It's been an interesting and busy week here in my household. It started off pleasantly, with a trip to Strasbourg, France over the weekend. Even though it was bloody hot, we had a great time. The kids both behaved well (even though poor Zippy was teething), and we were able to see most of the sights we had set out to see. If you're really interested in the rest of the trip, pictures can be viewed here.

Sunday evening we returned home to find this:

That would be debris, which was in the garage, also. We were very confused, not knowing what had caused this mess. Our neighbors came out and informed us that there was a major storm on Saturday which caused a wee bit of flooding. They were also kind enough to share some pictures of the mess.

On normal days, that is our street. On this particular day, it was more like a river. A friend who lives in the same town told me that there really wasn't a whole lot of warning that there was an impending storm, the skies just opened up and sheets of water fell to the ground. Of course, there was also hail, which did a number on the gardens, but seemed to spare my husband's vehicle, which was parked on the street. We were also lucky that there was no water damage to his car. When he moved it after our return home, this is what was underneath:

We were very lucky that there was no water damage to either the car or the house (the garage is the bottom floor of the house, and the water only went in about 2 feet, and it didn't touch anything). We had closed all of the windows before leaving, so no rain entered the house, and there were no leaks. Many of our neighbors were not so fortunate.

Luck ran out on Monday, when I came out of a store to find my car in the parking lot looking like this:

It appears as though someone backed into my car, and took off without leaving a note. Fuckwad. I guess they thought that their bumper was a good enough signature. It really fries me that I'm now stuck footing the bill for someone else's stupidity and dishonesty (Watch out, the idiots are everywhere. They got to Uli, too). I just don't understand how people can live with themselves when they do something like this. Granted, no one was injured, but now we're out $500 to pay the insurance deductible to replace the rear bumper. It angers me that people are so irresponsible. How many hit and run accidents occur in any given day? Far too many. I know when we used to live in San Antonio, it seemed that there was a pedestrian hit on a daily basis, and the driver took off more often than not. I'm sure the situation is the same in most other areas. Seriously, how can these people sleep at night? Okay, I know I'm  making a great big deal out of a stupid dented bumper (Travis keeps telling me to get over it, already), but it really pisses me off. The money we have to spend to fix the car would have been used for travel (especially with his impending deployment in the fall). Aaargh!

All right, all right, enough. How about we change the subject to knitting? I have two pairs of socks to show that have been finished up over the past couple of weeks.

Pattern:  Badcaul by Anna Bell
Yarn: Trekking XXL #105
Needles: 2.5mm Inox circulars
Modifications: None. This pattern is well written and easy to follow. I learned how to do a Turkish cast-on for these socks, and it is the easiest toe-up sock cast on that I have used to date. Never again will I use a provisional or figure-8 cast on. If you haven't tried it yet, and knit toe-up socks, I highly recommend giving it a shot. Oh wait, there was one tiny mod. I used a sewn bind off rather than binding off in the traditional manner, because even moving up to a 5.0mm needle to bind off, it was still too tight. Enter the sewn bind off, and the problem is solved.

Okay, now you may want to grab a pair of sunglasses to view these socks, because they are BRIGHT:

I warned you.
Pattern: Embossed Leaves by Mona Schmidt, Interweave Knits Winter 2005
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Potluck Brights (and they aren't kidding)
Needles: 3.0mm Inox circulars
Modifications: None, really, because this is such a great pattern. The 1x1 rib cast on is a bit tight, but it's not a very big deal. When I first started knitting with this yarn, my initial reaction was that the colors were horrid. But as I continued to knit, they grew on me. Sure, they're a bit...um, loud, but I'm sure there isn't another pair like them out there.

That's probably a good thing.