In search of the perfect purse

I have a purse problem. That is, I don't want to buy one. I have never been one to carry purses. I used a backpack in high school and college, and even when I worked I used a large messenger bag or backpack that held my lunch, books, keys, hairbrush, wallet and the like. It really wasn't a purse. If I had a purse it was more like a wallet on a string, teeny and light. And I forgot it or left it everywhere.

Flash forward a few years. Pregnancy happened, diaper bag/backpack (yes, I bought a baby backpack instead!) and then pregnancy happened again, this time Sis bought me the super-mega-hawesome L.L Bean Baby Backpack, room enough for stuff for two kids (and any incidentals, like my latest wallet on a string).

The kids were getting a little older and I was getting tired of carrying the diaper bag out on rare dates with my Darling or to the ladies room by myself. I felt like every woman in there was staring at me thinking I had rather large sanitary supplies in a bag that big. Or they were thinking, "Poor dear! She must have six kids with a diaper bag that big!"

Then the kids started school. Since I send Bugaboo to school with his own backpack it was no longer necessary for me to carry that large bag anymore. But the purse on a string didn't hold my keys, cell phone and any incidentals (like a small water bottle) and if I wanted to run out with the kids it didn't hold a diaper. I got outhouse lucky at Goodwill twice! Once I bought a cute black purse, kinda mini-messenger style, for $3. It lasted 6 months until I tore a hole in it. Then I found the most HAWESOME still-mini-messenger-bag-but-larger-than-the-first-one for yet another $3 at Goodwill. It rocked! It fit a diaper or two, my now-extremely-necessary pocket calendar (for all of those appts for the boys) and a hairbrush and a travel pack of baby wipes. Life doesn't get better than that, folks!

Alas, a few weeks ago my "business bag" (as my sister jokes, since I tell her I refuse to carry a purse) got caught in the door after only a few months. The cell phone holder and change purse ripped. ACK!!!!

I am now on the hunt for a replacement. I basically want to find the exact same bag, and it does not exist. After scouring two Goodwill stores, every discount department store and even Tarzhay to no avail, I am beginning to lose faith that I will find a suitable replacement. I have rather strict criteria; no leather under any circumstance, must have a built-in wallet with little credit card holders and a change purse, cannot be bigger than the still-mini-messenger-bag-but-larger-than-the-first-one (or SMMBBLTTFO for those of you into abbreviations), must still be able to hold a diaper and wipes and has to wipe clean for the simple reason that I have two boys. 'Nuff said.

I have found at least forty versions of it in leather. My favorite is called the Rosetti organizer. It is one awesome purse. I have done online searches for it in a-material-other-than-vinyl but no such luck. I have found the perfect replacement at Goodwill, except for the fact that there was no strap on the bag, and thus no way to actually carry it. I have found the bag in a-material-other-than-leather in several stores, but adorned with rather garish fake jewels and beads or in camouflage. EWWWW!!!!!

But the best had to be this evening. I found the bag. I found twenty versions of the bag. In Strawbridges in Delaware, which meant NO TAX. Then I saw the price tags. HAHAHAHAHHA! Oh, I'm sorry, I thought that tag said $65! Oh, it did? Uh....HAHAHAHAHA!!!! That was a good laugh. But even funnier was when I noticed the pretty little purses in the glass with D&B all over them and the ones with the interlocking Cs and then the ones chained to the purse stand...those all had price tags of $200 and up. And people REALLY pay that much for a purse? Egads. I am so out of style it ain't funny.

So, for the time being we are dealing with the ripped purse. It isn't noticeable to the untrained eye. And when I find a cheap replacement I will grab it.Hopefully at Goodwill. I really don't want to carry a purse...I mean, a business bag!