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Which task shows the importance of 'homekeeping' best?

I think cleaning windows. I'm a fanatic about clean windows. I want to see outside. I don't want to have to look through a tiny little bit of grunge to see the outside from inside. Plus I think clean, sparkling windows make a room much more beautiful. If you have a storm window, you have to learn to clean the storm windows and the screens and the windows to make sure that you have the view. You also want your windows to work, so you have to take care of the workings of the window and the same thing with dirty fingerprints on the walls. What can you do to make sure you don't have to look at that or live with that? How can you take care of those things? Little kids, you're always -- and I'm saying all this stuff, but if you do have children, maybe you can just change your approach to homekeeping so that you can sort of protect things a little bit and enjoy your kids and not worry about a little bit of clutter or mess. Homekeeping's about getting rid of the dirt.

What about childproofing?

I think three kids could come in my house right now from baby to age 5 and not do any damage. First of all, you can also instruct children and you can get children to behave a little better than a lot of children behave these days. Really, I really think that children like boundaries. They like to know what they can and cannot do and they like to -- you know, you can't pull the cat's tail if you don't want the cat to swipe you. And they respect it. I mean I love it when children pay attention and -- like one of my little friends watched me feed the cats. If there are ants that tend to congregate around the cat food, you put the cat food dishes in little saucers of water, and I remember the little girl going home and doing the same thing for her cat. It's a great tip because no ants are going to go up into the water and drown, so if one does it and that's it, they learned. So the little girl went home and did it, and her mother said, "Where in the heck did you learn that?" and she said, "Oh, Martha Stewart," so it was great. They love that kind of stuff. Children love solutions.

What is your favorite chore? Your least favorite?

Well, as I said, I like to wash windows, I love to vacuum. I like pretty much everything. I love to scrub countertops. I?m a multitasker. The more you can learn to multitask, the easier everything is. Hmmm, my least favorite? I don't know, maybe drying dishes. I don't like drying dishes.

Did you learn anything about homekeeping when you were in prison?

Well, yeah. I had never used a carpet shampooer before and there were lots of carpets that I had to shampoo, so I used that shampooer which worked really well. I was surprised. It worked really, really well. You know, the wet and dry one? Where you add water to it and it really scrubs the rugs? I was very pleased with my work there. I thought that was great -- buffing linoleum floors and getting them all nice and shiny. I did that. Let's see what else did I do down there? Just vacuuming and sweeping was more general -- and dusting. But I loved the shampooer. I thought that was great.

Is your car as clean as your home?

My car is absolutely [clean] -- it's even more essential because I kind of live in my car. I'm in the car right now and I'm going from New York up to Westchester and my car has to be impeccable, has to be, because I have to sit in it in good clothes and I don't want crumbs on the seat and I don't want dog hair to get on my beautiful coat and I don't want the windows -- and again, clean windows. They have to be clean. How else are you going to improve your visibility? It's just the same.