Mama needs a brand new bag

I have issues.

Yes, I'm sure there's a collective gasp of disbelief.

Oh, but it's true.

I like to have my stuff, the way I like to have my stuff. I fold towels exactly the way my mom taught me. I shower in the exact same way every day ... blah, blah.

But yet other areas of my daily life are completely chaotic.

Our hall closet is literally jammed full of bottles, boxes, bags of crap. Crap that we need, but can never find because it's so disorganized.

My mom once proclaimed that we have a lot of "junk drawers" in our kitchen. Except for the silverware drawer and the drawer where we keep our dish towels, it's true that the rest of our drawers are a complete mess.

The dichotomy of organization and chaos in our house is pretty astounding.

The same goes for my purse/bag situation.

I have a nice, grown-up, black, leather purse that has my ID, credit cards, cell phone, camera, etc. that I carry everywhere. But I don't like it.

It's too thick and the strap is too thin ... it's uncomfortable.

Then there's my bag.

My bag is what I carry to work and band practice and class and places where I need more than just my purse stuff.

Since I'm not teaching in the classroom this semester (yay, online class), my bag carries my purse (yeah, it doesn't make much sense to me either), the book I'm reading and a giant, plastic ziplock baggie. (When I am teaching in the classroom, I've often got my class notes, etc. in there, too.)

In that baggie, I have a small notebook and a kajillion folded pieces of paper. Those pieces of paper are song lyrics, flight reservations, sympathy cards, recipes ...

Last week at band practice our non-girl drummer, Scotty Boom-Boom Chuck-Norris-on-drums Davis commented on my plastic bag of papers. I fiercely defended my right to keep all my important and not-so-important stuff in a plastic baggie.

But he's right. I need a better system.

I need a smallish, large bag (see my issues) that can carry a cellphone, iPod and cable, camera and cable, lip balm eyedrops, wallet, checkbook, whatever book I'm reading at the time, small notebook and a giant stack of papers.

And it needs to have a long strap that I can wear bandoleer style.

Is there such a thing?