Sunday Scribblings-With Baggage
I'm a real bag lady. No, thankfully, not that kind. I mean bags as in tote bags, carryalls, satchels- the kind made to stuff all kinds of "baggage" in. Here are a few of the most vital pieces in my collection:
My Music Bag: This one is packed and ready with all the black binders full of music I'm currently using in my job as an accompanist, as well as an itty bitty book light, because you never know when you'll be playing the piano and the lights will go out (yes, it's happened to me several times!) This bag also contains a small mini cassette recorder with a couple of blank tapes, lots and lots of pencils, and a tiny pocket size metronome (that will sometimes start beeping mysteriously all by itself). There are some packages of raisins and nuts, plus a granola bar or two for emergency rations when rehearsals run overtime;
My Work Bag: This is one of several actual bags, depending on the quantity of work I'm toting back and forth. I have a lovely black bag with our company logo on it which will carry my laptop, and has all those nifty little zippered compartments for pens, cell phones, business cards (of which I have none since I'm not important enough), even water bottles. The problem with this one is that I end up unclasping, unzipping, and unsnapping six different sections before I find what I'm looking for. So, if I don't have huge folders of medical records to review, I'll just slide my thinner folders into one of several smaller tote bags - I have a lime green vinyl one, lined with dark pink (pretty wild for a little office girl, huh?), and one of plain black cloth, and oh! - a pretty dark colored tapestry bag I use in the fall;
My Dog Bag: A small denim tote trimmed in pink with dog bisucits, empty plastic bags for you-know-what, a few small toys, extra leashes, and copies of their vaccination records;
My Library Bag: An oversized black canvas bag with "Libraries Change Lives" emblazoned on the front, it's usally chock full of my latest finds in hardcover, paperback, and audio books;
The Grocery Bags: I finally bought some of those wonderful environmentally friendly canvas bags to take to the grocery store. Unfortunately, when I'm at the grocery, they're usually still in my kitchen were I left them;
Into any of these bags I can plop a small zippered pouch that has just enough room to hold my cell phone, some cash, and my mini wallet with vital ID and information;
Of course, there are any number of various and sundry other bags, which I can grab to stuff in whatever needs to be carried - laundry to the cleaners, dishes to return to my mom's,
books I'm loaning to a friend, etc. My favorite one of these right now is a medium sized cloth bag embroidered with a cheery bouquet of Texas wildflowers. I keep it hanging on the kitchen door, ready to fill with, well, whatever...
As you can see, my life is consumed with all sorts of baggage. I don't know if all these bags make me more or less organized, but, as the comedian George Carlin used to say in one of his famous old routines, "You've gotta have somewhere to keep your stuff!"
My Music Bag: This one is packed and ready with all the black binders full of music I'm currently using in my job as an accompanist, as well as an itty bitty book light, because you never know when you'll be playing the piano and the lights will go out (yes, it's happened to me several times!) This bag also contains a small mini cassette recorder with a couple of blank tapes, lots and lots of pencils, and a tiny pocket size metronome (that will sometimes start beeping mysteriously all by itself). There are some packages of raisins and nuts, plus a granola bar or two for emergency rations when rehearsals run overtime;
My Work Bag: This is one of several actual bags, depending on the quantity of work I'm toting back and forth. I have a lovely black bag with our company logo on it which will carry my laptop, and has all those nifty little zippered compartments for pens, cell phones, business cards (of which I have none since I'm not important enough), even water bottles. The problem with this one is that I end up unclasping, unzipping, and unsnapping six different sections before I find what I'm looking for. So, if I don't have huge folders of medical records to review, I'll just slide my thinner folders into one of several smaller tote bags - I have a lime green vinyl one, lined with dark pink (pretty wild for a little office girl, huh?), and one of plain black cloth, and oh! - a pretty dark colored tapestry bag I use in the fall;
My Dog Bag: A small denim tote trimmed in pink with dog bisucits, empty plastic bags for you-know-what, a few small toys, extra leashes, and copies of their vaccination records;
My Library Bag: An oversized black canvas bag with "Libraries Change Lives" emblazoned on the front, it's usally chock full of my latest finds in hardcover, paperback, and audio books;
The Grocery Bags: I finally bought some of those wonderful environmentally friendly canvas bags to take to the grocery store. Unfortunately, when I'm at the grocery, they're usually still in my kitchen were I left them;
Into any of these bags I can plop a small zippered pouch that has just enough room to hold my cell phone, some cash, and my mini wallet with vital ID and information;
Of course, there are any number of various and sundry other bags, which I can grab to stuff in whatever needs to be carried - laundry to the cleaners, dishes to return to my mom's,
books I'm loaning to a friend, etc. My favorite one of these right now is a medium sized cloth bag embroidered with a cheery bouquet of Texas wildflowers. I keep it hanging on the kitchen door, ready to fill with, well, whatever...
As you can see, my life is consumed with all sorts of baggage. I don't know if all these bags make me more or less organized, but, as the comedian George Carlin used to say in one of his famous old routines, "You've gotta have somewhere to keep your stuff!"
posted by Becca at Saturday, July 15, 2006
9 Comments:
You really are a bag lady! Actually, I think what it signifies is that you are more prepared that the average person. When you lead a busy life, it pays to be as organized as you are.
Your selection sounds lovely.
i think most of us girls are bag ladies. bags are an essential part of our lives and yet we love to have an extravagant bag or bag which is totally superfluous. we have bags just because we can. cos they say something about us (and they're pretty!).
:)
At least you don't try to carry all these bags at once.
Do you?
I LOVE organized people! Being prepared is a wonderful character trait. I loved these bags :)
HUGS
I'm a bag lady, too! Even though I have many already, everytime I go on vacation, all I want to do is buy a few more!
I loved reading about all of your bags and the wonderful things in them (I'm such a voyeur)! Your description of your music bag is like poetry! And the cloth bag embroidered with the Texas wildflowers sounds beautiful!
I just bought one of those canvas grocery bags too, my little contribution to using less, hoping it won't still be on the kitchen counter when I'm at the store. It crossed my mind that I may not be doing anything more than adding to the clutter in the kitchen. Let's see if my memory gets any better. :)
My husband is a musician with a bag similar to yours. He calls it the bag of power. :) I find myself carrying materials around in bags that I never use or look at...I just keep carrying them!
I had to laugh out loud about the grocery bags being in your kitchen when you needed them at the store. I would do the same or they'd be out in the car when the cart was full. I carry bags for all my school teaching stuff (high school literature and writing). When one bag gets so heavy my shoulder aches carrying it upstairs, I start a new one (I probably at the height had 14 canvas totes--because every time there is a new textbook adoption, the book companies give them away). Anyway, I transfer the most urgent stuff to the newer bag and leave the previous one in the car, in case I discover during the day that I need something out of that old one. There are probably 3 half full totes in my back seat at the present time---and it's summer! I have a small SUV that is most of the time a single passenger car. 5 minutes are required to make a second person comfortable and 20 or 25 to make room for 3 and the 4th person is always going to be crowded and without leg room. My husband calls my car a landfill. At least, as Gemma mentioned, you don't try to carry multiple bags at once. Thanks for your delightful posting.
I really enjoyed this post.
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