work is like angry birds

Sometime in the night, I realized that I was addicted to thinking about work in the same way I get addicted to ridiculous electronic games.  Long after I quit playing them, I continue to work through scenarios to solve the puzzle or problem, shifting Tetris pieces, clicking Mah Jong tiles, throwing Angry Birds.  It annoys me no less when I do this with work than when I do it with electronic games.  As I'm falling asleep or when I wake up in the night, I'm making electronic maps, or re-tooling a discussion point, or re-writing a paragraph over again.
Knowing that I'm doing it only helps slightly to derail the review of the puzzle, program, annoying issue, annoying electronic game.   I was previously convinced that the designers had created the games in such a way as to force them to stick in my craw.  Now I'm thinking that I just have an amazingly tight craw and that's why things stick in it.
Is this boredom or some deeper psychological problem?  Maybe you shouldn't answer that.

Taking care of Mom

My mother died in August. We raced halfway across the country with our two new puppies for fear she would die in less than 48 hours. This isn't about that, except she didn't die for eleven days. We brought her home to my sister's home to take care of her as she slowly faded.
The process was not easy for her. I think there was pain as she couldn't eat and her organs started to shut down. She couldn't even really swallow liquids. Although she asked for beer (never drankurea in real life), and ice cream, wine (never saw her drink that before either), and whiskey (she would very occasionally sip that). We couldn't give her anything of substance -- of course, if she could take substantial food that would have been different. This isn't about that either.
This is to say that the experience for our very large family was amazing. We pulled together to support each other and to care for her. Nobody demanded anything. People understood when one sibling or another had a moment of hysteria, wondering if we were doing everything we could or should. Taking care of her was stressful, yes, but also it felt so right and true.
Perhaps not everyone would give this same account, but this is my perspective. Is this what closure feels like? I never knew.

Average day

Tuesday. Wake up early. Fail at falling back to sleep. Let the puppies out. Feed the cat. Feed the puppies. Feed D1. Shower. Feed D2. Go to work. Go home. Escort flooring estimator around the house, despite knowing we can't afford that much hardwood. Flooring estimator says, "no interest for one year." Still don't know if we should commit to it. We have the cheapest hardwood floor one can buy around here, but installing it throughout the upstairs will likely run in the $8000 range. We'll see when the estimate arrives tomorrow. After, waste 20 minutes looking for entertainment on YouTube. Pick up D1 from tennis. Start dinner. Get chicken and dumplings in the oven. Buy milk. Pick up D2 from soccer. Eat.
Another exciting day when my lower back hurts, I wonder how I can do everything better, and take it all too seriously.