Conference turris::womannotes-v2

    I read in one of those women-in-management books that carrying a purse
    is one of those subliminal things which cause men to perceive women as
    being different.  It suggested going to  lunches, meetings, and such
    sans purse.  
    
    I used to carry my purse around everywhere, but I tried this 
    suggestion out.  I no longer bring my purse to lunch, I just
    stuff some money in my pocket and go.  At first I felt a little
    strange and kept having the feeling that I was forgetting something.
    Eventually I started feeling more free.  The purse that used to 
    hang on the chair back no longer gets in the way of the people
    seated behind me.  The purse no longer thuds against my side
    as I stride down the hall.  The purse doesn't get left at meetings.  
    
    I really like not being loaded down with my purse (and believe
    me it's stuffed to the zippers :-).  I only take it to places
    where I really need it.  I think of where I'm going and try to
    anticipate what I'll need.  If what I need fits in a pocket,
    then that's all I take.  Otherwise I break down and carry the
    whole purse.  
    
    Back on the original topic, I was cleaning out an old purse
    over the weekend and found the keys to a car that I traded 
    in years ago!  There are times when I'm afraid to reach my
    hand all the way down to the bottom for fear of what I'll
    find.  

    	My old purse was a genuine disaster (it had so many pennies
    	at the bottom of it that it weighed a ton, and I had problems
    	making it through airport-type security when I'd go to meet
    	my SO after one of his business trips.)
    
    	Also, I had business at the county court house one day, and
    	I had problems getting the purse through there, too (and they
    	ended up "confiscating" a screw driver that I forgot I had in
    	there as a possible "weapon.")

    	I considered giving up carrying purses altogether, but I do
    	need to carry some things around (like my driver's license,
    	credit cards, checkbook, loose change) so I got new purses
    	and I only keep four things in them:  Wallet, change purse,
    	check book, and an "organizer" (daily calendar-type book with
    	addresses, personal and business appointments, budget, check
    	register, pen and a place to jot down notes from meetings.)
    
    	Although I do tend to stuff receipts and other loose papers
    	in my purse, I clean them out every night.  I also clean the
    	pennies out of the change purse once a week.  :-)
    
    	The biggest difference is the "organizer."  I used to keep
    	my appointments on scraps of papers that I could never find
    	(or on text files on our group's cluster, which had me dashing
    	to log in when I needed to know where meetings were being held.)
    
    	The organizer is an open "binder" type (with re-orderable pages
    	for everything) and it is small enough to take with me everywhere
    	I go (being not that much bigger than my wallet.)
    
    	If I didn't carry a purse, I'd have to substitute it with a
    	backpack or attache case (and purses are more convenient for me
    	to carry,) so I'm content to stick with 'em.
    
    	P.S. Now that I've conquered my purse, I'm stalking the hall
    	closet, the spare room and am even contemplating doing battle
    	with (GASP!) the GARAGE!!!

    	... One has to start somewhere, after all ...   :-)

    re .0 Maybe she had a Ladysmith in there ?

    
    which reminds me... why do Americans call them "pocketbooks", when
    they are too large to fit in a pocket, and aren't books either (at
    least they contain no pages) ...
                                
    /. Ian .\

    I think one of the nicest things about some outdoor jackets is the
    inside pocket.  It can hold a wallet, a lipstick and keys without
    giving one a really *huge* left bosom.  And pants with hip pockets
    for a wallet...
    
    I *hate* carrying a handbag.  When I go shopping I almost always
    carry a backpack; looks silly, but when you are really into shopping
    the greasy plastic bags things are put into these days are better
    in the backpack than constantly slipping through your hands and
    spilling all over the mall.
    
    One of my project lists each week is to dump the darn thing onto
    the livingroom floor, sort the mess, and re-stock it for the coming
    week.  I have found some verrrrrrry interesting things when I don't
    do it for several weeks in a row.  Do you know that oranges can
    get really ripe in a handbag over a period of time?  I wish that
    handbags came equipped with a little light that would turn on when
    you open them up.  I searched and searched for a pen one day and
    couldn't find one.  I dumped it that night and there were 2 in there.
    How in heck did I miss them?
    
    M

    in re .4
    
    In the tales by the brothers Grimm and other folk tales I've read
    from Europe they refer to a 'wallet' but in the context of the
    story it appears to be more like what we now call a purse.
    
