On a much lighter note --

In some moods I free associate songs. Ryan says I'm basically a live sampler. So, last night I was going through different musical genres and stopped briefly on the Immigrant Song. Like most people, I have no idea what the words are, so I mostly just do the howl-y bit. And every time I did that, Boris would howl back -- in tune! That kitty does a mean Robert Plant. It was pretty funny.

The Immigrant Song - Led Zeppelin

Ah, ah,
We come from the land of the ice and snow,
from the midnight sun where the hot springs blow.
The hammer of the gods
Will drive our ships to new lands,
To fight the horde, singing and crying:
Valhalla, I am coming!
On we sweep with threshing oar,
Our only goal will be the western shore.
Ah, ah,
We come from the land of the ice and snow,
from the midnight sun where the hot springs blow.
How soft your fields so green,
Can whisper tales of gore,
Of how we calmed the tides of war.
We are your overlords.
On we sweep with threshing oar,
Our only goal will be the western shore.
So now you’d better stop and rebuild all your ruins,
For peace and trust can win the day
Despite of all your losing.

Or, if you're Boris, "Mrrrrooooow, ow!"

I have no plants in my house. Do you all think I should buy some? My mom always had plants around...

So, I'm trying not to let panic set in. While I very diligently confirmed serveral months ago that our passports had not expired...I didn't even THINK to notice that Jen's still has her maiden name!!! PLEASE let that + marriage certificate be good enough :(

When are you leaving? You may want to call and get an appointment at a passport agency ASAP. The closest one is LA, and it serves people traveling within 2 weeks. (The site says within two weeks, so if you do need to get it changed, you won't be the first people to need that and the agency is prepared to help you.)

You have to make an appointment and the number is 1-877-487-2778 (automated appointment number).

You will have to pay extra fees for expediting service, but not for the appointment.

Get an appointment if only for the peace of mind.

Relax, you're going to France - just tell them she is your mistress

We leave TOMORROW! CP has the afternoon off. She'll be figuring out wtf we need to do.

Eeeep! Well, hopefully it will be okay. Collect all the identifying documents you can get your hands on and we'll all hope for the best.

Hmm, so that's stress. Me no likey stress.

Well, after a morning of calls and running around on CP's part, we think we've got some peace of mind. Too late to get an appointment downtown for the Passport center. Airline's not allowed to change the name on a ticket once it's issued. Person answering phones for the passport department knows that they'll accept a marriage license in this situation for Canada/Mexico, but isn't so sure about France.

We were able to find CP's OLD ss card, but not her new one. So she was able to go in and get a printed, certified document with her new name and her number.

But the real good news was that after being given the run around by the French Embassy ("This is the DC office, call your local office." "We're the local office, call the DC office." "This is the DC office, we won't talk to you." "No one's here at the local office until 2pm."), CP FINALLY got through to someone who said they were 100% sure that the passport + marriage licesne would work. I can live with that. I still won't be comfortable until we're on the plane. Check that, until we successfully clear out of CDG airport. But I'm feeling better.

Mr. Zapppop had a good idea. The first people that we'll have to convince of this are the airline people. They'll probably be the easiest. Hopefully, once they agree that she is indeed who she is, they will print her boarding passes for both flights with her maiden name. Then, from there on out, everything matches, no explaining to do. That'd be far easier than trying to expalin the situation to someone in Paris that may or may not speak English very well.

Ugh.