Sunday... Satchels and Baggage

[Emptynester]

Lucy - you are going to hate me. NO PURSE!! Wallet, phone and handkerchief in pockets, keys on clip on a belt loop. If we are going to Dr. where I need records with me I use a small tote to take Kindle and other papers with me.

Had a good day at church. Had no one to take over fellowship so DH and I did it. Have chart filled out for October so I don't have to worry about that.

Got overtired doing fellowship so took a nap when I got home and now have a meatloaf in the oven.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Lucylee: Gosh, I absolutely LOVE that bag! It is gorgeous and exactly what I would pick. No wonder you are flipping back and forth on this.

BUT: I'd take it back.

Firstly, it is heavy and you won't use it. You said it was only 2 lbs heavier than your previous handbag but here's the deal, 2 lbs is a lot. It is almost half as much as my whole suitcase weighs. If it weighs more than you can comfortably manage, you'll end up not using it and it will be an expensive reminder of your folly.

Secondly, it doesn't sound like it handles your needs very well. I once bought a gorgeous, expensive, purse and packed it over and over again when at home and it simply didn't work. I had to drive over 30 miles back to the boutique shop in a tiny town in order to exchange it for something else (no refunds) and I got the purse I love because it looks chic but it has never worked well for me.

I really wanted it to and tried to change what I carried as a result but I was trying to conform my lifestyle to the bag instead of having the bag support my lifestyle. It looks large but doesn't really hold much. The handles have broken loose and I've had to resew out repeatedly (probably because it wasn't designed to take the weight of what I was putting in it.

After the move (and mending the straps one more time) I realized that here I need a backpack because I need my hands free to carry things upstairs from the car, or it on my back so I can use my bike basket for groceries. My string bookbag backpack held more than the purse did even though physically it was 1/2 the 'size.' And my new 'prada' bag holds tons more. So I'm learning to use what works for me instead of making me work for fashion.

As for your dh not approving of returning items, just tell him that return policies are there so you can try out something as you would truly use it and you have truly tested it and it is lacking. To keep it would be a waste of money and the purse would have been manufactured for no good reason, wasting all sorts of resources. Therefore you need to return it so someone else can benefit from having it.

I do like your taste, though. And can see why you picked that purse.

I'm also totally excited about LO learning addition so quickly. WTG RamblinRose! I think we all learned something from you tonight!

[lucylee]

Nah, MT, I could never hate you! I'm just so in awe of all you "minimalists."

[Harriet]

I remember my dmother was a coin-style math teacher, too. I think that would be kinetic learning, right? Learning by actually doing/touching. So glad that worked out well for LO.

Okay, purses... ...
I have a denim purse, and its talent is that it goes with everything except dressy. Also it has 2 helpful pockets and the type of sides I call "filing cabinets", so that papers can stay away from the main contents of the purse. It weighs 4 pounds. I think it is plenty heavy and at a store with a cart I can't wait to get it into the basket. I think the main culprit is coins right now so I should just go through it again and pare that down.

Okay, purses I would like ... ...
Totes in creative fabrics that go with the seasons. This one comes close. They need to have darker fabric at bottom, stiffened bottoms, and should close reasonably well for privacy. In theory, I would like to have an interior bag that I could just change into favorite totes and go. Of course, in a perfect world, I would make my own of brilliant fabric combinations.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Napped for 35 minutes and took an hour to get out of bed. Have had a snack and done up my food diary for the day. Not good but much better than yesterday. I could have chosen better at McD's but I got what I wanted for under 500 calories (and didn't have a drink.)

I still crave soda but this challenge to not drink HFCS is really helping me say no to it. I did have a pepsi on Monday when we went out for 'drinks' and didn't enjoy. Still, knowing I don't enjoy it doesn't stop me from craving a soda.

Weight is down this month so there's incentive to keep doing what I'm doing. And I'm moving more these days as well.

