Bag Lady

I'm not the kind of girl who has ever carried a purse. It makes me cringe a little to even say the word- it's just so ...girlie. Blech! But I have always been a 'bag lady'. Since a very young age I have carried a large bag sometimes a backpack with me wherever I go. In this bag I keep the essentials of life. When I was a 'little bag lady' it was dolls and their accessories, my pennies, snacks, drawing supplies. These days I carry all the stuff I need for mothering, crafting, shopping, chauffeuring, and more. Everything I need fits into one bag. My moop.

the changing of the moops

Let me just say a couple of things about a moop. A year and a half ago I got my first moop for Christmas, the Fraulein Tote. It was simple, clean and new. It had tons of pockets. It was roomy and well constructed. I was thrilled. But I still thought- no, I would have never spent that much money on a bag for myself- even though you'd think that a self proclaimed 'bag lady' would at least splurge on a bag.

I carried that bag everyday for a year and a half. Everywhere. My moop has a special shelf of it's own in my house. My children know right where to go when I say "it's in my moop".

Last week the moops had a Seconds Sale over on their Supermarket site.
I paid nearly half price for a slightly imperfect older version of the Market Bag.
When my new moop arrived. I cleaned out my old one and took a moment to inspect the wear are tear that 18 months of constant use had inflicted on it. I'm amazed at how little wear there was at all. The fabric isn't faded or pilling. The seams are all tight and the stitching intact. the ripstop interior prevented anything from leaking through to the outside. None of the hardware was rusted, tarnished or even scratched for that matter? The only small bits of wear I see are at the bottom corners, but it's very slight and I didn't even notice it until after I had washed it in warm water (and I'm not so sure I was supposed to do that.)

Yesterday my oldest child saw me carrying around a new moop.

She said, "Oooo can I have your old one?"

I replied, "No way!"

"But what are YOU going to do with it now that you have a new one?"

"I'm going to keep them both."

"WHAT? That's not fair!"

"Listen, I had ONE measly canvas bag. Now I have TWO. They're my only luxury, and they're mine!"

Hey, when she becomes a full grown bag lady she can splurge on her own moop.
Believe me when I say it's totally worth it.