We had a little flood in our basement last week. A few months ago, we decided to build a little bar in our basement, complete with an ice maker and mini-refrigerator.  Some days I’m in my basement office for eight hours or more~I’d been dreaming about how nice it would be to walk right into the living space down there and grab my favorite drink-Diet Coke in a glass with ice. Or brew fresh coffee. So, for the last few months, we’ve been getting it all installed. Last Wednesday? Finished! It was just perfect! I ran to Walmart and grabbed new glasses and a case of Diet Coke!

Last Thursday morning? I went downstairs to find most of our basement soaking wet. The ice maker connector had broken off and water had poured into our beautiful new cabinets all night long. Ugh! Of course, my husband was out of town, but he did help me call everyone who needed to be called. And by Thursday night, the restoration company had installed 10 fans and assorted commercial heaters throughout our basement.

I carried my computer upstairs, and now I’m set up at the kitchen table.

The photograph is how my office looked all weekend.

Things are better now. By next week, I should be back in my office, and finally enjoying my glass of Diet Coke.

The good news? Through it all, everyone has been terrific. From our insurance rep to the plumber and contractor, to well, you name it.  It proved to me once again that something good can always come out of bad things!

with blessings,

Shelley

The winner is Jane Rinelli.

Jane, if you contact me privately with your address, I’ll get that beautiful quilt right out to you!

with blessings,

Shelley

So, if you’re just now hearing about the drawing, all you have to do to enter is tell me what one word you’re taking to heart for 2012. Please read some of the entries…you’ll get inspired!

I thought I’d add another photo of the Amish quilt. My little dachshund Suzy was happy to be this morning’s model!

Thank  for stopping by~

Shelley

What to do?

This is too funny, but we ended up polishing silver. For hours! When we were in California, going through my mother’s things, I found quite a few silver trays. Neither my brother or sister wanted them, so I shipped them home. They arrived about a week ago~and their condition was pretty bad.  After I unpacked them, they’d been sitting on our dining room table, practically begging to be cleaned. I kept putting it off.

Around noon, my husband Tom decided it would be a great project for us, so out went the gloves, polish, and old towels. We got to work. I had to smile~turns out Tom had never polished silver before. I’ve polished plenty, so I had to give him a tutorial. Turns out it was a good project for us. It took forever-not only had my mom not cleaned the pieces in years, she’d put them away dirty. We talked, we scrubbed, we talked some more, and admired how much better everything looked. But before long, shiny trays decorated the dining room table and we had a kitchen full of dirty rags and towels.

 Don’t you just love projects where you can see results in just a few hours? I wish everything was like that!

After cleaning that up, we dug around the kitchen. I’d planned to go to the store on Saturday morning, and we’d planned to go out to dinner on Saturday night. Since we were iced in, Tom and I decided to make the best dinner we could-using what was on hand.  I found frozen corn~it became corn pudding. Two forgotten frozen steaks, some canned mushrooms and an old onion became an impromptu Steak Diane of sorts. Three bananas that had seen better days became dessert-banana bread!

 None of it was fantastic, but we had a good time.  The best part? We were still dressed in old sweats~no fancy dinner clothes for us! We ended the evening watching an old movie.

Saturday’s ice storm ended up being a very good thing for us. A day together doing nothing special.

Today, it’s a balmy 52 degrees! My husband’s flying out for the week in a few hours, and the weather report says the temperature the rest of the week will be in the 40′s.  I’ll be able to run errands and eat out as often as I want. But I think part of me is going to wish for another excuse to stay home soon.

And since it’s only January…I have a feeling we’ll get more snow and ice very soon.

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you have a good week! Please come back on Tuesday~it’s time for another contest!

Shelley

Correction~I liked it a lot. My husband Loved It.

He loved it so much that he talked about it all the time, and asked me to get the recipe.  The only ingredient that we knew for sure was in it was the chicken-and that the chicken had been soaked in 7-up the night before it was cooked.  

Getting the recipe sounded easy enough. I wrote the mother of the bride, thanked her for the invitation, etc., and asked, when she had time, if she could please send me the recipe. Then I waited. And waited. Two months went by. No response.

Hmm.

Not ready to give up, I asked my Amish friend Clara (who was the bride’s aunt) if she knew how I could get the recipe. She very kindly wrote me back and told me that the only recipe they had served about 100 people. That was surely too many people for me. So, no recipe.

Feeling a little silly-after all, I make Great Fried Chicken, if I do say so myself-I reported back to my husband that the recipe was a no-go. He looked horrified.  He said he’d be happy to do all the math to reduce the recipe…just get that recipe. Please.

 Grudgingly, and kind of feeling a little foolish, I wrote another letter and  asked again.

Then I started worrying that this ’7-Up Chicken’ was a special ‘family’ recipe, kind of like my mother’s chicken pie. Maybe the family didn’t want to give out the recipe, they were just too polite to tell me that.  So when Amy, Vannetta, and I were on the Amish book tour and stopped at Clara’s house for breakfast, I asked if that was the case.

Clara thought my latest question was very humorous. Turns out, no…it wasn’t a secret, it was just that her sister hadn’t had time to write it out. That made sense. These ladies are busy. 

