This morning, the “cat” went on a visa run to Lao. That means that we mice have until Friday to do whatever we want to do!  So, this morning, at 10:00, I told the boys that I would like a new floor with more supports in the places where we were falling through. They got right to work with enthusiasm and  at 11:30a.m., it was finished! PLUS, they had the major footwork done for the new boy’s room out the back of the house. (they had been sleeping in the living room)

Then, as they were admiring their work, I thought of a little problem. We always hang the hammock across the corner of the living room where their doorway is now going to be. What to do…. Well, we could make another addition to the living room! So, I pulled the 3 boys over to the railing, and showed them in many demonstrations just what I had in mind. They looked puzzled for only a moment, then my antics began to sink in. You want to swing in a hammock right here? Yes, they got it! So, they immediately tore out the railing.

In America if I want a new addition to my house, we talk about it a lot, then we draw it all out, and then we save money for a long time, and a year or two later, I have my addition. But here, I say it, and it is started within seconds! It does not cost any money for most of the work, and it is just a matter of going to the jungle and getting the things that you need. (the only thing that I have to buy is some grass for the roof) Now yes, it will get eaten by bugs within a year or so, and we will have to do it all over again, but by then I hope to have the real dorm built.

Hannah and Meme are very excited about all the construction. Hannah had to try her hand at balancing on a board as she tried to negotiate the living room without the flooring. She is very brave! Meme took the opportunity to clean up all the things that had fallen through the cracks onto the ground beneath the house. Right now she is using a machete to make a point on a piece of bamboo to use in our new addition.  This seems like a really strange thing for me to let an 8 year old do, but over here it is so normal to see little kids wielding huge knives that I seldom even think twice about it anymore. I have never seen them cut themselves once.

This is one way to do major fall housecleaning! You don’t like the floor? Get a new one! You want a new room? Put it right over there, no problem! As you can see, we mice are having the time of our lives, and we are hoping that our cat will be happily surprised when he gets home.