Whee, new purse!

For years I carried heavier and heavier purses. With the back pain, that became more than a little problematic. So last year, I switched to a backpack, which I could hang over the back of the manual wheelchair. When I switched to the power chair, the chair back was too thick, making me either hunch over or lean against a partially filled backpack. So I switched to a flatter shoulder bag, which was designed to go on the back, but I could wear on the front. As the weather got warmer, the large black shoulder bag was getting cumbersome and overly warm.

We'd gotten the girlchild a cute little waist pack (aka fanny pack in the US, I know it means other things in other countries) for her birthday with skulls on it. Unfortunately, it was a $5 bag, and the stitching failed after a few weeks. So I went to beltoutlet.com, the same place I'd bought my shoulder pack, and ordered her and I each a fanny pack. They're both black leather; mine is a bit larger than hers, and hers came with a water bottle. She's thrilled with her pack, as she won't use a purse, and loves having the water bottle carrier on it. I switched to my new waist pack, too. It held my big billfold, though I did take some of the things in it and stow it in separate smaller pockets in the pack to make the billfold narrower. I'll have to carry my paperback separately, and there are some paperwork things that I can't carry in this pack, but it's small and will be mostly out of my way, which beats the shoulder purse trying to drive my chair.

And swapping purses is always a fun mini-spring cleaning for me. Even if I will spend the next couple of weeks learning where I tucked everything in this purse. There's even a pocket for my bus tickets.