Not the girl next door...

We've had medical emergencies over the weekend; my mom's been in the ICU since Wednesday night with viral pneumonia/influenza and a possible heart attack. So the weekend mostly involved a lot of driving across the rivers to visit her. So in order to catch up, you get a Three for One post today.

Sunday's family story:

When M had his heart attack almost two years ago, my mom came to stay with me. It was good to have the company, but given her mobility issues, it made the logistics of getting back and forth to the hospital a bit difficult. My big, burly Maine Coon cat (who hates all other living creatures other than me) didn't even wait for her to get in the house before he ran downstairs to hide.

After three days and nights, I guess he got desperate enough for cuddles that he decided to brave the upstairs filled with interlopers (all one of them). I told Mom if she didn't talk to him and didn't look at him, he might come closer. He not only came closer, he even let me pick him up and put him between us on the couch. Mom and I just kept watching TV and trying to wind down enough to sleep for a few hours. Eventually, he even let her scratch his head. It was the first time since we got him twelve years ago that he voluntarily let someone other than me or Michael touch him. Maybe he knew that I needed the cuddle that night even more than he did.

Monday Review:

Between work and Mom, we're just happy everyone's still here and the house is still standing. Deadlines got met, I got to take off my first Martin Luther King Day since high school, and I taught a friend how to spin on her Christmas wheel.

This week is another filled with work deadlines, crappy weather and calls to check on Mom. I'm setting my sights low; I'd like to get in a 20-minute walk twice this week, get the litterboxes cleaned most nights, and either blog or Tweet once a day. And if I can fit a little spinning and reading in there, I'll be happy.

Ten on Tuesday:

This week, Carole has Ten Favorite Games From Your Childhood. I had to think hard about this; I didn't have other kids to play games with most of the time when I was young. I had a lot of Barbies and a good imagination instead.

1. Jacks. In grade school, there was always a new popular game each year. This was the popular game in third grade.
2. Simon. I didn't have my own game, but one of my friends did. All the lights and beeps -- it was like Close Encounter of the Third Kind in your living room.
3. Uno. Our family could play this for hours.
4. Pitfall, the old Atari version.
5. Chinese Checkers.
6. Clue, when there were enough people around to make it worthwhile.
7. Solitaire. I was an only child until I was fifteen.
8. The Pole Position game at Pantera's Pizza. Our parents sunk a tidy sum of quarters every Saturday night to get me and John away from the table so the grownups could talk while we played. The only other choice was Galaga, which  just wasn't as much fun.
9. Life or Monopoly. Again, a lot more fun if you had at least three people.
10. Rummy, Gin or regular.

Wow, on the surface I had a pretty boring childhood. I had to stretch to get ten.