Deirdre Geraghty

I went to craft group and the three of us each made a dream catcher. It was quite tricky but I was very pleased with mine. I brought it home and just wanted to tweak it and then hang it in the window. I left it on the coffee table. Sometime later l came back to it. The cats had completely wrecked it. It must have been the feathers.

I rang Samsung Saturday and told them that my washing machine was still playing up and I had managed to do the calibrated run and the young man asked if I had unplugged the machine for at least 15 minutes. I hadn’t timed it but had turned it off and on when told by another Samsung employee. He said someone would call and make appointment to visit. Sunday morning I unplugged it again and this time I timed it. Did another wash and it works perfectly. So I rang them back and told them. I am so delighted with my Samsung washing machine.

Chani, my cleaner, who usually comes on a weekday, came on Saturday. She did her work in a different order so that we could put the bedding in the washing machine for a trial run as it has been playing up. When she had finished her work she sat down with me and got Skype up and running so I could chat with my sister Erin who requested l be her Skype friend. I wrote down what we did and tried it on my own. Great stuff!

Yesterday I went to have my hair cut. I was booked in for the day before but had to postpone. It was a really dark and miserable day so I wore my new parka. Having my tatty hair trimmed makes such a big difference to my appearance so I should try to have it done more often.

Yesterday I had terrible tummy gripes so I would run to the loo and then nothing. This went on for several hours so I decided to have a cup of coffee. Then l had the proper runs which eventually got rid of the gripes. I had to cancel my hair appointment and went to bed with no dinner. I am still fragile this morning. Never mind!

Ever since the post office changed their policy so that they can now leave parcels and ‘signed for’ letters with a neighbour Lawrence the postman has been leaving them with me. I really don’t mind as I am home most of the time and it has meant that I am getting to know my neighbours. Some of them now say “hello” in the street – that is quite a change from before. I have lived here 26 years and only knew my next door neighbours.

It was a productive day yesterday. In the morning Janet the gardener came. It is always nice to see her and by the time she had finished my front and back gardens looked wonderful. All neat and tidy. And in the afternoon Mick the window cleaner came so my windows are sparkling clean. A good day!

My two shoulders are so painful. I don’t know if it’s my arthritis or the bursitis again and I really don’t want to go back to the doctor. I know l just need to do the exercises the physiotherapist showed me before and do them more often than at the moment. I need to be more organised.

Mary gave me 2 sachets of soft cat food but I needed to get more to get Molly through the next two weeks. I went to the corner shop on Saturday afternoon. As usual it was quite a trial. I had been back about an hour when I read the box and realised I would need more. So rather than going on Sunday l thought I would get it over with and go again on Saturday. So off l went – my legs wobbling – my back hurting – and quite out of breath. I took it a little bit at a time and was so relieved when I made it home. Such a little thing and yet so hard.

Mary and I went to pick up Molly last night at the vets. They only took out one tooth but she had several stitches. We got her home but she wouldn’t stop meowing. Every time I approached her she stopped for a minute then she would walk away and start again. She meowed for two hours. Eventually she sat on my knee and let me fuss her for over an hour when we settled down for the night. Phew!