Well, yesterday afternoon was a total pain in the ass. I spent a lot of time this week diligently researching requirements & getting all of the paperwork in order for the kids’ passport applications. Form DS-11 was completed for each, duplicate photocopies of the front & back of Charlie and my drivers’ licenses were made, and since Charlie is working 1h30 away from home right now, I even had him sign two DS-3053 forms (and get them notarized) that said I could apply for passports for the kids without him present.

Then yesterday I realized at the last minute that I couldn’t find Stella’s birth certificate anywhere because it wasn’t in my “important stuff” folder. Yes, I literally have a folder named that. 😉

At any rate, the post office only does passport applications between 9-3, and since yesterday was early release day from school, I grabbed Harvey from the house and Stella at 2:20 after dismissal and we headed to the town 15 minutes up the road that has a post office that does passport applications.

Our first stop was the County Clerk’s office to pay for a new birth certificate for Stella. Time was short, so I filled out the paperwork quickly, and the Clerk was about to print it out when her system crashed, so I ran over to the post office (1 block away) with the kids to get that part done first.

However, the woman working there was SO incredibly rude and unhelpful that I almost walked back out. She huffed and puffed about having to do passport applications and bitched that her computer was frozen because of something she had done incorrectly AND she even gave an exasperated “Well, I guess you’ll have to handle EVERYONE else!” to her co-worker. Um, this is your job, lady? We got Harvey’s photo and application all done and paid for ($40 to USPS for the photo & processing + $80 to the US Dept of State), and then after doing Stella’s photo, she wouldn’t do her application (aka, fill out her two lines and stamp it) and let me run back to the courthouse 1 block away to grab the birth certificate to complete it. She quite snottily told me to come back before 3pm with it in hand next time (it was 3:05 at this point) WITH Stella with me to prove (again) that she was my daughter. Seriously? So I need to pull my kid out of school early or wait another week until early release day and take another hour off of work to do this? Where is your Christmas spirit lady? Harumph.

On the upside, my kids are adorable, Harvey’s application has been sent, I’ll get Stella’s done next week, and holy shit, we are going to take them to Spain in February!