There once was a time when I carried a cute little purse. All I needed was a small wallet and my keys. I favored small Dooney & Bourke bags and loved to see when new ones came out. Sometimes I'd even go without a purse all together.

That all changed when motherhood arrived. The purses I carry now are huge and usually washable. The wash-ability factor is a good thing because my purse in the last week alone has held cheerios, opened ring pops, wet goggles and other random possibly gross things.

My compromise is to get Vera Bradley ones to at least have some sense of style with my bag but these days I'm carrying around a backpack model. I need my hands free to carry junk.

Right about now my purse has my wallet, cell phone, a deck of cards, four ponytail holders, old tickets to IMAX, sliding numbers game, four pens, Kleenex, kids motrin, six markers, chapstick, wet wipes, extra earring back, sugarless gum, sharpies for swim meets, starburst, three Chuckie Cheese tokens and two pads of paper for tic tac toe.

What are you toting around these days?