2013: The Year in Review

As 2013 draws to a close, I was thinking about what 2013 was to me. The answers came pretty quickly.

1. The Year of Deliverance

After a long time job searching I was finally able to leave the job that I hated. Oh happy day!

Lesson for 2013 and beyond: Life is too short to put up with a job that makes you unhappy. If you don't like what you do, start making plans to get out.

2. The Year of Car Repairs

Here is a list of things I got to fix on my vehicles this year:

Sports Car
- new front brakes (thank you little bro!)
- new water pump (thank you little bro!)
- repaint missing paint on front quarter panel (body shop work- not cheap!)
- repaint faded scoop on hood (body shop work- not cheap!)

Tracker
- new front brakes (yes, it was the year for brakes)
- new clutch, input shaft, pilot bearings, u joints, and a strut (had to go to a transmission shop- almost fell over at bill)

Total for both vehicles: A whole lot of money

Lesson for 2013 and beyond: 2014 had best be far less expensive in the auto repair category! This illustrates to me yet again why you always have to have some money saved. In reality, except for the paint issues, all of these are things that will eventually have to be done as they are consumable parts. They just all happened to go in the same year. Did I mention that the water pump on my sports car started seriously failing at the same time the clutch went out in my Tracker? I'm also very thankful my brother is car knowledgeable and can give me good advice of what to do. He can also fix a lot of things. I am very blessed in that regard.

3. The year of vacations
2013 was an excellent year for travel. I took 5 trips of 3 nights or more away from home. In order they were:

- St. Louis
- New Orleans
- San Antonio
- South Carolina
- Florida

Lesson for 2013 and beyond: I hope this trend continues! I love to travel, and I greatly enjoyed all these trips.