This morning Husband and I were asked to help clean our church building.
I took the task of vacuuming the classrooms. Easy Peasy…that is until I locked myself in one of the PRIMARY rooms.
To my defense, the door knob had been knocked off (so I could see out the little hole). I tried maneuvering the little metal latch because the door wouldn’t open. In the process of doing so, I LOCKED the door. Now it was impossible to get out.
So what did I do? Did I scream for help through the little peep hole? OF COURSE NOT. I Macgyvered it.
I noticed the window in the classroom didn’t have a screen. Please picture the following in your mind. So I opened the window and found myself surrounded by shrubbery. I lifted the over-sized vacuum out the window at an angle where I missed the bushes and then proceeded to throw myself out the window…literally. I then pushed the vacuum on the sidewalk around the ENTIRE church building in the RAIN until I found an unlocked door.
I went to find Husband who was using a freaking Zamboney to vaccuum the gym. We laughed hysterically and then proceeded to the classroom. Within 1 minute Husband had the door unlocked. Maybe I should’ve just shouted for help in the first place.

4 responses so far ↓
1 Dan Cramer // Jan 24, 2009 at 1:45 pm
This is classic. Especially since I was just listening to This American Life last night and the point was there aren’t that many situations that really call for a MacGyver type solution. Shows what they know.
And Macgyvered is a great word.
2 Eric Chambers // Jan 24, 2009 at 2:49 pm
Wow. Amazing Story. I miss you guys! If I am ever in Ok City I’ll come see you
3 Ashton Winder // Jan 28, 2009 at 2:38 pm
Elizabeth! I totally love reading your blog and thinking about all the things I need to do once we get to North Carolina. Hopefully we’ll get there before you guys leave and you can show us around a little bit! Hope you’re doing great!
-Ashton
4 Brad // Feb 7, 2009 at 2:29 pm
You Macgyvered it. Murdock is shaking in his boots.
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