    Bonnie

    I think the trend towards mondo overstuffed pocketbooks started
    on "Let's Make A Deal"...when Monty Hall would ask for some incredibly
    obscure thing...."Do you have a moss-covered three-handled family
    credenza in your pocketbook...?  I'll give you one hundred dollars
    for it!  No?  Well how about a complete set of Webster's unabridged
    dictionaries from 1952-1962 on microfiche?"  Actually he'd ask them
    for tools or odds-n-ends mostly, but you get the idea.
    
    I like my purses with lots of organizing pockets.  I like them small
    enough to carry where I need to, but when I don't want to be loaded
    down I stuff my pockets, or, better yet, use one o' my own hand-knit
    pouches (drawstring, very handy, ties on belt or belt-loop,
    color-coordinated).  Actually the primary things I keep in my purse
    are bills, wallet & checkbook, and allergy medications.  The black
    Swiss Army Knife can always fit in my pocket....
    
    -Jody
    

        I stopped using a pocket book the day I discovered backpacks.   
     You know, you can fit alot more stuff in a backpack than you can in
    a pocketbook!  :-)                                              
                                                                   
    If I _REALLY_ need a purse, say for weddings and such,  
    I usually stuff one to the brim with allergy meds, wallet, comb,
    tissues, a book, paper, a change of clothes, comfortable shoes,
    dark sunglasses, etc.
    
    - Mary
    

    I've been carrying a pocketbook since I was 9 yrs. old.
    
    My pocketbook currently contains:
    wallet
    paperback book
    tylenol
    comtrex
    sudafed
    chapstick
    compact
    mascara
    blush
    nail clippers
    emery boards
    change purse
    checkbook
    3 pens
    small notebook
    hairbrush
    sunglasses
    several wadded up pieces of paper with directions & phone #'s
    a small mirror
    car/house keys
    a second hairbrush
    a bunch of wadded up store receipts
    
    I like my pocketbook and I'm very happy to lug it with me everywhere.
    :-)
    
    Lorna
    

    I've had the same purse for the last 17 years - and it's still going
    strong!  I never change it, carry it every day.  It's big enough
    to hold my checkbook, wallet, credit cards and a lip balm.  Pens
    disappear into it's bottom, along with assorted receipts.  About
    once a year I take everything out and start all over.  During the
    day, it stays in a desk drawer and doesn't go with me.  Money goes
    in my pocket for lunch and breaks.
    
    Alison

    I just thought of something.  It seems that some time back, a big
    deal was made about men in Europe carrying something akin to women's
    handbags.  I did see this guy in Boston the other day with this
    Greek style handbag [purple, orange, pea green, and some other obscene
    color mixed] and out of it peeked the bristle end of a hair brush!
     
    And he had *short* hair!!!!!!  Stole his girlfriend's bag?  Stole
    some old lady's bag?  Just liked to carry the bag?
    
    M  
    
    

    
    re wallets and Brothers Grimm.
    
    Originally a wallet was a flat leather pouch with a fold over top
    flap that fastened at the front with a toggle. It could either be
    carried on a long strap over the opposite shoulder or attached by
    short straps to the waist belt.
    
    It became a part of military uniform (used by officers for carrying
    maps and other documents) and has its only true modern derivative
    in a map case.
    
    It is *very* similar to a Scotsman's sporran.
    
    /. Ian .\

    Thanks Ian,
    
    It looks like the wallet became smaller and the pocketbook became
    larger?
    
    aren't words interesting?
    
    Bonnie

        I used to carry around so much stuff I couldn't even find
        what I needed, when I needed it.  A couple of years ago I
        had this really large pocket book - it looked like a potatoe
        sack for crying out loud.  I never knew what was in it.  
        At the time I had this game with this guy I was seeing, we 
        had this pet rock and would hide it on each other.  I would
        hide it in his truck or he would hide it in my car.  It was
        a funny game because this thing would show up in the 
        weirdest places at the strangest times.  Well I was carrying
        around my pocket book for two days before I realized what
        was so heavy in my pocketbook, it was the rock.  I had so
        much junk in there that I didn't realize that's what was
        making it so heavy.  I thought it was pretty funny.
    
            Denise
    

    Some of you people actually do have some pretty funny "pocket"books!
    I'd definitely notice it if mine had a ROCK in it!
    
