My house is in an uproar of sorts. I awoke yesterday at 5 a.m. (a horror that I will leave to your imagination), got ready, and motored down to New York City for my marvelous granddaughter Adeline's birthday, chocolate chip cookies in tow.

By the time I reached the Palisades Parkway, the sun had begun to rise in the sky. I met Adeline and her parents at her school and then we all celebrated her birthday in her classroom with her kindergarten classmates. Students are also sharing family traditions, so we shared the Democrat with them.

In these days of 24-hour TV and online news, I was impressed by how many of the children were familiar with the newspapers.

After our talk, the kids had fun going through the papers and looking for the sight words they had learned.

After a brief visit, I headed home, where I spent the rest of the afternoon taking a long nap. This was followed by dinner and an early bedtime.

All of which means I have a lot of cleaning up and putting together to do. Now that I'm alone, there is one person to get everything done, moi.

I'm not complaining. The kids are great. They help me out all the time. But for the day-to-day stuff, it's on me to figure it out and get ‘er done.

My dear late husband John was a wonderful help. He'd do laundry, shop for groceries, and iron, it was all part of the give-and-take of our marriage. And in addition, he handled all our finances. I never had to worry about them. Once in a while he would bring me into the bank to sign some papers for whatever he had determined would be best for us, but I never paid too much attention to our money matters. I'd ask sometimes, but I think he assumed that I understood all that he had done.

I'll admit that I was spoiled. Now it's all on me, and I'm still working it out. It's overwhelming at times to be responsible for everything that has to be done, but many women have done it before me, and I will figure it out as well, I know.

But when I came home yesterday afternoon and saw the state of my house, it hit me all over again. “What a dump!” as Bette Davis would say. There were dishes and laundry to do, magazines, books, and papers strewn across two tables, an unmade bed (my mother would flip!), and several projects “in medias res.”

Lots of little tasks have piled up around here and I guess today is the day I need to get working on them. To tell the truth, I'd much rather drive down to the city and hang out with Adeline, but this house isn't going to clean itself! How does that saying go, “If it is to be, it is up to me.” Truer words were never spoken.