sunday-night updates

* my parents just bought a new car. a honda civic. a couple of weeks ago, they were in a minor fender bender with a young girl who was waiting in a left-turn lane and decided to pull *out* of the lane... but didn't check her blind spot and, thus, clipped the rear driver-side wheel well of my mom's car (because mom was driving in the lane into which this young woman pulled about 10 seconds too soon). at first, the girl wanted to avoid alerting the insurance companies... then balked when my parents' mechanic quoted an $950 repair fee. so, they went through the insurance companies and their mechanics quoted a repair fee of more than $2000. oh well! but my parents' insurance company actually said the price of the repair was more than the value of the car... so they paid 'em out $3500. and, within 48 hours and after some hugely stress-inducing car shopping with my father (omg), mom settled on a civic. they're waiting to hear if the colour mom wants is available, but she should be driving around in new wheels by halloween. (note: their current car is not undrive-able, and the dent is small... but it's in a location that can't be pounded out without essentially taking the car apart.)

* i have an editorial assistant starting tomorrow. the good news: she will take on work that would otherwise have been assigned to me. the bad news: she won't actually be alleviating any of my current workload, just preventing more from landing on my desk.

* after all the crap i ate on our recent road trip, i've decided to resume eating healthier. i'd basically fallen off the quinoa/salad/whole grain bandwagon a few months ago, and i've noticed some doughiness around my middle. turns out, that's where your body stores fat when you're under stress. GO FIGURE. so, today, mom, trix and i had lunch at whole foods where, for only $3.74, i loaded up at their hot/cold buffet with all kinds of superfoods and dark, leafy greens. we went grocery shopping thereafter (not at whole foods), and i bought broccoli, baby spinach and apples. YB made a delicious vegetarian shepherd's pie on friday, so i took home leftovers of that and of the pesto-bean-potato fettuccine she made for a dinner party she hosted yesterday. i also brought home leftover grapes (they are huge and delicious), some jarlsberg cheese and a sleeve of bran crunch cookies... which are much tastier than they sound.

* further to the apple note above, i have discovered sweetango apples. they are nothing short of SPECTACULAR. and, unfortunately, expensive. a half-dozen of them cost me $8 today. but they're so worth it.

* and further to the image accompanying today's entry: i, like thousands of other torontonians, received a notice from the sheriff's office several weeks ago, alerting me to the fact that i might be called for jury duty in 2014. i was required (by law) to fill out a prospective-juror survey -- wherein i answer questions about any criminal convictions in my past, whether i'm a veterinarian (or any other profession exempt from serving) and the like -- which had to be returned in a postage-paid envelope that bore the return address you see above.

* for a fleeting moment yesterday, i considered this property. it popped up in my listings. isn't it cool?! if i were working from home (and didn't need to go downtown daily), and had a car, i might have considered it... because it's totally me... but it's in the middle of nowhere, amenities- and commute-wise, and not having laundry is a deal-breaker. plus, i also suspect houseboat ownership comes with all sorts of headaches (e.g., insurance, partyboat neighbours) that condo or house ownership might not. anyway, enjoy the virtual tour. i did!