    I like the same kind of purses my mother likes: small, with lots of
    separate zipper sections inside so that things stay in their proper
    place and so that it is not quite as easy for someone to get my wallet
    without my knowing about it.  I like six separate pockets: one for
    tampons and allergy medications (which are in a separate zipper pouch
    which is waterproof), one for wallet, checkbook, credit cards, and
    business cards, one for pens and pencils and receipts, one for keys,
    one for my DEC badge, and one for tissues (necessary if you have lots
    of allergies...sigh...).  Nice and neat, everything is easy to find,
    and my medications don't get spilled on the checkbook, and such stuff.
    I can't make much use of the big sack-like kind of pocketbooks;
    everything turns into a jumble in one of those things!
    
    /Charlotte (who finally broke down and bought a new pocketbook two
    nights ago 'cause the carrying strap had worn through on the last one)
                                     

    
    	whenever I get bored, I go and look inside my purse....
    :v)
    
    t.

RE: < Note 617.17 >
    	whenever I get bored, I go and look inside my purse....


You'd love my purse. It usually has a Cosmic Wimpout game in it so I
always have something to do when I'm bored.

It's one of those Kenya bags. Sometimes I'm scared to look in it. It
usually weighs a ton from all the change. I don't even know why I
carry it. I lug it in here everyday and drop it by my feet then lug it
out of here everyday. I hardly ever use anything that I carry in it.
It has a planner thingy in it and a calendar thingy. Instead of using
them, I write notes on post it notes and stick them to the planner
case. It has my wallet, which is empty because I carry my license in
my key case and keep my credit cards in my checkbook. It doesn't have
my checkbook because it's in one of my friends purses because I left
it in her car yesterday.

Patti

    <-- re: .19 >S/he who steals my pocketbook steals my very self...!
    
    So true!  I had mine stolen once -- it was found later on, minus
    the cash.  Sure, I was angry about the money (and of course I had
    *just* cashed my paycheck), but I was really relieved that everything
    else was there -- I mean, about five years of my life was contained
    in that little leather bag!
    
                              ...Lisa V...
                                          
    

    This whole note on pocketbooks gave me a good chuckle! I
    laughed at our compulsion to ....keep it organized; ..... clean it out
    once a week or once a day; ....
    
    I typically carry a book to read when waiting for appointments. If I
    forget one and I'm bored like .17 said, I open my pocketbook and
    rummage around for things to look at.
    
    I took my son to the doctor last month and in my rush, stuffed some of
    his things in my pocketbook. The next day at work, I pulled out a blue
    rubber teething pretzel and a pacifier!
    
    In addition to my pocketbook, I carry a big satchel over my shoulder
    rather than a briefcase. Into that goes my lunch and anything else I
    want to bring to work (shoes in the winter when I wear boots). THAT has
    ended up being my catch-all bag -- I found a month's worth of TIME
    magazines recently, as well as a 10-page discussion on scarf tying, and
    some fruit that had obviously seen better times before bumping around
    in the bag.  
    
    Guess maybe I should put the blue teething pretzel in THERE -- never
    know when it might come in handy.
    
    --Lynn
    

    While in Europe, my wife bought a hand bag for me and it was quite
    useful.  You can carry so much more and access it so much more quickly
    than search through multiple pockets if it is some what organized.
    
    While touring London, we went ot Sunday service at St. Mark's (
    I think ) Cathedral.  I set it by my chair for the service and forgot
    to pick it up on the way out.  I returned about a half hour later
    and was unable to find it nor was it turned in to the staff.  
    
    My wife fortunately had all our passports in her hand bag with the
    traveler's checks.  My 'loss' was limited my international driver's 
    permit and my version of our credit cards.
    
    My wife drove back to Germany, we did not curtail our tour any,
    including around Paris on the Champs 'Elysee ( apologies to the
    French for the spelling ).  
    
    Several months later, the local exchange manager brought an envelope
    to my wife's office and asked her to identify the contents.  My
    hand bag complete with all money had been mailed from within Germany
    to his office.  Not a thing was missing even the gas coupons and
    the coin change was there.
    
    Unfortunately, I felt ill at ease with the thought of setting a
    new fashion trend in Colorado and abandoned it as we caught the
    plane to the States.
    
    Don