$300 Saved!! Deployment Project #10

If you are in the military or associated with the military, there are some well known fact about deployments that we all know.  But I thought I might take this opportunity to share those "facts" with my non-military readers.   So, in no particular order, here is my list of deployment facts:

#1  Deployment orders will come at the worst timing for your family - - when we lived in IN, we were redoing our old house.  We had just taken a weekend and worked super hard tearing out all the paneling and old insulation from the entire upstairs.  It was down to the studs. 

Hubby got orders the next day.

Thank you Army, I love doing home improvent project myself, especially drywall!

#2  Your children and you will be sick while hubby is deployed - - not just a small cold, sniffles sick.  More like..."I think I might be on my death bed, don't come near me, all I want to do is crawl in bed and die sick." or "Mommy I just threw up but I didn't make it to the bathroom in time so there is a trail of chocolate milk puke from my room, down the hall, down the stairs and through the livingroom to the bathroom sick."  

And most likely these two will occur at the same time!

#3  Something is probably going to flood.  You might be lucky and it is just your yard or your driveway, but be more realistic and know that it is probably going to be either your basement or a bathroom!

#4  Despite all of hubbys precautions and preparations,  - - even if he made sure you had a new vehicle before he left so that nothing  could break - - - something is going to break on your vehicle.  It may be something as small as, ...oh, I don't know - breaking your passenger mirror on the garage door (clears throat) or as large as the engine blowing up.  More on all of that later!

#5  You will have plumbing problems.  Again, when I was in Indiana and hubby was gone,  all my pipes froze.  Really, they didn't have a choice, it was -35 degrees outside, you already read that the insulation was not in - - what were they to do but freeze.  Thank goodness for neighbors and friends from church who climbed under my house with blowdriers and thawed them for me!!

#6  You will have to call and either A. have your garage door fixed or   B.  have your garage door replaced.  It just wouldn't be a deployment if you didn't go through a garage door!!

#7  Plan on at least one trip to the ER.  This trip will not be for some normal explainable childhood accident, it will be for something crazy like glass pedistal cake platters falling off hutches and shattering on the floor and a huge chunk of glass happens to land in your childs head (yup - - that happened to us once), or because suddenly one morning your child wakes up and he can't move his left leg at all because it hurts too bad so you take him to the ER and find out he has some medical thing that you can't pronounce, but basically it is a massive case of growing pains (yup - you guessed it - - we did that one too!)

#8  All that extra money that you are making from hubby being deployed will now be spent paying for all of these wonderful adventures and you will wonder where in the world the Army came up with $100/ month separation pay.  $100 does not cover it!!!

But through it all, you will keep going on.  You will stay strong and you will survive, because you are a military wife, and that's what we do.  It is our part in being our husbands helpmate and other half.  It is our part in serving our country.  And personally, I'm proud to have this job.  I'm proud that my husband has confidence in me that I will be able to manage all the stresses that go with him being deployed.  I'm proud of my husband and his sacrafice of being away from us and missing out on our everyday life as a family. 

Before I get too sappy, let me tell you about deployment project #10.  I hinted about it above.  Yes, I made sure to kill two birds with one stone.  I took out the mirror on our new truck with the garage door.  You ever just have one of those days?  GGGGGRRRRRR!!  I was so frustrated!  You should have seen the kids in the back seat.  Cameron was in the middle of telling me something about his day, when suddenly we heard that noise (you know the one of crunching car parts  eeeeek!),  Cameron stops talking immediately and quickly turns to his sister and says, "DON'T SAY ANYTHING, JUST SIT QUIETLY....Momma's not gonna be happy!"

looks nasty doesn't it?

He's right, I wasn't happy.  Especially after I called the dealership and found out that a new mirror was $300 and minimum cost for labor was $150.  Are you kidding me?  Seriously - - it can't be that hard.... can it?  So I asked the mechanic on the phone that very question.  He told me no (and quietly under his breath) told me to go to a junk yard, buy a used mirror and then told me if my husband was mechanically inclined in any way, he would be able to do it.  Well, right there, that sealed the deal for me!  I knew it couldn't be that hard so I did what we all do, I googled tutorials on replacing vehicle mirrors!  I found a used one for $150 and had it shipped to me.

just another view to rub salt into my wound!

So, this afternoon, my project was to replace the mirror.  About 20 min. later I had it all finished, put back together and working perfectly!  So, since it only took me 20 min. and the mechanic told me that it would be a minimum of $150 for labor, that works out to be $450/hour.  

but doesn't it look so much better now?

I'm thinking I should just change my buisness, forget about slipcovers, reupholstery and pillows - - -

Franklin Designs - - I change out mirrors!

I don't know, it doesn't have a catchy ring and I think I would get bored with the job after awhile......

but I sure would like that paycheck!!