How does Penny describe her mother in the memoir, My Mother Was Nuts?

Penny describes her mother as a modern woman, who had no interest in staying home and playing the little homemaker. She didn't care about family dinners, and she ate standing up in the kitchen while the kids ate wherever they wanted. She didn't want to be woken in the morning to take Penny to school so her older daughter, Ronny, had to teach Penny how to cross the busy street in front of their apartment building by herself.