Funny things

I took my car in today to get the tire patched since it was flatter than a pancake when I got home yesterday (thanks again for saving my neck, David, I don't think I could have cranked that jack by myself). The man behind the counter took down my car info and personal info, and when he asked my last name, I automatically spelled it for him, since it's amazing how many ways people can misspell my last name. However, apparently I need to start spelling out my first name, too. When the job was done and I headed out to drive off in the newly patched Vanilla Bean, I glanced over the receipt I'd been given and discovered that the Big-O Tires man thinks that "Maria" is spelled "M-e-r-i-a." I know that the schwa is kind of pervasive in American English, but this is a little extreme even for someone who can plead Hooked on Phonics. It reminds me of the time that several of my siblings and I went en masse to order smoothies from Jamba Juice and put the order under Mark's name. However, the cashier didn't quite catch the name we gave and rather than go through the embarrassing procedure of asking Mark to repeat himself, she wrote down her best guess as to what she had heard- Bark. Heh. I had forgotten that until just now.

After I got my tire patched, I stopped at the grocery store (mmm- fresh cherries and chocolate milk. But not together). I realized that I was parked next to a Camry with the same build as my car and it made me grin because it reminded me of how my roommate Holly and I had twin cars last fall (we still do, but we are no longer roommates). Holly apparently didn't think that our cars looked all that much alike until she caught herself trying to unlock the door to my car with her key. Good times.

In other news, I'm a little worried that I might need bigger pots for my tomato plants as they continue to grow and look kind of wilty and I'm pretty sure it's because the pots they're in aren't big enough water reservoirs for them. Poor little plants. Bigger pots would sure make the balcony crowded, though.