Twenty-storey non-stop snowstorm

After gently joshing Karen about the impeccable neatness of her (and Pete‘s) bag – what, no receipts? – I was inspired to empty mine. All the way to the bottom; I suspect I have never excavated so far in the year since I was given it. I haven’t photographed it, that would scare you.

The bag itself: I was given it by my mother-in-law last Christmas (you will need a big bag now you have two children). I love it. It is large and black and has brightly coloured batik cats all over it: the only problem, if I was looking for something to complain about, is also its virtue: it is so capacious things just disappear into its depths. I use it both as handbag and nappy bag, though when (if) I go out without children I decant* purse, keys and phone into a smaller bag – like Karen, I wonder what I carried before I had children (and went here to find out: links a bit erratic so scroll down to the 18th) – and skip along feeling light and unburdened.

Inside:

• Two hats for Tamsin; one woolly and bobbly and oh so cute, the other pink and jersey and also very cute.
• One nappy: size 1 totsbot, yellow.
• My notebook, full of random scribblings. Lists, recipes, addresses, Japanese vocabulary (I’ve had it a long time).
• Red gloves, mine.
• Fruit knife.
• a brown leather purse, in which I keep vouchers and cash that has been given to me and the girls as presents – in principle, if we are out and I see something they might like (a new toy or similar) I can use that to get it. In practice, I forget it is there.
• Tamsin’s mittens: they match the woolly hat, above, and she will not keep them on.
• My prescription sunglasses.
• A powder compact: Clinique, quite ancient.
• Crabtree and Evelyn comfort cream (for nappies) – rarely used but you never know.
• My purse: fat with reward cards and bus tickets.
• A pen.
• An old to-do list (which, I note, contains “tax return” as its first item. I really must.)
• Two contact lenses – one for each eye, which is pretty good going.
• Keys to my parents’ house. Must give them back.
• A sachet of lemsip.
• An old shopping list (snow-white costume, boots, birthday cards for October birthdays).
• A receipt for library fines.
• Lipstick (I cannot remember the last time I applied it).
• A doll shoe, small and pink.
• Tamsin’s sippy cup, yellow, half an inch of water (recently put in the bag).
• A small tupperware with some cheesy nibbles for Tamsin.
• Happy hippy out and about spray (like this).
• Wipes: expensive eco ones. Like Karen, it worries me that normal branded ones remove pen and paint so well: they are also the best way to clean my stainless steel kitchen bin and make it shiny. I do sometimes buy asda fragrance-free, because they are so very cheap, though.
• One admission ticket, child, to Stockley Farm. I think we went in August.
• My phone: Nokia, 3 years old. If I agreed not to upgrade last summer they slashed my tariff by 2/3. Who needs a whizzy phone?

*what word do I mean, here?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 5th, 2007 at 9:57 am and is filed under blogging, wittering. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.