To Liz from Kevan

 

When I was told that I had Liz for my person to honor with Christmas service this year, I thought, “I totally have this one.”  Liz loves music.  So do I.  I had a whole year where I could find opportunities to sing in a choir, write a song, even stomach listening to Barbara Streisand sing and act in Yentel if necessary.  I had this one.

 Even though I did go outside my comfort zone and sing a solo at Clarke’s funeral and had that followed by our Bishop requesting me to sing a solo as part of the Easter program in our ward, my opportunities to serve Liz this year seemed to go beyond just making myself sound silly singing in public.

In our home, we have a room that we mostly use for guests to stay in.  Of course, being from Las Vegas, the Kirkby family has used this room from time to time.  However, this last year became the year of more regular visits. 

One hot summer day, Liz came to me with a wish list for the guest room.  The plug in the bathroom tub was broken, there was no AC in the basement, so a ceiling fan would be very nice, and a screen door would be helpful to leave the door open without letting flies in.

Contrary to what some might believe, handyman is not my strong suit.  I am much better at fixing human bodies than I ever am at fixing homes.  I was not taught in my youth the finer arts of power tools and eyeing plumb lines.  Instead, I have basically learned project by project, often with significant help and instruction from others.

Repairing plumbing on a bathtub would definitely be a first.  Although I had done it once before, installing a ceiling fan correctly was going to require some real research and effort.  I had just put one into an existing fixture in our Stansbury home, but it was wobbly and definitely not put into a fixture built for it.  Doing this right would require tearing out the old fixture, rewiring and installing a reinforced fixture.  In short, this was not going to be easy.    

The bathtub drain was broken when we bought the house.  None of the previous owners had been able to repair it either.  It was obviously broken from a blunt trauma of some sort and did not fit the typical, “take it out and put a new one in” approach.  Just getting the broken part out was going to take some real creativity.  With the help of several Youtube videos and a few trips to Home Depot…..success!  The old, broken drain plug was out and a new one was in.

As for the ceiling fan, the old fixture had to be essentially chipped out with hammer and chisel.  A new reinforcing bar and attached fixture were installed, and the electrical work was done to match.  The fan was then assembled and installed, requiring some key tweaking to make it perfectly level and whisper quiet.  In all, it required a couple of days to be completely installed.

I fell short on the last item on the wish list, a screen door.  Not easy to find a screen door that matches abnormally sized doors.  However, I did install an electronic deadbolt instead.  This allows for easy entry when needed and also the ability to lock the room when people are out of the room.

 

 

Now that you are moving to Utah, it is likely that others will enjoy your wish list for the guest room even more than you.  But they can know their comfort is in honor of you.  Merry Christmas Liz!