A MacGiver -Like Purse

Even though I was never a girl scout, life taught me to always be prepared for anything, hence the importance of my make up/general purpose bag. This bag contains more than a fabulous lipstick and wonderfully scented perfume; it holds the necessary items to help someone with any common ailment, save somesone's life while simultaneously doing battle with terrorists thereby SAVING THE WORLD. If McGiver were a woman, this is what he would have in it. You may be snickering as you read this but it's true.

The contents of my little black purse are:
- Facial moisturizer, face wipes, lip balm, lipstick, eye brow pencil, rouge, a tiny bottle of my favorite perfume, and a sample tube of suntan lotion spf 45
- Micro-tube of toothpaste & toothbrush, pouch of floss, tube of Tide stain remover
- 2 Extra strength adult Tylenol pouches, 2 jr. strength Tylenol pouches, a travel cylinder of Aleve, a roll of Tums, a cylinder of Nux Vomica (for upset, nauseas stomachs, 4 self-sealed Imodium AD caplets, 1 Alka-Seltzer envelope, 2 Benadryl pouches, 4 packets of salt, 2 big pieces of gum and a small tube of crazy glue
-8 sterile alcohol wipes, 2 sterile 2x2 gauze pads, 8 sterile strips of medi-tape, 1 small sharp cuticle sissor, small book of matches, micro pouch with needle and thread, and 8 assorted band aids
- Mini flashlight, Diamond nail file, 2 small & 2 large paper clips, 8 assorted safety pins, 1 tube of petroleum jelly and 1 latex glove.
- Epi-pen (long yellow tube at the top) Epinephrine auto-injector.

I think MacGiver would find my little bag very handy indeed. I used to have a small swiss army knife but that was confiscated during one of my post 9/11 flights and I've not been able to replace it. In the past 4 years though, I've used the cuticle sissors for cutting through clothing, strips of tape and gauze pads. The matches have been used to sterilize needles, sissors and other instruments, while the alcohol swabs have been used to sterilize hands and skin. I've used the needle and thread for suturing long or deep lascerations and dispensed Tylenol to help with the pain.

When I've run out of thread I've used crazy glue to close the surface layer of a wound. Floss has been used as both an impomptu tourniquet aide and a splint wrapper. The salt packets have been combined with water to create a gargle solution and an emergency saline solution for cleansing and disinfecting wounds or contact lenses. I gave the petroleum jelly to an EMT team to cover a toddler's leg that had gotten caught between a staircase railing and a wall. A few years back I used gum and crazy glue at an airport to temporary fix a heal that had separated from my shoe. The safety pins have been used on a number of occassions to secure small handkerchiefs to form makeshift slings for broken arms (including my own). Finally, their's the tweezers (no need to say more), which along with the needle and thread, started the idea/ball rolling on this post.

So while blog daddy may think that a women's purse is basically a black hole, one thing's for sure, you never know if the contents of said purse will save your life! It has mine on more than one occassion.