Mama's Got a Brand New Bag

I heard the James Brown song, "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" in my head Wednesday evening as I pranced through the parking lot of the Basha's Plaza. I replaced the word "papa" with "mama" and jived my way back to my car. Mama indeed found a brand new (to me) bag.

I went out for a bit of speed shopping on Wednesday evening after cleaning the house all day in preparation for my father-in-law's Halloween visit. We had been living in a vacation rental for the previous three weeks, and after returning home, there was a mountain of mess to deal with. The contents of our bathroom cabinets had been emptied onto our bed. The reconstruction crew had to tear out the vanity to get to the mold behind it. So, we have a new master bathroom vanity, but there was a pile of stuff everywhere that needed to be sorted and relocated.

In addition to that, all of our laundry had to be sorted and redistributed to it's proper place. Towels, kids clothes, underwear, it was all mixed up in the same jumble. The only thing sorted was clean and dirty. I knew which bags were which, so that would at least save me from washing clean clothes. I had been chipping away at the laundry since we moved back in, but the reality is that we continue to use laundry on a daily basis. I felt like I was drowning under the heap of clean clothes that was piling up. Wednesday was the day that everything was either put away, or just dumped into a storage bin and dealt with at a later date.

Suffice it to say that by the time 4;00 rolled around, I was ready for a break. (Sewing up Carrick's dinosaur costume earlier that day didn't count as a break.) So that's part 1 of the story.

Part 2:
Ever since we return from our three week stay at the vacation rental, I have focused on organizing all of our closets and drawers. The kids have plenty of fall-weather outfits. Corey is stocked with dress shirts, but needs some casual wear. I have plenty of tops, but my stock of bottoms is laughable. My solution? Host a clothing swap, of course! Several of my friends are in the same zone of "needing new clothes". One just lost a couple sizes from working out. Another is pregnant and is growing in size. It's been since May that we have all got together for a clothing swap, so I figured now was as good of a time as any.

This always happens to me. I know that a clothing swap is coming up, and then I find something that I just can't live without. Not like I go shopping and I see something, more like I find a gap in my wardrobe that is so huge that I can't possibly wait for it to be filled. I'm not even talking about clothes this time. Nope. It was a purse. After scheduling the clothing swap, knowing that my friends might being purses or handbags to the swap to get rid of, I just could not wait that long to get a new purse.

I have been carrying around a sliver, beaded clutch since the Oscars in late February. The local theater that shows indie films hosts the "Oscars" each year during the film festival. They show the live broadcast on the big screen, and you feel like you're in the front row with Meryl Streep. It's supposed to be this "red carpet" event, so every one dresses up. After attending the event, I never switch my clutch back to the tote bag I was using as a purse. I just kept my essentials in the clutch and pulled it out of the tote bag whenever I needed it.

But I'm tired of clutching the clutch, or tucking it under my armpit to go shopping. I also don't like carrying around the heavy tote bag when I go into a store. I don't need my notebook and water bottle with me everywhere I go. The time had come for me to get a real purse.

So, back to my whirlwind of cleaning:

I needed to get out of the house, recharge my batteries, and do some speed shopping. Corey consented to watch the kids, and I drove around the corner to the Basha's Plaza. First I hit up the newly remodeled Beall's Oulet. Nada. Then Goodwill...still nothing. Then I walked across the parking lot to a cluster of stores in an "island" in the plaza. A semi-new consignment store called Kaelyn's Kloset sells higher-end women's clothes and accessories. Nine West, Dolce and Gabana, and Calvin Klein can be found in this location, albeit secondhand.

I whizzed through the store and picked up five bags that looked like my style. I took them all to the mirror and tried them all on. I narrowed it down to three. Then I looked at the price tags. $20.00, $22.0 and $40.00. The $40.00 was a little out of my comfort zone for budget. The $22.00 one was just a good at the others, but slightly less comfortable on my shoulders. The $20.00 was the sweet spot. With tax is was $22.00 Fun Dollars. Yay!!!! Now I can put the rest of my Fun Dollars in my new bag and enjoy my weekend with family in comfort and style.

New to me Purse at Kaelyn's Kloset- $22.00
Balance this pay cycle- $74.00
Happy Spending!