I still need to summarize what I learned from the how to look younger book. I'm doing the makeup and hair thing much more often, have yet to take the time to do my nails, sometimes remember to dress properly and will reject 90% of what's in the book. Some just isn't practical (never wear hose doesn't work with my varicose veined legs and I'm not about to use botox for cosmetic reasons.) I'd like to whiten my teeth but will talk to the dentist first. I figure she'll be against it (my gums are receding slightly and I'd worry it would hurt the exposed part.)

If the book just got me through the "I'm terribly unhappy with myself" stage I was at, then it was worth the time I spent with it.

Gotta run now. I got up for a reason - I have things to do before the craziness of tomorrow hits.

[lucylee]

Harriet -- do you mean it weighs 4 lbs with everything in it? That doesn't seem bad at all! The fabric purse is cute though.

Hmmm... Now that Kathryn has praised my new purse so much... Maybe I should keep it. LOL -- dh said he knew I'd change my mind a dozen times before I had a chance to go back to the mall.
I'm thinking if I took the removable divider/zipper compartment out, maybe my kangaroo organizer would fit better and the snap closure might stay shut. I just don't know...
I definitely need to look at all the STUFF I'm carrying and seriously consider when I last used it.

We are about to go see The Equalizer (Denzel Washington).

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

I just wrote out rent cheques for the rest of this lease period. Will drop them off tomorrow or the next day. Our financial guy has started to transfer money into the bank account each month for this, so now I felt like I could write post-dated cheques and not worry about which account to use.

I do like having so few bills (and will have fewer again once the house is sold.) No snow, lawn care, heat, electricity, phone (it is now automatic from a credit card) or taxes.

I also updated our other bank account with the new address and ordered new cheques. Those ones are free. With our other bank we have to pay so I'm waiting for address stickers to arrive from a charity so I can put those on the cheques I have left.

I don't write that many (now, probably 20 a year) so getting new cheques isn't a rush priority.

Off to bed now.

[Ramblinrose]

Lucylee ...
I have probably see. The Miracle Worker almost a hundred times. I showed it in my class every year for 20 years and I had at least five periods a day. My kids knew I had a reputation of crying every time Helen got to the water pump and they waited with great anticipation to see if it would happened. Some times it did and some times it didn't.

But here's an interesting g fact... I knew that Helen grew up in Alabama so I figured it was filmed somewhere in the area. However I just found out this past year the movie was actually filmed a mead 10 miles from my home where I grew up. I tried to find the house when I went home last winter but the snow kept me from traveling down the road I needed to go.

Who knew the film that would influence my life such as it has was being made so close to me. Wish I had known that at the time....

[Harriet]

Yes, 4 pounds total of bag and contents - it is a quality denim but not stiffened in any way, so just the weight of the fabric and a little hardware, zipper pulls. As you can imagine, it is cute but flippy-floppy rather than standing well.

Rehearsal at 8:30 a.m. proved interesting in that the third song leader didn't show, and since I was substituting for the 2nd it was just dd and I doing the whole thing. The only song we didn't lead was the children's song within the children's message.

Rehearsal showed me that 1) I need an eye appt and 2) I had not truly learned the newest song just because I've been in the congregation on several previous Sundays. Actually seeing the music was a revelation - no one sitting in the congregation has a clue how to sing that song.

In the service - Dd helped me along mercifully on that new song, but I buoyed her tremendously on the familiar old hymn. We sang in echo (alternating sides of the church) and I led the first, she led the echo (which allowed her much more eye-contact than she otherwise could have had), and it was super good with everyone smiling. (Duh... ... sing familiar songs!)

the In Canadas lead singing all the time but I haven't done it for years, so a big deal for me. I kept my composure, that was the important thing.

I'm telling you guys - wrapped gifts are going EXTINCT, and I think it's sad.

