Life Is But A Drink

Last night, I sat down to clean out my purse.  I’m confident that I’m not alone on this, but my purse is a major dumping ground and gets so full of STUFF (my stuff, my kids’ stuff, my husband’s stuff, random stuff, etc.).   I have to set aside some time at least every couple of weeks to sort through everything, toss what can be tossed, shred what needs to shredded, and return to their proper places those things that have proper places to which they can be returned.

And this, my friend, is what I had in front of me last night after I’d unloaded everything from my purse onto the floor of our office/piano room.

1.  A library card (the kids LOVE getting books at the library), a Starbuck’s card (yes, please!), and a Metro (our version of the subway) card.

2.  Keys

3.  A collection of pens.  Not sure why I have a highlighter in there (not being one who needs to highlight regularly throughout the day).  It has come in handy, though, a few times when the kids want to “color” as we’re waiting for our food at a restaurant that does not provide kids with crayons (come on, restaurant people… crayons + kids + restaurant = everyone is happier).

4.  Random kid-related stuff.  The teeny-tiny pink thing to the left is a small hair clip.  Inevitably, when we put a hair clip or barrette (until now, I honestly had no idea that’s how you spelled barrette – thank you, spell checker) or rubber band in my daughter’s hair, it lasts for all of about 8 minutes and then – usually after we’ve left the house, of course - she’s pulling it out and giving it to us and announcing that she no longer wants said clip, barrette, or band.  Oh well.  Then, there’s a plastic Band-aid from the kids’ toy medical kit.  I don’t have any earthly clue how it ended up in my purse but there it is.  The stuff in the upper right corner (including the red and white polk-a-dot cloth thingy) is part of a cute little tea set my daughter got from some friends of ours for Christmas.  She ended up leaving a few pieces of it at their house and they returned it to us the last time we were over there.  Weeks ago.  They just hadn’t made their way out of my purse and back into the tea set basket.

5.  My devices.  Check out my ANCIENT cell phone.  Jealous much?  I’m going to get a new one….some day.  I swear.

6.  Name tags from my work-related trip a couple of weeks ago (see here).  They got tucked into my purse after the events or meetings and there they remain.  I can’t even begin to guess how many of these name tags have ended up in my purse over the years.  These things are VERY popular in my line of work.

7.  I took my son to the dentist last week.  They sent him away with a new toothbrush and some kid-friendly flossing mechanisms.  Why not just drag them around with me in my purse for a week?!?!  It’s perfectly logical.  You never know when you’re going to need a kiddie toothbrush and some WILD dinosaur floss.

8.  A gigantic stack of random papers.  Bills, prescriptions, random pamphlets I’ve collected over the last couple of weeks, etc.  Even in this day of email, computers, and mobile devices, I DROWN in paper.  It’s EVERYWHERE.

9.  A receipt from one of my infamous frantic trips to Target (see here) yesterday morning to get diapers, wipes, and nightlight lightbulbs.  I also ended up with some chocolate, a new pair of shorts for my son, and a slip to wear under a new (and unfortunately very transparent) dress I recently purchased.

10.  Some contact lens re-wetting drops, two tubes of Burt’s Bees tinted limp balm (I now own Red Dahlia, too, and love it as much as the Hibiscus – see here), and some regular ole’ lip gloss.

11.  Some paint swatches I’ve gathered in recent weeks for various home improvement projects around the house. I feel like I always have paint swatches in my purse.  I really need to figure out a better way to organize them.  Thoughts?

12.  Stamps.  Because sometimes I have to mail stuff.

13.  A stack of my business cards.  I always carry a stack with me in my purse so I have them when I need them – since I almost always have my purse with me.  I’ve always kinda wanted a sexy little business card holder but haven’t gotten around to buying one yet.

14.  My wallet.