Tales of the Traveling Tote #36 and A Giveaway

Welcome to our September 2023

edition of 

Tales of the Traveling Tote.  

Here at Purple Chocolat Home 

the summer has been consumed 

with building our new home 

(now into it 20 months!)

and trying to go through 33 years 

of too much stuff! 

It is mind boggling and we 

are so sentimental that 

we want to bring most 

everything with us! 

Well, not really, but way too 

much! We have already done 16 

Suburban loads to thrift stores 

and tons of trash can loads, 

but between entertaining, costumes, 

tablescaping and decorating, 

we have so much to sort through.

I am so busy I haven't blogged or 

even read emails.  I searched my 

emails the other night and discovered I 

was to create the sidebar for 

Tales of the Traveling Tote 

for December!  Good thing I 

checked!!

Well, then I couldn't find my 

tote and wondered if I had 

left it on my last trip.  I was 

wondering if I would be kicked 

out of the group if I couldn't 

find it - a bit of a panic!  

After searching everywhere I 

could think of - and mind you, 

it isn't a small item - I thought 

of my purses which were already 

packed up in five boxes.  

Lucky me, it was at the top of 

the first box I checked!

I thought I might have left it 

on the houseboat down at 

Lake Powell, and since we are 

done for the year, it would have 

been until next May before I 

would be able to check. 

Good thing I found it!!!!!!

We were able to sneak away for three 

Lake Powell trips this year so that is 

where Miss Madi K and I were able 

to go.  

Miss Pansy got to travel along 

too as she makes a nice bag 

for boating. 

We invited two families from our 

neighborhood for the August trip. 

We had ten kids and 6 adults.  

One of our favorite games we 

play with kids is 

The Candy Bar Game. 

The basic idea of the game is 

you place 3-4 packages or pieces 

of candy in the center.  Everyone

takes turns rolling the dice inside 

a bowl.  If you roll doubles or 

7 or 11, you get to pick a candy bar,

announce what you picked and 

then hide it behind your back 

or under a pillow.  People can steal 

it from you if they win a turn, but 

they have to remember what it was

and who had it.  After three 

possessions it is permanent.  

When the last piece leaves the 

table, the game is over. 

Oh, and if the dice fall out 

of the bowl you skip your turn, 

and if you don't pick your 

prize before the next winner, 

you miss your turn! Lots of fun.

Well, we had one darling boy 

who is 8 years old and he gets 

seizures if he eats sugar, so I 

had to come up with a 

new plan.  I decided on the 

Dollar Store Game. 

We decided it was even more fun 

than just candy.  Everyone had a 

blast and we didn't tempt him.

Miss Madi K helped carry all of 

the prizes down and keep them a 

secret.

Of course, sugary desserts are a 

huge part of our Lake Powell 

experience, like this chocolate chip 

Pizookie, or Skookie, with homemade 

ice cream and homemade hot fudge.

So I found a Pillsbury Sugar Free 

Brownie mix and sugar free 

chocolate chips at the grocery store, 

and I made him sugar free vanilla 

ice cream using powdered Swerve.  

He was such a happy guy!  

His mom had said she would 

go without sugar with him, 

but at 8, how hard is that, so 
I had fun experimenting.  I even 

made his hot fudge with 1 T. 

sugar free chocolate chips 

melted with 1 T. cream. 

I think besides the Dollar Store 

game one of the kids' biggest 

surprises was that I got on the 

water rockets to battle it out!!

(My favorite thing to do at 

Lake Powell!)

Our final night was a 

Copacabana Party, 

where everyone dressed up 

for dinner in tropical clothing.

Summer fun is over, but 

we were glad to get away, and 

the best thing was, the builders 

kept working while we were 

gone each time. 

When I get time I will post 

our Lake Powell menus.  I 

just ran into someone the 

other day who requested I 

keep posting those.  We love 

to eat, so food is a big part 

of our Lake Powell experience.

Now for the fun giveaway.  

I am hosting this month, 

so leave me a message and the 

winner will be chosen randomly 

on September 8th. 

Include your contact information 

if you don't have a blog so you 

can be notified.  

Ooh, this is such a fun, fun prize.

Visit our other fabulous 

travelers and see where they 

have been off to.

 Debbie with Miss Aurora @ Mountain Breaths 

Emily with Miss Courtney Childs@ The French Hutch

 Patti with Miss Kenzie @ Pandora's Box  

Jenna with Miss Coquille @The Painted Apron

Linda P with Miss Lola @ Life and Linda

Rita with Miss Luna C @ Panoply 

Sarah with Miss Merri Mac @ Hyacinths for the Soul

Jackie and Miss Madi K @ Purple Chocolat Home (you are here)

Ricki Jill and Countess De Monet @ The Sketchy Reader

Tales of the Traveling Totes #23 and A Giveaway

Welcome to our June 2020 edition of 

Tales of the Traveling Totes, where a group

of MacKenzie-Childs loving women share where 

our totes have been off to. 

What adventures have we had during the last 

quarter with Covid-19?  Miss Madi K and I surprisingly

ended up having quite a bit of fun!!!

At first I thought I would be sharing pictures of:

La Bored Room

Le Decluteria

Costa De Balcony

Porto Gardenas

Ste. Toilette

La Rotunda de Sofa

But as time passed and Utah went from 

an orange emergency status to a yellow status,

we had the opportunities to do a few things.

