Shelley Shepard Gray's Blog, page 17

Ah, Libraries

It’s the day before Thanksgiving, and I’m currently waiting for my daughter to decide if she wants to run to the mall. I told her the only way I’d go to the mall is if we went first thing this morning! She and I have done the whole Black Friday thing, but I’m not up for it this year.

When I went to wake her up just a few minutes ago, she looked at me with a very bleary expression! I have a feeling our shopping trip has been postponed!

That’s perfectly fine with me. We currently have three dogs running around, and more laundry than I’ve seen since, oh, the last time both kids have been home.

I’m also busy blogging at United By Books today. There, I’m talking about libraries, librarians, and A Christmas For Katie. United By Books just happens to be giving away copies of A Christmas for Katie if you’re interested!

http://unitedbybooks.blogspot.com/2012/11/guest-post-and-giveaway-with-shelley.html?zx=77d59daa22803763

I bet many of you are busy today, too!  I plan to make apple and pumpkin pies when I’m not shopping, washing clothes, or blogging. Hopefully I’ll have time to bake some yeast rolls, too. What are you doing today?

with blessings, Shelley

 

They’re Back!

Last night, a little after midnight, I heard the garage door open. My son was home! Rudy, too!  Next thing I knew, chaos had erupted! Suzy was barking, Butch was chasing Rudy, Arthur was bringing in baskets of laundry. And a giant dog bed. And books and his computer.

Rudy? He started running laps around the house, he was so glad to be done with that eight hour drive from Alabama. I tried to go back to bed around one, but I don’t think I drifted off until after 2. I was too excited!

Tonight, my husband will fly home from his quick business trip, and my daughter will drive in from Lexington. We’re going to have a noisy, busy house!

Things are also very busy for me, writing-wise. Today is the E-book release for A Christmas for Katie. To help celebrate this little book’s release, I wrote guest blogs for four different sites.

Today, I’m over at ExLibris. They’ll be giving away copies of the book there, so if you have a moment, please stop by!

Here’s the link: http://www.stella-exlibris.com/2012/11/guest-post-by-shelley-shepard-gray.html

I had hoped to write five pages a day this week…but I’m not all that sure it’s going to happen. Today, my son is taking me out to a nice lunch. Then, of course, I’ll be referring dachshunds and Rudy. So far, tiny 10 pound Butch is having a Grand Time chasing 60 pound Rudy! I’ll try to take some pictures if I can get them all to slow down.

Thank you for stopping by!

with Blessings, Shelley

 

A Christmas for Katie News

Getting books ready to go!

Don’t you love being busy! I woke up this morning bright and early, ready to tackle my errands! I’ve got lots to do to get ready for Thanksgiving. Both of my kids are coming home, and my mother-in-law, too! And Rudy!  Of course, my daughter already asked for me to make her favorite chocolate and coconut cake. I’m baking that today, because all college kids need to come home to a  chocolate cake on the kitchen counter, right?

I’m also busy getting ready for Tuesday’s release of A Christmas for Katie. Tomorrow, this little book will be available for $1.99 as an ebook. Next Tuesday, it will be available as a paperback from various on-line retailers…with one exception!

On Saturday, December 1, at 1:00, I’ll be at the Barnes & Noble in West Chester, OH signing books! They’ve promised to have lots of copies of A Christmas for Katie, the paperback edition of Christmas in Sugarcreek, and some of my other titles. If you can make it, please come to the Cincinnati area! I’d love to see you!  If you can’t make the signing, but would like a signed book, you can call the store, I’ll sign copies, and then you can pick it up another time. Here is the store’s address:

 

The Streets of Westchester
9455 Civic Centre Blvd
West Chester, OH 45069
513-755-2258
 
For those of you who won copies of A Christmas for Katie and Christmas in Sugarcreek, I’m sending your copies out today! I spent a few hours yesterday addressing envelopes, signing books, and tying pretty ribbon around books!
 
Finally, I’m doing a little Blog Tour this week to promote A Christmas for Katie . Starting tomorrow, I’ll be telling you where you can find my blogs!
 
Happy Monday, and thank you for stopping by. I’m so grateful for you all. Shelley
 

Christmas Book Winners

Dear Readers,

Thank you so much for all of your sweet notes, thoughts, and prayers.  I’m afraid we didn’t get very good news this week about Suzy, but I did get some medicine for her, so she seems to be feeling better.  I guess God will help us to decide what to do next.

Now, here are the winners! Since we had over a 1000 entries, I couldn’t only draw ten names. We drew 13! If you are one of the lucky 13, please contact me privately with your mailing address, and who you’d like me to sign the books to.

Thank you all for making a very difficult week much better! 

OUR WINNERS

Madi Moye

Dede Buttram

Heidi Sammons Gregory

Theresa (who wrote a comment here on my website)

Mary Beth Tauer

Joy Joyner

Linda Morgan

Elizabeth Dent

Stacey Randolph

Elaine Spiers

Jodi Bromley

Katheryn Kusick

Mary Ellen

 

 

See You in Kentucky!

