Why Does the End of the Year Suck?

I'm kind of in a bummer mood today.  The last couple of days have not been all that great:

• I'm still not feeling well (I 'feel' better, but I'm just really tired and still don't have much of a voice). 
• On Tuesday, I went to turn the heater on in my truck and no air would come out of the vents - it would only come out of the defroster vents.  I took it in to the dealer yesterday and the actuator was bad.  The transmission fluid was really dark and needed to be changed too.  Luckily, only ended up having to pay for the oil and transmission fluid changes ($226) versus $1,400+ for the repairs if we hadn't had the extended warranty.
• My neck is hurting again and giving me headaches again because I'm slouching in my desk chair at work.
• I'm thinking a lot about my family.
• I still haven't finished cleaning up from Christmas Eve (the plates and bowls are washed, but I still have the goblets and silverware to handwash and put away).
• I have a list a mile long of things I want to accomplish but know I can't do it all right now and that bugs me.
• I had a crappy experience with the rental car company (the dealer had to keep my truck overnight so our warranty paid for a rental).
• I didn't get to see the snow that happened in Phoenix today.
• I ended up in the nurse's office yesterday at work because I was super dizzy.
• I'm missing having my Melon Man here with me at night.
• The garage is a pigsty.

I'll get over all those things eventually, but right now, it just is a bummer day.  And, the thought that it's the end of the year and the rush-rush is going to start again in three days, just drags me down.

However, on a better note, I was cleaning out my cameras this evening and I came across the following pictures that I took and wanted to blog about, but never did, so I thought I'd do it now and maybe they would cheer me up...

These first two are of a sunset on Kurt's birthday - December 10th.  I happened to be sitting at an intersection near home when I realized just how beautiful the sky was...

The progress on our new Stake Center is coming along.  These pictures were taken on December 15th on our way out to Linda and Desert Dweller's to celebrate Lisa's birthday.  They have begun bricking in the sides of the building and they have placed the stacks of roof tiles on the roof while the building settles.  The steeple is also in and as the Desert Dweller says, "it actually looks like a church now."  It's supposed to be completely done and occupiable (is that an actual word?) by June or July.  Every time I see it, I just hope and pray that some hater of our church doesn't go out there and burn it down.  Sure, there is fencing all around, but that doesn't stop people.  It's in such an out of the way area right now that if that were to happen, nobody would see the perp and the building would likely burn to the ground before anyone noticed the fire.  Sad!

When we arrived at Linda and Dave's this same day, the sun was just beginning to set and I caught this gorgeous sunset.  The way the sun is aglow behind that tree though, makes it almost look like "THE BURRRNNNINGGG BUSHHHHH."  If I lived out where L & D live, I bet my blog would be filled to the brim with gorgeous sunrises and sunsets!

This is the house just around the corner from us.  Unfortunately, my camera took the picture as the lights that are on top of the house blinked "off".  Otherwise, you'd get the full effect of the "beauty" of this house.  I took this picture for two reasons.  First, I really do like all the lights these folks put up.  Every year, it's a contest with the neighbor on the corner to see who can put up the best display.  I personally think this one wins in comparison.  I'm not too keen on the big blinking chunks of lights to music, but oh well, they're just trying to make it more festive.  At least they are trying to bring some holiday cheer to this bummer neighborhood. 

The second reason I took this picture is to remind Melon Man that "this" is a house where "Christmas threw up" - not ours.  Yes, my Melon Man ever so "jokingly" told me that it looked like Christmas threw up in our house this year.  I was devastated.  I didn't think that it looked like that at all.  I thought it was really pretty this year and just the right amount, although I would have still liked a little more umph.

This is probably one of my all-time favorite sunsets.  Look at how GOR-GE-OUS this is!  Yes, I took that photo!  This was just the other night - December 27th.  I had stopped to get gas in the truck and as I got out of the truck, I was awestruck by its magnificence.  It's when I see things like this that are SO BEAUTIFUL, that I am grateful to know that there is a God who created all of this for us.  No, I can't see Him directly - yet, but I have faith that He is there and that He gave us such things to help us get through days like today.