Tuesday, September 12, 2006

What's in My Bag

Okay, so the lovely Leilouta tagged me to reveal the contents of my purse and I couldn't have asked for a more delightful tag. As soon as I got the chance, I plunked the bugger down in the middle of my family room floor and let it all out. And yes, that's Ernie peeking from the basket behind there. I won him for my son at the County Fair when he was one year old. He had a choice to pick Ernie, Cookie Monster, or Big Bird, and he reached out and grabbed Ernie. Ever since then, Ernie has been an honorary member of the family. But he still sleeps in a toy basket.


Now on with the purse post. Here's what's in my bag today:

Small jar of Vaseline (we all have chapped lips, this stuff is the best)

Bath and Body Works Just For Kids Anti-Bacterial Hand Foam (do you really need to ask why?)

Wallet

Gym Pass

Combination Lock (for gym locker)

About 50 3-day free passes for the gym (the salesperson handed me a stack of these, I have yet to hand one out to someone)

A crumpled napkin from Starbucks

Retractable Measuring Tape by LG

Two mini jaw clips (for the girls), and a little "ouchless" hair elastic

Mommy-size jaw clip

A scrunchie (for when no one is looking. I know this is a huge fashion faux paux but I still love scrunchies)

Cell Phone

Cetaphil Hand Cream

Clinique Deep comfort Body Butter (I use this as hand cream, it came in a gift with purchase)

Suze Orman's 9 Steps to Financial Freedom (This is an excellent book, and it's not just for financially clueless housewives. Men, women, the young, the old, the rich, the poor, everyone can benefit from this book. I'm on chapter six right now and have realized my broker has been ripping me off with hidden finance charges in my son's 529 plan. He's working for himself, not for me. I'm calling him this week to tell him he's toast. There's no fooling this mama anymore.)

Mom's Plan It (I am not a Blackberry or Palm Pilot person. I need to write it down on old fashioned paper. I plan menus for the week, and write down grocery lists and appointments in it. It helps keep me organized. Or at least make me feel like I tried.)

Winsor Dozen Pilates Guide (I packed this for the trip recently, so I could do pilates in the hotel room. I only ended up using it once.)

Coupon for a local Car Wash

Receipts from Toys R Us and Walgreens

Gymbucks

My son's health and immunization forms for pre-school

Gap Coupons

Rolaids (these are for the husband, but I hold them for him in my purse)

Mirrored Compact

A little brochure I picked up from Canada that gives Travel Tips for Kids and Environment. One of the tips here is "Plan your itinerary, then cut it in half."

Makeup Bag (that's the pink little bag which has a plethora of contents of its own):

  • Chanel Glossimer Lipgloss in Jaipur
  • Mac Lipstick in Pink Apertif
  • Bobbi Brown Lipstick in Rum Raisin
  • Revlon Tweezers (because I'm a hairy chick. Also, save your money, Revlon tweezers work just as good as Tweezerman for less than half the price.)
  • Mac Lipstick in "O"
  • Mac Lipglass in Viva Glam V
  • Mac Plum lipliner
  • Bobbi Brown lipliner in Raisin
  • Clinique travel-size perfume in Happy To Be

I also carry another bag, the Diaper Bag, which has all the wipes, diapers, baby lotion, Desitin Creamy rash cream, spare pair of pants, and underwear for my kids. It also contains bottled water or sippy cups, disposable bibs, crayons, bandaids, and washcloths. That bag also has emergency packets of Motrin (for the headaches my husband and I get), Children's Motrin, and maxi pads. And Mac Lipglass in Little Vi (I've got lippies everywhere. I don't ever want to be caught without lipstick or gloss, it's the one item of makeup I can't live without.)

If you are reading this, consider yourself tagged. Especially you, Sadaf T. :)

12 comments:

rabiaiman said...

that was such a kewl post and ur such a neat gal! my bag? my goodness it needs an overhaul. in fact, i go through diaper bags periodically and not because i get tired of the first one but i am too frightened to deal with the mess the previous one accumulates. thanks for the links to the books ormans book looks great and i love the look of the plan it book!!! hey why not just something else to shove in my bag LOL!!! oh by the way, lovin ur bag! p.s. we got the big bird that fun italiano nite :D!

Chic Mommy said...

wow Rabia, you have a good memory. I thought it was the County Fair, but you're right, it was actually the Italian-American Festival. How could I forget? That was also the night you introduced me to those Italian doughnuts, zeppollis are they called? love those!!

Ameet said...

I love Suze Orman - she's totally fab-u-lous!!

Aisha said...

cool! :) btw in my health education class we learned all the hand sanitizers do is make the germs smell nice. they dont go away. they say it can serve a purpose if you use it and then wipe it off with a napkin. Otherwise, useless.

Chic Mommy said...

transparenthijab, I got the bag from adasa.com. It's the Isabella Fiore Stud Muffin Carina Hobo in Brown. I blogged about it a while ago, it was on sale for $200 off. I just checked adasa, and the brown is sold out, but they still have it in cream.

http://www.adasa.com/product--asp--ProdID--23788--af--page.htm

At $495, it's a bit of pinch on the wallet, but my husband owed me a gift, and this is what I picked. Plus, the quality is really nice, the leather gets softer each day. If you like the brown, try ebay, they usually have everything.

ameet, I know. Suze rocks.

Aisah, really???? And here I thought it was protecting us from all the germs my kids pick up, especially the ones from the train set at Barnes and Nobles (which is where this is used the most). Good to know!

Unknown said...

Hey there. I finally responded to the tag! Yay, that was fun! My stuff is nowhere near as interesting as yours, mainly because I am rarely put together enough to even remember to bring my own bag.

BTW, regarding hand sanitizers, the science section of the Times did a peice on this recently. Their article said that unless the alcohol content of the gel was at least 60% or higher, the gel did nothing but act as a base for the germs to flourish. But gels with a high alcohol content were effective at killing bacteria.

They use this stuff at the hospitals, and J's doctors recommend keeping some handy (ha-ha), so I'm going by their advice.

Chic Mommy said...

Sadaf, I just check the label on my Bath and Body Works sanitizer and the anitseptic Benzalkonium Chloride is only .11% of the product. Doesn't say anything about the alcohol content, but it is the second ingredient listed after water. hmmm, maybe I should just stick to washing their hands with soap and water outside, but it's such a pain to take all three of them into the bathroom.

Leilouta said...

Chic mommy,

I learn something everytime I come to your blog :)
I can’t believe the hand sanitizers don’t do anything. I bought like 10 of them last week.
Aaaaahhhhh

I love your purse, I checked the link for the cream bag, but I like yours much better.
My husband still owes me my birthday present. I should hurry and find him something to buy before my next birthday comes up :D

Lisa said...

What? Hand sanitizers don't work?!

I have the Mom's Plan It calendar - well from last year; I need a new one. I had no idea they made a small planner! Did you get it in a store as opposed to Amazon? $15 isn't bad, but once you add shipping..I'm wondering if I can get it cheaper around here. I bought the calendar from a store last year.

Unknown said...

Ok, here's a link to the Times article citing a study about sanitizers. The summary is - less than 60% alcohol, no good.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/21/health/21cons.html?ex=1158465600&en=1fa021ddd2922838&ei=5070

More than that, they help. Best of all - soap and water, but in a pinch, this is better than nothing.

Chic Mommy said...

Lisa,

I bought the Mom's Planner at Barnes and Nobles. It was only $9 there.

pixie said...

I would use Purell, it has 62% alcohol. The best thing is effective handwashing but with three little ones that has to be hard!