1. The reason I had a paring knife in my purse, an oddity that many of you commented on:

One day last summer, the girls and I were heading to the park, and I decided to bring an apple for our snack. But I didn't want to take the time to peel it and slice it and then have it get all brown in a plastic baggie, so I just threw a knife in my purse so I could peel and slice the apple there at the park when we were ready to eat. This worked out very well, and I left the knife in my purse so I could repeat my fruit trick on subsequent occasions. And I even used it at other times, such as last weekend when I bought a bouquet of flowers for a friend, and then used my little paring knife to trim the stems so they fit in the vase. Carrying a knife is handy, it turns out.

When I put stuff in my new purse, however, I did not put the paring knife in. Although I had it in a separate pocket, I was always a little afraid I would accidentally reach in there and stab myself by mistake. Instead, I fished one of my husband's many extraneous folding pocket knives out of the junk drawer and stashed it in my new purse.

Because if carrying around a little knife is good, carrying around a bigger knife will be better, right?

2. Yes, I realize that I would not be allowed to carry a dangerous weapon like this on an airplane. But I never go anywhere, so I think I'm good.

3. No one seemed to find it odd that I also had matches, however. Is that normal? Do you all go around lighting fires all the time too? Those had actually only been in there for a couple weeks--that's like the blink of an eye in purse-time. I brought them along on a friend's birthday picnic so we could light candles on the birthday cake, in case you're interested.

4. See? There is a purpose for everything in my purse. Even if it was a one-time long-ago purpose.

Except the alligator. That one's still a mystery.

5. Race day tomorrow! Lucky Clover 10K, here I come!

6. I actually haven't run hardly at all this week. I went for a short run this morning, and that was the only time I'd been all week long. Between sick kids and the time change, I just haven't had the energy to get out of bed early in the morning. But I was doing really good before that, so I'm counting on reserves of strength that I supposedly built up in weeks past to carry me through. No worries. 6.2 miles = no problem, right?

7. This is the third list post in a row on the old blog here. Don't worry, I do still remember how to use paragraphs.

I'm just choosing not to.

You can read more quick takes here.