And, well, there always comes a time when you know you’re being a pain. I had felt that time had come with my asking and asking about that recipe. So I told my husband just to remember that meal and let it rest in peace. After all, we’d certainly done that with excellent restaurant meals!

Then, right before Christmas I got a Christmas card from Freida…With The Recipe For 7-up Chicken. Yay!! Big cheers here. 7-Up Chicken, Here We Come!

Then, of course, ‘Life’ happened. My mother passed away and off we went to California. Next, I came home to revisions on a book and had another book due. Tired of the Christmas mess, I put all the Christmas cards we received in a box and set them in the basement. And pretty much forgot about my recipe quest.

Until last night. I was watching American Idol and got kind of bored. Then I started looking through cookbooks…and then I remembered that recipe.  Yikes! Off I went into our storage room, dug out the box, sorted through all the cards…and found Freida’s card.

Success!  I called up my traveling husband and told him to get ready-his favorite meal was going to be prepared on Saturday night.

But now that’s not to be. When I reread the recipe, I discovered that  two of the ingredients (Emma Yoders Coating Mix and runion) were bought from the Walnut Creek Cheese Shop. Now the meal is on hold again until:

 a) I get a chance to go to Keim’s Market in Adams County (in the Amish community an hour away) to see if they have these ingredients

 or

 b)I get back to Holmes County to the Walnut Creek Cheese Shop (four hours away) 

So, my husband is going to have to wait just a little longer, because by now I’m determined that there will be no substitutions!  I’m going to make this recipe exactly how it is written. We’ve waited this long, we can wait a little longer, for sure. <g>

I just hope when I finally do make the meal, it tastes just as good as we remember. 

Between you and me? I kind of doubt it will. We had 7-Up Chicken on a prettily decorated table under a white tent alongside an amazing amount of wonderful side dishes.  The meal was served by friends of the bride wearing lovely green dresses.

Outside, it was warm and sunny, we had just watched a beautiful exchange of wedding vows, and everyone was teasing me about putting the wedding-and all of the attendents- in my latest book.

Tom and I were happy, laughing, and enjoyed every bite of that meal. That afternoon had felt just about perfect. It’s going to hard to replicate, I think.

But I’m going to give it a try. My quest for Amish 7-Up chicken has actually been kind of fun. It’s been a fun challenge to try so hard to get something just right.  

Has anyone else been on a recipe quest before? What was the recipe for? And, by any chance, did it turn out as good as you remembered?

with blessings to you,

Shelley

If you’d like a bookmark, you certainly don’t need to write me first! All you have to do is privately email me your address. : )

I hope everyone is having a good week!

with blessings,

Shelley

I woke up this morning feeling like my usual self, which is such a gift. After spending the last ten days in a haze, I’m very thankful to once again be thinking about things to do. I know I’ll still have quite a few rough moments ahead, but I do feel like I’ve turned a corner.  Yay!

I’ve got quite a few things to do, writing-wise. I need to finish up FOUND, get ready to do revisions on A Texan’s Choice, and think of ideas for new books. Of course, I’m most excited about the new books! Recently, I was given a new contract for eight books over the next two years. Two will be Christmas novellas. The other six will be divided into two trilogies. It’s fun to think of new settings and themes.

One of the reasons it’s so easy to get back to work is that the kids left on Saturday and Sunday-and the puppy did, too! I love having the kids home, but I don’t get much done when they’re here. And I really don’t get much done around Rudy! My son taught his pup how to ‘ring bells’ when he needed to go outside. Rudy got a little half of a dog biscuit when he did what he needed to do. <g> I had to laugh…soon Rudy got the hang of things and knew bells+business=dog treat. Before we knew it, those bells were ringing nonstop. I couldn’t help but smile at my son’s dismay, and the puppy’s happiness!

Here’s a photo of Rudy ringing those bells. (I have to admit that I made sure the bells went in the car with my son!)

Shelley

For those of you who might not be familiar with the ‘Sisters’ books, these were my first three Amish novels. They are Hidden, Wanted, and Forgiven. In October of 2010 (which feels like only last month!) GRACE came out, which took place one year after Forgiven. So, if you’ve read GRACE, these books go with that series.

This series is special to me not only because of their publication, but also because the inn I based the Brenneman Bed and Breakfast on is just an hour from my house. My writing girlfriends and I go on retreats there. And though the ‘real’ inn isn’t Amish, it’s right in the middle of an Amish community.

I also wanted to take a moment to thank all of you for your kind notes regarding my mother’s passing. It has been a very hard ten days, but like so many other things, I know time will lessen the pain. Once again, I am giving thanks for my husband and children, for my brother and sister, and for my readers. I truly love to write, and I am so grateful for all of you. Thank you for reading my books, sharing them with your friends, and asking your library and local bookstores to carry them as well. Your support means the world to me.

Tomorrow, I will visit a book club. All the ladies read The Caregiver, and I’m going to discuss the book and writing with them. It’s been so nice to have this event to look forward to!

I hope you all have a good weekend, too.

Shelley

  God bless you all, and may God bless you and your families as well.

   Shelley