Congresswoman puts her doodling to good use

The freshman member also opened up to the newspaper about her first few months in Congress. She admits “it’s a little weird” to deliver remarks on an often-empty House floor.

“Here, literally, nobody is paying attention on this floor at all.”

Frankel, 64, says her constituents sometimes think she’s living in the lap of luxury on Capitol Hill.

While recently running an errand at Home Depot back in her home state, Frankel recalls, “Somebody said to me, ‘Tell about all the ball gowns you’re wearing.’ ” The congresswoman adds, “She envisioned that every night I was out at some affair, with the jewels and gowns.”

In reality, the lawmaker is resting her head in Washington in an apartment she found on Craigslist.

She says she replied to the woman in Home Depot, “I hate to tell you, but you get home at 9 or 10 o’clock, and you haven’t eaten dinner, and there’s nothing in the refrigerator because I don’t live here. I broke down and bought a couple of microwave dinners to leave in the freezer.”

Says Frankel, “That’s not a complaint, it’s just how it is.”