#am Blogging #serenitysunday birdwatching craftong hummingbirds Vacation

Crafts, packing, and hummingbirds.

06/25/2017 by Cathy Brockman 4 Comments

It has been a crazy busy week for me. I have been gearing up for a trip to my dads in Hannibal Missouri. anyone going to be around in the next couple weeks let me know we can meet at the coffee shop! I have been making some cups for him and my brother and it took all week as I am not skilled on my cutting machine yet.

These are for dad I got him a lovely Medusa pepper plane to go in the pot I made. He has been looking for the plant for a while. I found it and have been growing it for a month. Its looking lovely.

This is my Brother’s

I also made these labels and decorated Canisters for my son and his wife while we were learning. The canisters are recycled Folgers containers. They came into good use.

At least I get to sit at the table and look out into the rose garden this Rose Of Sharon tree has been a great source of enjoyment all spring and summer. This spring I had cardinals and Blue jays peering in, Crazy bird chasing my cats now the hummingbirds busily buzzing about. (I tried to get a picture of the hummingbirds but I didn’t manage that.)

Now off to finish packing! I hope you have a great Holiday and I will try to post some photos while at dads. See ya soon!

Filed Under: #am Blogging, #serenitysunday, birdwatching, craftong, hummingbirds, Vacation Tagged With: crafts, Serenity Sunday, vacation

Romance~ take me away #MFRWauthor #blog challenge #books #TBR

06/23/2017 by Cathy Brockman 8 Comments

Welcome back to the MFRW52week blog challenge week 25. This weeks topic is favorite books to read. This is an easy post for me as I read voraciously. Not many nights go by I don’t read. That is how I wind down. I grab my kindle curl up in bed and read till i can’t keep my eyes open~~~or if its one of those page turners until the book ends LOL!

I may have gotten overly zealous when I chose my goals for the Goodreads yearly challenge. I chose 250 books. I am at 104. It says I am 11 books behind schedule. I mostly read books close to 200 or more pages so I need to get busy!

My favorite genre is romance. I like a good escapism and I like almost any type of romance. If I see a cowboy hat on the cover more than likely that’s a click for me. If its a M/M cowboy book even better.

I also like firemen and military men as well. May?December books are a one click for me too. I love to see older couples too. I love Vampires and shifters. I also like a good paranormal suspense or mystery. I like cute Cozies.

My preferences tend to change but right now I am leaning towards mostly MM but I do read M/F as well. I guess you could say it depends on my mood.

SO you see I read almost anything romance. I do prefer nothing overly, erotic though I don’t mind spice. I also like an ugly cry once in a while and a good humor is always welcome. The Daddy and Stepbrother books all a rage right now don’t do it for me and the millionaire books I can take or leave… mostly leave.

Since I review I stay very busy and my weekly reading list is so full I barely make time for all the books I buy. It’s a busy job but hey someone has to do it right? What could be more fun than reading every day?

What are your favorite books to read? Let’s go see what the other Authors like to read.

1. Romance~ Take my breath away	2. What’s on Your Shelf?
3. A Reading Writer MJ	4. Dog-Eared Romance Books – Robin Michaela
5. Raine Balkera Author	6. My Dusty Bookshelves
7. Happily Ever After Isn’t Just For Fairytale Divas	8. Valerie Ullmer
9. Books are my thing	10. Ready. Set. Read
11. Magic & Romance & Sarcastic Wit-These are a Few of	12. A Book is Like An Old Friend
13. Over and Over and Over	14. My Keeper Shelf
15. H Henderson – reading, read, read again

Filed Under: #‎adult‬ ‪, #am Blogging, #amreading, #‎kindle‬‪‬‪‬‪, #MFRW_ORG, #MFRWauthor, #‎romance‬, Books I read, Friday blog Tagged With: #MFRW_Org, #MFRWauthor, Blog Challenge, Books I read, MFWR

What Would My Last Meal be? #MFRWauthor #lastmeal #friedchicken

06/16/2017 by Cathy Brockman 13 Comments

Welcome to week 24 of the MFRW authors blog challenge. Whew what a mouthful! This weeks topic is If I Could Eat One Last Meal. I don’t know about you but this one seems a little morbid to me. LOL. I mean what do you think when you think of choose your last meal? I think of death row or the end of times, or your death bed. Why else would you have to choose your last meal? But then again this question is on so many interviews or top lists. I didn’t sit and think long. I took the first meal that hit my head which is my favorite. Fried Chicken, Mashed potatoes, gravy, biscuits, sliced tomatoes, cucumbers ( only if these two are in season) onions and a slab of chocolate cake. You notice I didn’t choose any veggies. It’s all carb loaded, full of fat and totally southern LOL!

Sure I could have picked something like an expensive steak or Lobster which would be nice but to be honest, second choice would be catfish, fries, and hushpuppies. Still a fried meal. Oh yeah that chocolate cake or peach cobbler!