We're leaving bright and early tomorrow to drop off Suzy at her kennel, then make the 5 hour drive south to Paducah, KY. I can't wait to visit with the many people I've been chatting with online!

Here's the schedule for the next two days…if you live in the area, I hope you'll stop by to see me. My car is full of pens and totebags and chocolate and bookmarks. And Amish-made give-aways, too!  I'd love to meet you!

Friday, 2:00 pm McCracken County Library 555 Washington St. Paducah, KY 42003. 270-442-2510. Signing and Reading

Friday, 4:30-6:30 pm. New Life Christian Bookstore, 100 south 5th Street, Murray, KY 42071 270-753-1622. Booksigning!

Saturday, 11:00 am to 1:00 pm. Crittenden County Public Library, 204 West Carlisle Street, Marion, KY 42064,  270-965-3354  Booksigning and Reading.

If you live in Dayton, OH, I'll be at Books and Company on Tuesday night. More information to come about that.

Already I'm hearing from so many of you who've already started the new series! Thank you for picking up MISSING, and thank you so much for taking the time to tell me what you think!

Off to pack…

blessings,

Shelley

Book Launch Party Tomorrow!

I'll be speaking and signing copies of MISSING tomorrow evening at 7:00pm at Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Crestview Hills, KY
Do you live nearby? I'd love to meet you!
The link below gives all the information!
http://www.josephbeth.com/AdultEvents.aspx#.T2c2Jd-xuaI.aolmail

7-Up Chicken Recipe

Finally, the recipe! I hope you all enjoy it. I promise, it's worth the trouble!

Here is the recipe we followed. We cut it down from the original directions, which will feed over a 100 people! Basically, you soak chicken in 7-up overnight, then make the coating, and fry it like regular fried chicken, then pour cream of chicken soup over and bake. *about the two Amish ingredients-my only advice is to get them from an Amish bulk food store. I have no idea what you could use instead. You might try calling a place like the Walnut Creek Cheese Shop in Walnut Creek, OH and ask them to send you the ingredients.

Combine:

2 C Bisquick

1/2 C flour

2 T seasoned salt (like Lawry's)

1/2 t salt

1/4 t paprika

3/4 t lemon pepper

1 pound Emma Yoders Coating (found in bulk at Amish store)

1/2 pound Runion (found in bulk at Amish store)

7-up

eggs

milk

oil for frying

3 cans cream of chicken soup, 1 1/2 cans of milk to blend with

Directions:

1. cut up chicken breasts into small pieces. Combine with 7-up. Let soak overnight or at least 8 hours. (we put chicken in Zip lock bag, poured in two cans of soda, then put in refrigerator)

2) mix dry ingredients together (Bisquick to runion) This makes a bunch, so only use what you need, you can save some for a later date.

3) mix egg and milk in shallow bowl.

4) dip chicken into egg batter and dry ingredients, fry chicken in oil.

5) put chicken into baking dish.

6) Combine chicken soup and milk with whisk, pour over chicken.

7) Bake @ 350 for ~40 minutes.

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Ask The Author Today!

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All dressed up for our meeting!

Hi everyone! I'm back in my office! My husband repainted it and it looks great. All I need to do now is start putting everything back together.  But my big news today is that I'll be on Avon Romance's FB site today at noon. I'll be their author today for 'Ask The Author'. : ) It will be a live chat, so if you can make it, you can ask me any questions you might have about the books!

hope to see you there…

Shelley

Mission Accomplished!

 Tonight, we finally made 7-Up Chicken! As you can see, though we did our best to cut the portion in fourths, we still had too much for three people. My husband ended up calling friends, telling them to not cook-because Amish 7-Up Chicken was on its way! I'll be happy to share the recipe. I'm off to NYC tomorrow am, then will return on Thursday. But I'll post the recipe soon. Now, it's off to pack and do lots of dishes. It was worth it though…the dinner was great, and almost as good as we remembered it! [image error]

7-up Chicken Update

Some of you might remember my blog about my mission to make 7-up Chicken. Well, I still haven't made it, but tomorrow is the day! My Amish friend heard that I needed two ingredients and sent them to me! What a wonderful surprise!  So Tom and I are off to go buy Amish chicken from a local butcher (we're on a roll now!) and will be soaking the chicken overnight in 7-up.  Then, at long last, we'll be eating 7-up Chicken for Sunday supper. I'll take some photos and let y'all know how it turned out.

On another note-my office has Not been painted. Tom said he's going to paint while I'm in NYC. So, it's still a real mess.

And finally, the first chapter of MISSING is available on my Facebook page! If you're a FB user, please click on the Facebook Icon here on my website, and come take a peek at my newest release!

Off to go run errands…happy Saturday!

Shelley