Lifelong Habits

While doing some spring cleaning the other day, I realized how many tote bags I have - both those I have accumulated over the years, and those I have made recently from Lazy Girl patterns. I've always liked tote bags I guess - but never really thought about it much.

I have never been a purse carrier - for a while I did the "wallet on a string" type of purse, and I floored both my family and my co-workers about 5 years ago when I went through a little spurt of purse buying, but then I found I was just tucking the purse into the top of a tote, so now I just save those purses for occasions when the tote just is too much (although I am working on making some purses for those instances).

I was browsing through some old family slides this morning - I had actually intended to post about something entirely different and was looking for an incriminating photo of Lazy Sister Sue to illustrate the point - but instead came across these photos of me - with a tote bag!!!

The first is the summer of 1972 - somewhere on Long Island I think. That's me with the watermelon and the big purple tote. Dad and Lazy In Training Terri are in the back, and Sister Cindy is keeping an eye on me it looks like.

The second is my first day of school - kindergarten - waiting at the bus stop with most of my older siblings. Lazy Sister Sue had gradated from High School the previous spring, and was starting college.

Sister Cindy and I must have gotten matching totes that summer - because we both have them in both pictures. Interesting that mine is the purple one - since purple is definitely Cindy's favorite color now. Mine also looks bigger- or may be it was because I was smaller.

It's funny looking back through the slides - I remember some of the clothes and especially the Halloween costumes - I remember the jacket that my Big Brother Bill is wearing in this photo (he is the 4th in line) - but I don't remember this tote.

I wonder if the Munchkin will remember his totes? He's very possessive of them, and notices quickly when "Mommy has a new bag!"

Memory is a funny thing.