Painting - it's the new black

So the house is slowly getting there...very slowly in fact.....I have done the hallway and 99% done the office. What was awesome about the office was that once I did the wooden trim, I pulled the masking tape off the wall and took heaps of brand new paint with it! I swore lots!
Have started on the spare room which is going to be bright red, or Resene Hot Chile if you're interested. We did one coat on Saturday and it already looks super cool, but it's mega streaky. I'm hoping that another coat will even everything out.
Poor old Basil doesn't know what's going on, what with me screaming at him every time he goes near the freshly painted wall, and him having to tip-toe daintily over piles of brushes, plastic drop sheets and open paint tins.
Speaking of Baz he's been in the wars lately. We were having a lovely snooze last night when I heard a scritching at the cat door. Hm Basil's coming in I thought. Then I felt him leap off the bed and go a-chasing. That's right, the neighbourhood cats have discovered that there's bikkies on tap at Amy's house, and have started using the cat door like it's their own. Now Basil is not, at the best of times, a Tough Cat, but he's obviously been holding his own. He has a big gouge out of his face above his eye, and I can feel healing scabs all over his back. It makes me feel sad that I can't protect him. I rinsed out his face with warm salty water which he loved and yesterday he even lay on me while I watched telly, which he NEVER does. So hopefully he'll heal quickly and be happy again. If I ever catch the cat that did that to him it will be getting a big kick up the bum, but so far, I haven't seen any hanging around the house.
But anyway. More painting to do this week - will finish the spare room - what's gross about red paint is that is seriously looks like congealed blood. Thankfully all my other colours are pretty neutral. I can't wait till it's all done.
In other news we had Amelie's first birthday party the other weekend. The littlest one was happy to show off her new mad walking skillz - she did 7 steps! And I did lots of cooking. It was a lunch and lots of people were coming and going, so we just had rolls and cold cuts. I got the most awesome cube roll of beef from the butcher and seared it, then cooked it at 170 for about 75 minutes. I poured over melted honey, mustard and garlic with a little red wine and it was perfect for the buns. Amelie even ate some which pleased her Mum, who stresses out a fair bit that she doesn't get enough iron. What have some of you out there done to make sure your toddler gets their iron needs?
Moving right along, our trip to Fiji is only 19 days away. I have been sunbedding and exfoliating, because the last time we went on a family holiday somewhere hot (Malaysia) I got totally fried on the first day and looked like I'd run away from an institute for serious and contagious skin diseases. It made for really pretty photos.
Oh yes, I watched Running with Scissors in the weekend, which I have been meaning to see for ages, since Augusten is one of my heroes. His new book is out, and I read the chapter extract which is so horrible I almost dithered whether to buy it or not. But I know that I will, but maybe not for holiday reading. I think for that I'm going to get Dooce's book (no need to link!!) or AJ Jacobs, the Year of Living Biblically. I just finished his "The Know It All" and it was perfect. He's now my friend on Facebook.
Forgot to say that R with S was not that great with Gwyneth Paltrow absolutely fucking awful in the role, Annette Bening however was wonderful. Of course, nothing is ever better than the book, notable exception The Notebook.
Finally to the weather, you Northerners will be happy to know that it was farking freezing here in the weekend and there is now snow on the hills. I wore my jacket to work for the first time today and had the heater on all day yesterday. Summer - it's been great. Please return early like you did last year. Thanks.