The 'hard spots' in life 11-16-09

Psychologists and sociologists frequently come up with lists of what events in our lives are the most stressful or traumatic. Birth, death, divorce, major illness, etc. - all worthy of being on the lists. I have dealt with all of them, not necessarily successfully, but I lived through them. However, it is the daily 'hard spots' that sometimes REALLY annoy me and cause me stress. Like not being able to lose weight when dieting, or having the transmission go out on a car, or (lately) getting lost when I am driving somewhere.

I tend to keep things forever - cheap, I guess - and I carry a heavy purse with all the daily necessities, plus everything I might need in an emergency. Like one rubber band, two paper clips, an assortment of Band-Aids, a compact screwdriver, a tiny flashlight, etc., things I don't think I can live without. With so much stuff one needs to keep it organized. For the last six months I have been looking for a replacement for the vinyl zip bag I have carried for years to keep some of these things organized, because the old bag was almost in pieces. In desperation I bought one that is slightly smaller than the old one. At home I moved everything from the old to the new bag.

I did get everything in - including my last Starbuck's receipt (so I will know how much I have left on my card), my new polka dot magnifier (which ageing eyes now demand) from the Container Store, a raffle quilt ticket stub (in the remote chance I might win something, sometime), lipstick, nail file, etc.

The only problem was that it was so tightly packed I couldn't get anything out without removing half of the contents. I could almost hear the grumbling from people waiting for me to find something and then get out of their way. Poor old befuddled lady, etc.. So, I looked around again and found another, slightly larger, vinyl zip bag and moved everything to that. But it has two zippers that meet in the middle and have tiny zip tabs. I tied some ribbon on the tabs, but I know that eventually it will wear out or just come off. Also the top is "boxed" so things get hung up under the lip and I have to start taking stuff out to get the item I need.

Somehow these little 'hard spots' really get under my skin and I tend to be crabby, grunting instead of answering people politely. I guess the only thing to do in this case is to stop looking and just make a vinyl zip case to my own specifications. Shouldn't take more than a few days - right? Of course, I will keep these two inadequate bags - they might fill a need sometime in the future.