The shower today was for the minister's only daughter, a popular young woman in our community, and I would estimate 40 gifts arrived. Mine was one of only a few that were wrapped. So I got a lot of complements and I was thinking, this is not rocket science - people used to wrap all the time. Several asked me how I made the wedding "bells". Bride's mother got a photo of bride with my wrapped gift, and the lady who was making a paper-plate "bouquet" from spent bows found the bells helpful in filling it out and giving it a wedding look. (Those paper-plates of bows are another thing going extinct if no one wraps any more - there will only be some ribbon or tissue left to make them!)

The groom's grandmother chatted with me at length about wrapping and bows/decorations. She has taken a course in how to make gift baskets and made up a pretty basket for the centerpiece of the buffet table.

Oh, and I ate too much.

[FelineFriend]

Kathryn, I read your post through, super fast, and thought, at first, how you said, "I wrote RANT cheques!" Incidentally, I LOVE how Canadians spell the word "Cheque"! It looks "more romantic" somehow and it's funny, because it's usually written for a BILL! What's "romantic" in that?

Lucylee, Follow your HEART! ♥ If you LOVE it, get it. It's a beautiful purse, if it serves your lifestyle and fits the purpose you want in a purse, I say WTG and get it. If Mama's not happy, nobody's happy, 'eh?


MY "purse story": At Christmas, last year, DD handed me a large gift bag, I saw the tissue, she said, "It's your gift from me. I hope you'll like it." I pulled out deep red handles. There was a white vinyl purse, lined in red with a red and white print on it, and it had a belt with a buckle, too. It was open on the top sides, but had a snap in the middle. I'd been using a black leather purse for years, but occasionally used a smaller olive suede purse, which was too small, but beautiful. I was taken aback at how "in Vogue" this purse was! I used it, I felt so "odd" with it, because it's totally modern and I was 62 then. I went to the Dr. office, several days later, in Jan. this year, had my appt., walked out of the office, after my appt. and down the hall. I stopped suddenly, and exclaimed, "My purse! I forgot my purse!" The nurse said, "It's right there. See? On the chair where you left it. I knew it was yours because- it's just YOU!" Ever since then, I adore my purse, my purse fits my personality, and I love taking it with me to town. Now, I'm trying to decide if I should donate my black and olive purses or not. I have room to store them in my walk-in closet, but never use them anymore. What would YOU ladies do? Keep them, in case I don't want to use the modern red, black, and white bright quirky purse for when I want to look more formal in my black wool double-breasted coat, or whatever? Should I save them for a rainy day or bless someone else. I just don't know what I want to do now. I don't "love" the black purse, I DO love the green purse, but always have thought the black handbag is like "the little black dress," and everyone should have at leave ONE.

Harriet, Your denim purse sounds great to me.

MT, I have a stylish wallet with a wristband, to wear around my wrist, which holds money, cards, change, and keys and a few private things. I sometimes take just that, with me, to appt.'s, with a file of med list, and what to talk about with my day planner, which is the same reddish-brown leather as the wallet thing. I LOVE going lighter, sometimes. It's convenient, handy, lightweight and looks stylish, too. Yes, pockets are great on us, too.

That's so GREAT LadyM, about LO and getting RR's help, too!

This is just a quick C. I., as I'm tired from company all day, but had a LOVELY time with DD and DGS here today. She left me a box of books to read, I've put out some inspirational ones, which I can hardly wait to get my hands on, and she and DGS were delightful. DGS is so grown up, turns 18 in 1 month, and after lunch, he walked in the woods with DGP.

It had been sunny, then cloudy, I napped 1 hour, after only 3 hours sleep, then sun came when our company came, and we had a wonderful visit. Lots of laughs, quick wits, humor, and teasing, too. Some serious talks about life, were had, too. DGS looks like he could be a male model. Wow. I hadn't seen him in awhile. Has he ever bloomed. Tall, too. About 2.5 inches taller than me. Wow. Where does time go?

Waving at Booksaver, and everyone. TTFN. Have a good night, too!