Sockapalooza Socks Save the Day

I just got home from vacation and I should be feeling great but.... I'm not. Stressed - yes. Aggravated - check. Frustrated - absolutely.
I'm actually a bit less stressed than I was earlier today but I'm still not feeling that post vacation high that I ought to have. It seems that right now, all of the good is tempered by crap. Take the picture at right as a case in point (shown super small because nobody really needs to see this). I'm not the neatest person in the world but you can usually walk from one end of my house to the other unimpeded. Not so much right now. What you see in this picture is a combination of furniture and fixtures that ought to have been installed in my bathroom by now and the 4 large boxes of my girls camp stuff (142 lbs!) that we had shipped home. To say that my house looks like a bomb hit would be an understatement.

As I said, there is some good stuff going on like the arrival of my Sockapalooza socks. Check them out. They are fantastic! Anna knit the most gorgeous socks for me - Regia Silk (sooo soft) in a color I love and the pattern is Twisted Flower by Cookie A. They are perfect in every way! The package was made even sweeter by the bar of Green & Black chocolate that came with them. Unfortunately I'll need to wait for it to harden again before I eat it because by the time I got home to open the package it was mush. See what I mean about the lousiness that pervades everything? Not that I'm complaining exactly because, let's face it - the chocolate will still be yummy!
In the interest of getting the rest of the absolute crap out of the way before I share a little vacationy goodness I should also mention that I fried my brand new cell phone during my vacation. At the end of June I bought myself a new phone on a total whim. I'd had the same phone for 4 years and I was seduced (really) by a cute new phone. It was way too expensive but I had built up a bit of credit towards a new phone which made it kind of reasonable. Sadly it didn't take to canoeing as well as one might hope. Yes, I know it was a bone-head move to take it with me. I just wasn't thinking and forgot it was with me until it was too late. Did I mention that hubbo is lousy at canoeing and dumped me into the James River many times? Ummmm yeah, he may have many talents (another debatable point) but canoeing is not one of them. We waded through the rapids rather than riding in our canoe and I prayed for the end of our little jaunt down the river. It was bad. If you find the pair of espadrilles that flew off my feet the last time he tipped the canoe over - don't tell me. I don't even want to know.
On a lighter, more positive, note - I threw myself on the mercy of the nice people at the "V" Experience store in the mall near my house last night and they hooked me up! I had been really worried because the phone was much too expensive to replace without discounts and rebates. I am so relieved that they replaced the whole deal for just the cost of a new battery. I promise never to take my phone canoing again.
Tomorrow I can tell you about some of the great stuff I saw and why hubbo is threatening to hide my MDS&W t-shirts before our next trip.