The Big Purse Dump

Linking up with Kendra for The Big Purse Dump of 2014.

I noticed my bag was getting a bit heavy and I don't have the energy or free hand to carry this giant bag around anymore. These days I'm rocking the baby seat carrier in one arm and an 18 month old in the other, with the 5 year old hanging on to my coat tail for dear life, whilst a giant diaper bag is slung across my body and this purse dangles off my elbow. And because we live in the land of the eternal winter, we are all bundled up in coats, hats, mittens, scarves, blankets, and snowsuits. Seriously, that's just to go into our attached garage to get into the minivan.

So Big Purse Dump it is. With the goal being that I can figure out what I actually need and just toss that into the diaper bag.

Here's my purse.

A sensible black tote handbag, aka, the black hole

And here's what was in my purse:

Nice upside down picture that I can't seem to fix.

For some reason, I collect a large amounts of paperwork that could be thrown out. See bottom left of above picture. There were 3 keepers in the pile - Alice's immunization record, paperwork to request copies of Elizabeth's birth certificate, and Elizabeth's hearing screen results.

Other interesting items were some gift certificates to Olive Garden & Marshall's, a list of supplies needed to make Junior a mass kit (and some other random stuff we needed for the house), my big pink coupon organizer (full of expired coupons, super helpful), 2 pens, one pencil, a travel sized thing of tissue, a card from some flowers Mr. Amen sent me a long time ago (at least 2 kids ago), gloves, keys, a sucker from the pediatrician's office, a half eaten candy cane, a penny, an electrical outlet cover (because you never know when you will be near an uncovered electrical outlet with your toddler that will try to stick a pencil into it), a gold dubloon, and a ninja (from Japan).

And while these things are good finds, I am more interested in the items I found in my "toiletries" bag...and I think you'll find these contents supremely interesting as well.

This little bag held such treasures as $1.13 in mostly Canadian coins; 2 lip glosses, 1 lipstick, an eyeliner pencil, mascara, and eyeshadow (fitting, since I don't wear makeup on a regular basis...maybe 6 times a year); a package of off brand Bene.dryl; 5 band-aids, an empty blister pack of off brand Benedr.yl; 3 hair ties with entangled gold necklace with the gold cross I received from my parents for my 8th grade graduation; a handi-wipe; a bug repellant of some sort (acquired at my uncle's funeral when my husband had a tiny cut on his upper lip that wouldn't stop bleeding, the funeral home lady gave it to us to help stop the bleeding, obviously); a teeny tiny mirror; 8 lite-days and 4 tampons (definitely a must have for a lady who has spent the better part of the past year pregnant).

And for the GRAND FINALE, this little gem:

That's right! Ladies and Gentlemen, Elizabeth's shriveled umbilical cord stump (top right). It fell off last week at the Chiropractor and I threw it in my purse because I save these milestone items. I may not take pictures of my kids each month their first year, or even every three months, or really at all with anything other than my phone, but, by God, I save their umbilical cord stump when it falls off.

So to fill in the blanks for Kendra'a categories, we have:

• My favorite thing in here:  The note from my husband from the flowers he sent me. He's so sweet. I don't like getting flowers (waste of money), but the notes he attaches are the best. And I don't even think the flowers were for any occasion at all.
• Wow! I really have a lot of these: Canadian coins? I have an over-abundance in the change part of my wallet too. That's what I get for living north of Canada. Feminine care products? Too much for a person who's not needed them for 10+ months.
• I've been looking for those: My gold necklace and cross. Been missing for 2 years at least.
• Huh! THAT shouldn't be in there: Elizabeth's umbilical cord stump. For obvious reasons.

And that's the Big Purse Dump of 2014. I think I can just take the wallet and Benedr.yl and drop those in the diaper bag. That's really all I need anyhow.

Thanks for hosting, Kendra!

Oh, as I finished typing this I had to jump up and chase my toddler to get the outlet cover out of her mouth, she climbed onto the counter and stole it as I was typing. Nice.