I am just a simple girl and if you’ve read these posts you will notice I have chosen or mentioned this meal a few times. It is my favorite. Its my comfort. It is home. So yeah my last meal would simply be the Fried Chicken meal but please let’s make it home made and not a chain restaurant! I like mine quite simple. The way my mom taught me. If you eat it too much it is probably a heart attack waiting to happen but if its your last meal..who cares?

Here is my recipe.

1 whole chicken or 4 leg quarters ( to feed 4 people)

1 cup buttermilk

all ingredients are estimated as I haven’t measured in years I just mix and add more if needed.

Flour 1/2 cup ( maybe more)

2 eggs

salt (1 TBSP)

Pepper ( 1 TBSP)

Garlic powder ( 1 TBSP)

Italian seasoning ( 1 TBSP)

Heavy pan with oil. ( I use Canola)

Wash chicken pat dry. salt pepper both sides. Arrange in single layer in a bag or pan with butter milk. let sit over night or at least a few hours. Turn at least once. Put flour and seasoning in a shallow pan. Break eggs into another and beat. Heat oil til hot. dip chicken into flour, egg back in flour then place into oil. fry one side until brown, turn. fry in batches. Drain on paper towels. You can skip the buttermilk for a different variation.

What would your last meal be? Let’s go see what the other bloggers chose?

1. What would my Last Meal be?	2. Coloring Outside of the Lines MJ McCoy-Dressel
3. Robin Michaela – Dark Chocolate and Asparagus?	4. Boring Food?
5. Why Must I Choose?	6. I’ll Have a Little of This and a Side of That
7. Pasta. . . . Steak. . . . . Chicken. . . . How Can I Choose?	8. If It’s My Last Meal an Imposter Tomato Won’t Do
9. That One Last Meal	10. Whatever takes forver to cook
11. How many courses it too much?	12. Death by Chocolate (Linda McLaughlin)

Filed Under: #am Blogging, #amcooking, #amwaiting, #foodiefriday, #Friday, #MFRW_ORG, #MFRWauthor, #Monday Blogs, last meal Tagged With: #MFRW_Org, #MFRWauthor, fried chicken, Last meal, MFRWauthor blog challenge

One word down Ahahaha #MFRWauthor #wordcount #blog

06/09/2017 by Cathy Brockman 15 Comments

Welcome back to week 23 of the 52 week blog challenge. (Say that three times real fast LOL) If you wonder what this is you can get details here. This weeks topic is Word Counts Matter…How Much? How Often? This one I am very anxious to see what the more experience writers say. I think I may be the only one without a book out (unless you count my children’s book). I will admit that the only manuscripts I have finished or nearly finished are the 4 I have done in the November NaNo competitions. In November a bunch of us set goals to write a 50k manuscript in 30 days. That is 1667 words a day for 30 days. I have managed all but one year that I have done this. So I guess that means it does work for me. The issue is the quality of the words are so bad it takes me half a year to clean it up. After one rewrite I tend to file the project away and there they sit. I tried setting the goal of 2000 words a day which I know is very doable since I did between 1600 and 2000 every November. For some reason I tend to sit and stare ate the word counter. I feel like the count on Sesame Street.

One word. Ah HA ha ha! 50 words Ah ha ha ha!

I’ve set smaller goals still doesn’t work for me. I feel so overwhelmed. Then if I don’t make my word count I get upset with myself. I have even sunk into depression over it. I have one of those personalities LOL. I found that it is best for me to eat the Elephant differently. Sprints work for me. Telling myself to sit at the computer and write on that manuscript everyday whether it is 1 hour or 5 minutes. Right now I am getting back in my saddle from a long period of depression and being overwhelmed. It is better I don’t set big goals or deadlines at this time. I need to get back into the daily habit of writing at all. This blog challenge has helped alot. I know once a week I have to sit down and type. I have no word goals. I write as little or lot as I need.

I do envy the authors that can sit and write 3000 or more words a day. Or write a manuscript in 30 days get a book out in about 90. I hope someday that will be me too. I have a few more things n my life to take care of but soon I hope to get back to daily writing.. I am going to start with an hour and as many words as I can fit in that hour. If I am still going after that good for me. I do plan to do NaNo again this November so that will be a definite 50k in 30 days.

How many words do you write a day? What is your method? Any suggestions for me?

Let’s go see how the other authors handle word count.

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1. Ed Hoornaert – Keep that Nose to the Keyboard	2. Robin Michaela – Do Word Counts Matter?
3. Word by Word #amwriting	4. Shari Elder – Word Counts Don’t Matter
5. Meka James – Keeping Count	6. Kenzie Michaels – Reality vs Ideal
7. Whoa, That’s A Long Book!	8. Why Do Writers Have to Do Math?
9. Too Many Words? Too Few?	10. How Many Words?
11. Gemma Snow – We’ll Be Countin’ Words	12. One word down. . . Ahahaha Cathy Writes Romance
13. Helen Henderson – I’m Not Counting	14. I’m a word banker. . .