My gosh, but my TO DO list is growing. That wasn’t the intention … I was supposed to be ticking more off than I add. But I have added another 31 things to my list in the last week. But, the good news is, I have managed to tick off a few too.

Tim suggested that I priorise the ‘Buy an interview outfit’ item. I was dreading that one. I guess most people think it must be fun to be ordered out shopping, but I think that is the worst sort of shopping ever: when you need to buy something specific. Browsing and doing oppotunistic shopping – now that is fun. But buying an interview outfit was not fun at all. I took myself off to the Trafford Centre on Friday – surely I would find something suitable in a shopping centre that represents almost every high street shop. Wrong! When the skirt fits, there is no jacket in my size, when the jacket fits, the skirt looks terrible: too long, too short, too frumpy. The lady at John Lewis, after I returned to the dressing room for the third time said, “you’re not having much joy today, are you?”. I think that is called: stating the obvious. Finally, I managed to buy a simple skirt at Zara. Not perfect, but I think I could make it work.

It is a real problem when the last places I have worked at haven’t had a full corporate dress policy. I have been able to wear slightly more casual clothes to work. I hate corporate clothes. I hate the way it makes everyone look so monotonous and devoid of personality…

Luckily on Saturday, I found the perfect outfit in Manchester: linen dress and jacket. I spent far more money than I had hoped, but at least it was a little more versatile. I think I would wear it more. Well, if it helps me secure a job, then it was worth it!

But that was the only thing that went right on Saturday. Tim had booked us some theatre tickets for Saturday afternoon. Only afterwards did he realise that it was FA Cup Final day and Joe was playing – we do like watching Joe … But, off to the Theatre we went to watch a show called “5@50”. At the interval we both realised we were hating it … so we decided to sneak off. It did feel like we were bunking off school. We decided to go and have Sushi instead. Yo Sushi had moved from Selfridges Exchange Square to a bigger, better spot in the Arndale Centre. But the service was terrible. After our orders not arriving, re-ordering and them still not arriving, we decided to leave. We needed a pick-me-up. What better than a coffee and a cake? That rounded it off perfectly.

Today, I had a go at the list again. The most important items were gardening related. We have gardeners that are supposed to look after our garden on behalf of the building, but they don’t seem to be very good. It means we have to muck in if we want to keep our plants alive. We planted some laurels a few years ago, and these poor things have struggled from day one. But recently they have been looking very unhappy. I was going to provide all the TLC they need. But, I must admit it is the blind leading the blind when it comes to the garden. I don’t think the gardeners know much (they are labourers rather than real gardeners), Tiff (neighbour) and I try, but we don’t know too much about gardening either.

But today saw me turning over soil, digging in compost, adding Miracle Grow liquid and talking to my plants every so sternly. Alan Titchmarsh says, you should always tell your plants to “grow bugger grow”, and he should know! The other problem we have is that some plants just don’t get any water, even when it rains. This meant I was watering the garden in the rain today! Neighbours must have thought I was nuts.

Random other completed items:
– Arranged to meet up with my cousins
– Sent off 8mm film to be converted to DVD
– Took photos of the garden so that I can make a plan and list for the gardeners
– I set up and figured out how to print from the iPad
– Send my Nasi Goreng recipe to those who asked for it
– Ordered scalable wine racks
– Bought a keyboard and stand for the iPad
– Organised a surprise for a friend
– Sorted out all the pens & made a parcel of pens for parents who never have pens at theirs!
– Cleaned the catflap
– Bought tomato growbags (okay, Tim did this one)
– Ordered tomato growpots for growbags.
– Remembered to put re-usable bags in my car
– Cancelled the Ocado order
– Bought new teal stockings as mine laddered
– Bought an interview outfit, including shoes!

My list currently stands at 181 items. Tomorrow I have the whole day dedicated to getting things done. I shall start with my early morning walk, weather permitting.