I am Mom to four grown children and three Labrador Retrievers, all of whom were successfully housebroken. I am an avid reader; hooked on Mad Men, The Newsroom, and any BBC serial; a fair cook and a confessed clean freak. I speak just enough French, German, Italian, and Spanish to perplex a native speaker. I have no past or current addictions to substance, unless Peanut M&M’s are included. My middle-class Ohio upbringing influenced my traits of self-reliance, initiative, persistence, and adaptability.