My Husband To Be...

...is amazing.  I just have to brag on him a minute.

When we bought our Volvo in Hawaii back in June or July (can't remember), we bought it for very cheap.  We aren't the type of people that want to have debt or car payments to look forward to every month (we like to keep our paychecks in our pockets) so we bought something REALLY cheap.  The car was actually in VERY good condition for the price, but it had a few issues that we have had to address or will have to address.  I am AWFUL at car care.  I know how to add fluids and check fluids and that is pretty much where my car knowledge ends. 

The first very impressive thing that Levus did was change the oil in our car.  After seeing him do it, I realize it isn't that difficult of a task, but I am still very impressed!  Because he will eventually go on deployments while we need our oil changed, I will have to learn this pretty soon.  But how happy am I to have a man that can teach me to do this!?!

Last night we took on another car task.  When we bought the car one of the issues we needed to address ASAP was the drivers side rear view mirror.  I guess the woman that owned the car must have hit something, because it was taped on.  Because we have our Hawaii car inspection coming up in October (oh WAIT, that is NOW) we needed to get that done.  I can also say that I now realize why cars need rear view mirrors because I have almost been in multiple car accidents because you can't see jack and your blind spot is like quadrupled without a side mirror.  I ordered a mirror and it arrived in Missouri - the DAY AFTER I GOT TO HAWAII, AWESOME! So my momma mailed it to us.  Yesterday we got it and Levus put it on.  I can't say I wasn't nervous (well actually I was totally freaked out) when he yanked at full force the broken mirror off of the car, then proceeded to yank the door panel off of the car.  I was so worried that the door panel wouldn't go back on, and I told him that WE are NOT "those people" without door panels in our car.  Who I was talking about, I don't know, I think I lived in the Ozarks too long.  But anyway, the mirror was replaced and the panel is back on the car.  I'm so happy!  And my man impressed me again!

We still have a lot of work to be done to the car, but it is our little baby now.  Our investment car.  If we continue to take care of it the way it was taken care of by the previous owner then we will have this car forever.  If we decide to sell it when we leave the island (which we aren't doing, I'm just saying if we did) then we could probably even get more for it that we spent on it initially (not including repairs).

Work the Volvo Still Needs:
1) Shocks: not pretty when we drive over the speed bumps (which are everywhere at military installments)
2) Air Conditioning: not usually that bad because of the tradewinds, but the car gets very stuffy when we have to close the windows because it is raining, and rainy season is coming.  Also, traffic really sucks when we don't have air.
3) Stereo:  the front speakers don't work at all, and Levus says we need to replace the back ones as well.  The previous owner must have been really bumpin' to that "Women in Mythology" cassette tape we found in the car.

I'm sure that there is more that needs to be done, but this is what I can think of right now.  Every time an improvement is made on our car, it makes me want to take even better care of the car.  I love taking the Volvo to get baths, and I love to vacuum it out.  This should come as a shock to anybody that saw my last Volvo.  NOT A CLEAN CAR, and NOT WELL MAINTAINED.  What can I say, I'm learning.