Not Yet Ready to Bag It!

One-a-Day Photo Challenge

Day Thirteen:  In Your Bag

This photo challenge is eating my days, chewing them up and swallowing them, leaving me with a messy house but a smile on my face. I'm enjoying the pursuit of the goal.

The search for photos that fit each day's theme has made me pay attention to everything around me, things that are so deeply imbedded in my surroundings that I never even notice them anymore. Now I'm seeing them again as if for the first time. It's been a fun, eye-opening experience, but it comes at a cost. I know that If I continue to neglect other responsibilities until the end of the month, the people at TLC may resurrect Clean Sweep and come to my house to shoot the first new episode.

I've decided to give myself permission to tweak the rules of this challenge. Just typing that last sentence strikes me as silly, because I've never actually seen any specific rules. I assumed that the object was to take a new photo each day to represent that day's theme, and I've been following my own assumption religiously. How anal-retentive is that? Especially since I've had the list of prompts for the entire month from the beginning.

It's been extremely time consuming to start each day with a brand-new search for a shot to match the photo prompt, then upload the images to my computer, choose the best one,  edit it if necessary, upload it to Blogger, write something about it, post it, then spend the rest of the day thinking about how I wanted to interpret the next day's theme. From now on, I'm not going to consider each new day a blank slate.

As I said, I have the list. I know what prompts are coming up. I'll take brand-new photos for everything on that list, but they won't be same-day photos anymore, unless I fall behind and have to scramble. Taking the photos in advance will relieve a lot of the pressure by allowing me to put a blog post together in bits and pieces. Doing it all in one fell swoop (why do I always want to say "one swell foop"?) is more than I can handle. 

Hm. 

In rereading everything I just wrote, I've recognized another reason why this challenge is devouring so much of my time: I'm wordy and long-winded. I should have just changed the rules in my own mind, kept my mouth shut, and saved your time as well as mine. I doubt anyone would have known the difference. Or cared about it if they did.

(Ahem.) Back to today's challenge . . .

Here's a photo I shot just this morning to show you what's in my bag:

The tan leather organizer (a Pouchee,  which I love) contains credit cards, checkbook, cash, cell phone, keys, address book, sunglasses, comb, a combination mirror/hairbrush, a pen, a few blank index cards (for taking notes), a pack of chewing gum, and an emergency protein bar. The little floral bag at the lower left of the photo holds toiletries: dental floss, toothpicks, lens cleaner packets, breath strips, and emergency medications such as low-dose aspirin, Tylenol, antihistamine tablets, and Imodium (in case I'm eating out and won't be home for a long time). Sometimes I drop a lipstick in there, too. The brightly colored item at the bottom of the photo is a neat packet of tissues.

That's it. My purse is tidy. If only I could say the same thing about my house. And my mind.