It all started with this little cutie-pie!  Her parents 

had headed down south to St. George, Utah for 

my son's birthday at the end of March.  The weather was 

so pleasant and the view out of the condo window 

was of a pool and palm trees, so they ended up 

staying for five weeks!  Towards the end of their 

time they needed help watching this little one 

while they studied for and took their finals.  

We had stayed away from everyone, so we were 

a little nervous, but they had isolated too, so 

we decided to go down and help!  As of today, we 

have isolated down here for six weeks!  We have 

children at home who can check on our home 

and hubby can do all of his work and his church 

work on the phone and internet, so we decided it 

was the perfect place to isolate.

We actually have a lot down here, and have thought 

of building and moving here, but were unsure about 

being so far away from all of the grandkids, who 

all live close.  This has given us a taste of what 

living down here would be like. 

We hadn't done any take-out, but the cases of the virus 

were so much less down here in the heat, that the kids 

talked us into getting some food from restaurants and 

heading to parks to eat.  Our parks had remained open 

and weren't busy.

By May 1st the pools became open and by the next 

weekend we could go over to Lake Powell, 

which is three hours away, so Miss Madi K 

got packed up and we headed to our houseboat.  

We invited some friends to Lake Powell with us 

who were also isolating down in St. George.  

We just went for three nights, and decided 

it was safe and fun so we invited two of my 

kids to come down for the next weekend.

We boated up the lake to see Rainbow Bridge. 

This DIL had never seen it.

The water is way too cold for me this time of year, but 

the kids enjoyed it.

We ended up being there for our 41st Anniversary. 

We had planned on going to Hawaii, and that 

had been cancelled early in April, so it was 

fun to have somewhere to go.

My daughter whipped up a beautiful batch 

of macarons for our anniversary!  I would 

never have thought of making them at Lake Powell. 

We ended up heading over for a third 

weekend in a row.  Miss Pansy got to come along

this time.

Our youngest daughter and her husband came this 

weekend.  He had just graduated from college, 

and of course they weren't having convocation, so I 

ordered a cap and gown for him, and we went just 

down the highway to Horseshow Bend.  It is 

less than a mile down the road, but we had never been.  

It is quite spectacular.  Miss Madi K got to take 

the short hike out to the view point.  

I can't believe we had never come here before.  I 

guess we have always been in a rush coming 

and going, and we had no idea how close it was.

I have been journaling this Covid-19 experience, and 

these 16 picture pages tell a lot of the story.  I have made 

these for the last few years and at the end of the year 

I publish them in a book, to tell the year's story.  It 

makes for a really easy way to document the year. 

With the money we got back from the Hawaii trip,

we purchased ebikes.  We have been taking bike rides 

on the wonderful bike trails in and around St. George.  

Again, this is something we have never done, even 

though we have been coming to St. George for 

over 30 years.  This is up Snow Canyon.

Miss Madi K carried hand sanitizer, sunglasses, 

sunscreen and other necessaries in the car.

Just a little humor! 

Hasn't humor helped with Covid-19?

Pictures don't do justice to the size, scale and color of 

these mountains up Snow Canyon.  This 

mountain is called Island in the Sky and it is massive.

We had scaled this mountain a few years ago with 

a friend who is a professional guide. Yes, you have to squeeze through that tiny crack and spider walk crevices!

 It was a lot easier riding up 

the canyon on an ebike!  

 I have to say we are addicted to the ebikes - 

it is almost like cheating - as you can ride up any steep 

hill as the bike assists you.

We finished the morning by going to 

breakfast at Tifany's!  Miss Madi K 

really liked this.  

Cinnamon Roll crepe and a Breakfast Crepe!  It was 

the second restaurant we have sat in.  We were the only 

ones there.  We were glad to see it was up and running.

And last week the TJ Maxx opened in St. George.  Only 

85 people are allowed in the store.  

We had to wait outside just 

for five minutes. 

Of course our treasure hunting here 

paid off!  

My sister Joni said she had stopped in theirs and 

the shelves had been emptied by pent up shoppers!

Because of our age, we still are social distancing, 

 wearing our masks and limiting our grocery 

shopping.  We feel blessed that our family has stayed 

employed and healthy and some can work from home.  

Who would have ever thought we would be posting 

about living through a pandemic, but we are glad 

we were able to loosen up a bit this last month. 

Hope you are all doing well.

Now for the giveaway - what you have been waiting for!

Join our other travelers and leave a comment on Linda's blog to enter the giveaway!  See where 

and what they have been up to during the pandemic.

Debbie with Miss Aurora @ Mountain Breaths 

Emily with Miss Courtney Childs@ The French Hutch

Jenna with Miss Coquille @The Painted Apron

Linda P with Miss Lola @ Life and Linda

Patti with Miss Kenzie @ Pandora's Box  You are here!

Rita with Miss Luna C @ Panoply 

Sarah with Miss Merri Mac @ Hyacinths for the Soul

Ricki Jill and Countess De Monet @ The Sketchy Reader

Cherry Kay and Carrie Ann Hall @ Entertaining Women  

Here's a peek at my MC friends as we had 
a Zoom meeting and I saw their faces and 
heard their voices for the first time.  Thanks 
Patti for putting this photo together.

Join us in September and see where our adventures take us.