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Progress. Honest.

They are saying goodbye in their own way. Playing outlawed tunes on outlawed pipes.

They may take our lives, but they'll never take... OUR FREEDOM!

The builders decided yesterday was Talk Like Braveheart Day. All day. It didn't get on my nerves or anything.

Progress has been huge this week, which is good as I was suffering a major sense of humor failure and not handling things well. It started Monday when The Cowboy popped his head in and told us to move the babies' things out of the nursery fast, as the men were coming through the window.

They weren't kidding.

Luckily the babies were at nursery, as otherwise I doubt they'd be impressed by the new bunk bed system we'd temporarily devised in the hallway where the naughty baby, they'd get the lower bunk.

The window was merely bricked up, as the nursery will shortly become two bathrooms (which will - under no circumstances - be painted this orange color. No more psychadelic orange. Ever.)

The babies' things have been moved back in the nursery now, and they have a nightlight on during the night as the place has no windows, and is darker than night. I have asked The Cowboy for more notice when he's coming in, but I'm stressed to bits about moving things around the house in time for their sledgehammers.

So you might've seen me taking things into my own hands yesterday.

It felt good, because I felt we were stagnating. But within one day, everything's changed. The rains came so the roof had to wait, and instead the builders went about mass demolition, at once changing the shape of the house.

This is where we had a sort of study and the baby toys, now about to become the dining room.

And this is the former lounge, now about to become a kitchen within the next few weeks.

The wooden slats are the floor joists for the new bedroom going upstairs. The tarp covers the ceiling, but a real ceiling is going in next week, as the electrics are going in tomorrow, the gas is being run in today, and the walls and ceiling get plastered next week. This means Steve, the cabinets, the sink, the vent, and more can be moved out of the study and into their new home.

Yesterday, the roof started to go up, which pleases me immensely.

And once they tore down the walls of our old kitchen, the new living room suddenly appeared.

The blocks I'm looking at here form the wall of what will be - behind the wall - a utility room and a wet room (a toilet, sink, and shower without walls, it'll all be tiled so the floor drains out the water).

The kitchen, dining room, and living room all are basically one big room in an L-shape, which we hope brings a sense of light and space. This is the view to what was the back of the living room, now about to be the dining room.

We love that it's one big space.

Everywhere you see holes, there are giant glass doors or giant super-size windows to help bring in more light.

It's hard to see how this will turn out, I know. But at least for the first time we have a feeling of where we're going. This is a good thing, especially since any day now they're going to do Talk Like Inspector Clouseau Day, and then I'll need a stiff drink and my sense of humor.

And now if you'll excuse me, we're off to take babies to swimming lessons while the builders burn the remains ouf our windows and skirting boards in a bonfire in the front garden. We're hoping there'll be a house to come home to, because if there's anything more frightening than a bunch of rowdy builders, it's a bunch of rowdy builders playing with fire (Ralph and Piggy, anyone?).

-H.