America was Already Great

America was already great. We didn't need to be made great again. We are great in our people who contribute to food banks or help the people in their neighborhoods or on the street corner; in our people who work each day to keep society running well; and in our people who are not able to work (whether through disability or not finding employment they were educated or trained for), but who contribute at home through their love, and who sometimes bring a smile to others or lift a heart, all of whom are of great worth; and in our people who come from other countries and offer the work of their hands or minds to enrich us. We were already great.

 

 America was never perfect. In our past, we have devastated the Japanese by dropping bombs on their cities; we have abused the Chinese by rioting against them for being here, after they worked hard and risked their lives to build our railroads for us; we took the land from the people who lived here when we first came and have treated them unfairly ever since; we have brought slaves and, once we freed them, never, as a nation as a whole, quite treated them with equal respect. We have always had plenty of room to grow and become "greater".

 

 But in the past four years, we have - it might seem - become less great in some ways. We seem to have become less great as we separated children from their parents with no way to keep track of them and reunite them; as we sent troops to clear a peaceful protest for a presidential photo op; as we have sent federal troops in unidentified uniforms to quell protests by picking up people walking down the street, with no charges, and putting them into unmarked vans; and as we have reinstated the death penalty at the federal level after 17 years and even while we learn of all the people who have been falsely incarcerated for crimes they did not commit. I'm puzzled at the idea that America is any greater. 

 

 But we are still great as a people. We still, individually and in many groups, help others. We still do our work every day, whatever it may be, or if we are not able to work, we still love and are loved by our families. There will always be sin and there will always be sorrow. We can fight some - not all of that, but certainly some - and mostly we can fight it by our personal good works and by striving to be a nation that is greater in its care for all...from helping and protecting the mother who is expecting a precious child to helping and protecting, as much as is in our power, the elderly, the sick, and the dying.

 

 

My Masks for You

While writing has always been my passion, sewing has always been my hobby. Both began when I was as young as 10 or 11 years old. 

Shortly after I lost my job to the pandemic, I started sewing masks for my family and those closest to them.

After giving away many masks, I decided to start selling masks on Etsy.

I would love it if you would like to come check them out. If you are in the market, the price includes shipping by priority mail. Even if you are not in the market, I'd love to have you just come by and take a look. Sewn4UByMMM

Feel free to share the link with your friends and family if you'd like. 

Why Three Cookbooks and What are the Differences Between Them?

 At last, I have all three of my little cookbooks available for you in both Kindle and paperback formats. 

You might wonder: Why three and what are the differences between them?  

A Vintage Pantry Cookbook was born of my finding a little book of recipes my mom had given us one Christmas, and wanting to preserve them. Although my mom could cook just about anything well, these recipes of hers were primarily geared for cooking with inexpensive ingredients you can keep on hand. To further that concept, I decided to add simple quick breads which can be made without fresh milk and eggs. Later, I decided to create and add some simple crock pot soups, again, ones which could be made primarily from the pantry. When I lost my job to the 2020 pandemic - and some foods became harder to get - I finished the book and put it on Kindle in the hopes it might help people. And now I have finally put it in paperback also. I hope you might find it helpful. 

The 1-Button Rice Cooker Cookbook saved my budget and my sanity at a time when I was tired of cooking (and I wasn't comfortable in the little kitchen I had at the time either). We had only three of us at home to cook for, as most of our children had grown and moved on. I told my husband, "If we had lots of money, I would eat out every night." But I'm the frugal one, and I didn't really mean it (and we didn't have lots of money). So I started buying more convenience foods, and then I bought  a rice cooker so I could add flavorings without buying those rice packets. That's when the idea of rice cooker meals caught my attention on the internet. I got a Kindle book by Neal Bertrand, called Rice Cooker Meals, Fast Home Cooking for Busy People. I loved what he did with it, but it was Cajun cooking, and I'm a Westerner who grew up with a Midwestern mother.  So, I started adapting recipes we knew to the rice cooker, and my son Robert and I began creating more recipes, as well, mostly with rice or pasta, but a few others too. During this time, two new cookers came out, the instant pot and the fuzzy logic rice cooker (I still  haven't wrapped my head around that second one.). But people talked about the learning curve, and I still wanted something where I - and those friends who had asked me about easy cooking - could just pop the foods in and walk away, and come back to a meal a half hour or an hour later.  We still use the meals in this book several times a week. 

The Myers Family Cookbook was the first cookbook I wrote, and is somewhat of a basic teaching cookbook. It's not as comprehensive as Betty Crocker or Mark Bittman, but it takes the reader through steps for making a number of different dishes.You see, when I got married, I knew how to cook eggs and quesadillas, and make a salad, and not much else. When my mom got married, she didn't know how to cook very much, either. I decided I would break that chain, so I had my six children cook with me, as soon as they could safely stand on a chair. They have become better cooks than I am. This cookbook includes some family memories and a few of their creative recipes (although I think most of them, now, often cook without recipes, though they look on the internet for ideas).

I hope you might enjoy one or more of these books. All of them are available on Amazon. You can click the above book links or visit my Amazon Author Page. 

The Pursuit of Life and Health Isn't Always about Fear

When I first studied the Catholic Faith, I learned that the Ten Commandments were not just for Old Testament times, that they applied to our lives today, and not just in the most obvious ways. For example, the commandment, Thou Shalt Not Kill, didn't just refer to murder. We don't get off that easy. It also included anything which intentionally or knowingly could lead to a death or to injury of the health of others or ourselves.  

I read an article this morning where a woman said she has dealt with chronic illness, and this has prepared her to deal with the panic around Covid-19.  Without quoting, because my purpose isn't to get into an article battle, the impression I got from the article was that she felt we are destroying our health and the health of those around us by living in fear of the virus, and more specifically in fear of dying.

Let me say this. As someone with a strong faith in God and a strong trust in his mercy I am not afraid of death. Now, that is not to say that I have no fear about what manner of death I might face. Another thing I learned, a little later in my studies of the Catholic Faith, is that if God allows hard things to come to us, he will give us the graces when we need them, not necessarily before we need them. In other words, if we fear a certain type of death (I never could get on board with being eaten by lions), that doesn't mean we won't be able to deal with whatever actually does happen to us. I've learned not to dwell on the various ways I could die. But as someone whose son died, and I experienced how hard that was on all of us, I want to do all that I can to live, especially for the sake of my family and other loved ones.

But being cautious in a time of a highly contagious virus is not only about my own life and health, but also all those I come into contact with, as well. Although there are some people - on both sides of the thinking about this situation - who turn it into fear and anger, it isn't fear that drives me to be careful; it is love. When I decide to stay home, it is out of love for myself, yes, but also out of love for my family who wants me around.  When I decided to wear a mask wherever I go (unless it's outdoors in a wide open area), I made that decision out of love for myself, my family, and everyone I come in contact with. Not out of fear. Certainly not out of fear of death.

Yes, we do need to be careful that we don't let fear and anger destroy our health, as the author of the article pointed out. But that same caution – to not let fear and anger destroy our health - is needed on all sides of the issue. She pointed out stories of people who have gotten angry at people in the store for accidentally or minimally invading their boundaries. No, that is not healthy or charitable. Nor is it healthy or charitable when people get angry with a store employee because the store or the state requires a mask. Some people on all sides need to lay down their anger or at least ratchet it down a notch or two. 

So, yes, we do need to protect our mental health and that of those around us. We don't do that by panicking about an illness; but neither do we do that by panicking that the government might take away our rights by asking us to wear a mask until we get better control of an illness which has been highly contagious so far.