair ties. Crumpled receipts. An extra Bean t-shirt. The wheel of one toy tractor. And the plastic hat belonging to the man that goes in Bean’s favorite digger.
What do you keep in your bag? Go ahead. Play along. Post about it, and leave a link to your post, or spill right here in the comments.
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July 13th, 2007 @ 11:25 pm
The contents of my bag are pretty simple:
Wallet
Cell phone
Business cards
pen (unless I’ve lost it… again)
sunblock
random snacks (some sort of bar, fruit leather, raisins, peanut butter pretzels, you get the idea)
one diaper
one wet back for wet diaper
wipes
one pad
one tampon
grocery bags for unexpected trash
random receipts
Lily’s comb has been hanging out there lately
Camera
That’s it, methinks. I think of myself as a bag minimalist. But that list looks fairly long. Harrumph.
PS Love the sketch!
July 13th, 2007 @ 11:27 pm
That was one wet “BAG”. Not wet “back”. I don’t think I could fit a whole human in there.
And I forgot my keys! Keys are in there as well!
July 14th, 2007 @ 2:47 am
… I don’t have a bag – but I need one for my three essentials:
keys
cell phone
wallet
And I’d love a bag big enough to hold:
my umbrella
It stopped raining today though.
I remember emptying the pockets of my coat on my first day of university (no, it was no “get to know the people around you” group thing, but that’s probably still the reason I dug out
a Janosch bead
a plastic frog’s eye
a hairband
and probably some other things I can’t remember anymore.
July 14th, 2007 @ 4:01 am
I’m pretty basic as well, (wallet, sunglasses, lip balm, folding brush, mirror, little bottle of Advil, cellphone, kleenex, tampons, business cards) though I do have ticket stubs for Porgy & Bess and Elton John in mine at the moment, along with the business card of the new massage therapist I tried this week.
July 14th, 2007 @ 6:15 am
I did a post on this a few weeks ago, but since then, my pen’s gone on the missing-list again, and I’m afeared it got lost at the airport the other day. So it’s gone, gone, gone. Otherwise, the contents remain much the same. I love your sketch! And I have memories of nappies, wipes, mini-teddy, Miffy book, ice-lolly sticks…
http://greenishlady.blogspot.com/2007/06/handbag-full-of.html
July 14th, 2007 @ 1:37 pm
I used to be one of those anti-bag people, too. I used to stick my little wallet in my back pocket too – and every year I would lose it on the river snowmobiling and the SAME kid would find it – every year!
My bag (the “purse,” not diaper bag) contains:
My wallet (a grown up version that will not fit in my pocket)
cell phone
kid spoon
tissues
rumpled receipts
lipgloss
hair ties
pens
pads
July 14th, 2007 @ 2:45 pm
the contents of my bag. er. totebag: (in no particular order…)
work in progress (a shawl i’m knitting with baby alpaca yarn)
handbook of radiographic positioning and techniques 4th edition by kenneth l. bontrager (i taught this morning…)
bills needing to go out by this weekend
my cell phone
my friend’s cell phone (she forgot it here last night and i have yet to catch up with her!)
planner
buddhism without beliefs by stephen batchelor
4 sugar in the raw packets…you never know what coffeeshop you’ll stop at that doesn’t offer it as a sweetener choice!
lip gloss
pen-uniball vision fine
3 receipts: invoice from the plumbing bill to replace the pipes under the kitchen sink, rental car receipt…i drop my car off for scheduled maintenance and get a rental for free!!! and finally, a gas receipt to replace said rental car’s fuel i consumed.
keys
snack size ziploc with 3 baby wipes
pad of sticky notes
wallet
large ziploc with 8 chocolate chip cookies (i baked them yesterday morning…they’re departing with the above mentioned cell phone!)
it sounds like alot. and it kinda is. but…i pack well. the tote is quite small. i always find the bigger the bag, the more i’m apt to carry. my favorite way to go is wallet. phone. keys. it’s just sometimes, the bag insists on leaving with me.
July 14th, 2007 @ 8:19 pm
Oh, I’m loving reading these! They’re so revealing and fun.
July 14th, 2007 @ 9:27 pm
No bag. A billfold in the back pocket.
I started with the billfold on a trip to NYC in ’92 and can’t give up the habit. I hate lugging a purse – even though a billfold does make my butt look big.
Keys, cell phone and change go in front pockets. Billfold in back right pocket. And in my back left pocket, my ever-present 3X5 notebook and pen (I’m a writer.)
If I wear slacks, then the notepad/pen go in the front pocket – the slacks are loose enough and it works.
July 15th, 2007 @ 9:22 am
As follows- currently in my Cynthia Rowley red leather bag:
1. keys with the fantastic little Coach apple key chain that a student bought me… I love teaching at a private preppy school for the gifts!
2. big bottle of water (in a reusable container!)
3. Burt’s Bee’s lip balm
4. another 6 miscellaneous lip balms
5. half datebook/ half notebook Moleskine
6. a couple of those mechanical pencils that are designed to look like real yellow pencils – I absolutely love them and am ultra picky about using them
7. same goes for my fine tip black Sharpie that I must write with (aren’t us writers weird about utensils?)
8. whatever I am currently reading.. right now it is “Emma”
9. cell phone- ugh
10. digital camera for “a-ha!” moments
11. pack of matches from the restaurant I ate at last night
12. new issue of “Domino” magazine
Whew! Didn’t realize how much was crammed in there!
July 15th, 2007 @ 7:14 pm
Good list! I carry a large cotton shoulder bag everywhere – for music, for the library, for sketching out of doors, for everything I go to. It was a gift from a Fijian woman and has a barkcloth design. A couple of weeks ago I accidently upended it at a meeting and what a scramble there was to put everything back in! Mainly art stuff. I posted a pic one time on our blog – a scan of contents and this included a sharp knife for some reason or other! Going through airports of course these days is a task and a half because they take away your scissors and little bottles etc. I’d better pack my bag now for the next gig – I’m playing oldtime songs for a singalong with elderly people this afternoon.
w.
July 16th, 2007 @ 9:15 am
I switch my bag often, so how much I tote around usually depends on the size of the bag and how many days I have been using it. Right now the current state of my bag:
wallet
cell phone
small bag of makeup essentials
cough drops
lots of crumpled receipts
camera
dental floss
Anthropologie catalog
bottle of water
date book
two pens
pencil
I also usually have sunglasses and sometimes the book I am currently reading or my art journal.
So interesting to see what others deem as there carryall essentials!
July 16th, 2007 @ 2:00 pm
Hi there – new to the blog world, so new that I have yet to post anything but I’ll get there.
I carry one bag at all times and today it contains:
planner
a smaller “satellite” calendar
wallet
2 additional checkbooks for business accounts
journal
books (currently The Bonesetter’s Daughter by Amy Tan and Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See)
manila folder with various papers (currently poetry critiques I need to finish)
small blue carrier with money, pens etc that serves as the bank when I sell merch for either of the two bands I work with
deodorant
hair ties
pens
panty liners
bills
iPod headphones (but not the iPod!)
cell phone recharger
two buttons from Disneyland
foot lotion
It’s a lot of stuff, but it’s a big bag. More like a briefcase kind of thing, soft black canvas from Eddie Bauer.
July 18th, 2007 @ 5:19 pm
what fun! thanks for the smiles and the inspiration for something better than a rainy day! http://mere-et-filles.blogspot.com/2007/07/spill-it.html