Life goes on, if you let it.

I've learned several important life lessons over the past few years.

The newest one: Don't finance something you don't want to think about every month.

I bought a car in 2009. I paid it off in a few years, and I was pretty proud to drive a car that was paid off. My intention was to drive that car into the ground.

But then I had a huge tooth problem. I fixed the same three teeth not once, not twice, but three times, at a cost of $17,000.

A $7,000 bridge failed, an infection ate my jaw bone, I cried, I met a cool oral surgeon in Wichita and I spent $10,000 on implants.

When this $17,000 disaster happened, I realized I had to give up a few things. I couldn't get a new car like I planned three years ago and all of my house projects stopped.

My world basically stopped until I paid off that dental work. I took out a loan and used my car, which had more than 157,000 miles on it, as collateral.

It was not an ideal situation. An oral surgeon had to take the teeth out, not a regular dentist, so the surgeon might as well do the bone grafts too while he's up there.

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I invested that money in my mouth. Getting implants is one of the best decisions I've ever made.

But I hated making that loan payment. Every month, I went through a cycle where I got really, really mad. Every month I'd think about what I went through, how many doctors I went through and how many pointless surgeries I endured for teeth that I ended up losing anyway.

I lost teeth that had five root canals, two gum surgeries, two crowns, an extraction and a bridge.

All of that work, all of that money, all of that time and all of that pain was for absolutely no reason.

But life goes on, if you let it. That was a few years ago and that loan amount has been dwindling.

At my last dental appointment, my doctor told me that I have no cracked teeth, no infections, and no major problems. We could talk about tooth whitening if I wanted to, he told me.

I've come a long way.

All is well on the tooth front right now, they told me. They said I could relax and not worry about infection eating bone in my face again.

--

Penny and I have been driving past cars recently. I found one I liked in town, and it was the first time that I actually got out of my car and snooped around in Toyota's parking lot.

And then that car disappeared off the lot overnight.

They sold my car!

I decided that it was time for new wheels. It's time to get rid of the tooth loan and start making payments on a shiny new thing sitting in front of my house (because it doesn't fit in my garage, haha).

I hated getting pissed off every month when I made that payment that went towards my mouth.

(And before anyone lectures me: Yes, I realize I should have paid cash for all of this. But does anyone really expect a $7,000 worth of dental work to fail after a year? Does anyone really plan on spending $17,000 on three teeth? I don't feel bad about getting a loan for this because no one has that much money sitting around for teeth.)

It's just time to move on and quit thinking about teeth.

It's time for new wheels.

My little niece was the first person to ride in my new car. She's 5, and she's the best kid ever (along with her sisters.)

She decided that my new car is a rainbow car.

I'll take it.

I don't like doing this stuff on my own. I don't like buying cars or sales people and cell phone companies and window companies that knock on my door.

But I didn't really have a choice, so I (figuratively) gritted my teeth for a few hours at the dealership until the car was MINE!

As they handed me the keys and I was walking out the door, Ashley McBryde started playing on the radio. And no, I'm not lying about this.

It was a perfect end to the perfect saga in my life.

Not bad for a girl goin' nowhere.