Half dozen and a rant

After having the previous quilt loaded on my machine for what seemed like forever, I finished up this quilt in a day.  It brought the total number of quilts to deliver up to an even half dozen, and we delivered them to Dr. Kaufman on Thursday.  Unfortunately, she's still getting 2-3 new patients a week, so I need to ramp up my finishes.  

Pat couldn't remember who had these blocks, but she put them together to make this wonderful sampler top, and I added borders to make it a little bigger.  

And now for my rant...(Please feel free to ignore.) I don't normally bash my homeland, and frequently try to keep my dad and friends of his generation from going on about how things in Brazil are terrible, and it "sucks" there.  I've heard this same song for most of my life, being fortunate to have grown up in the U.S.A.  I continue to hang on to my Brazilian citizenship, but this latest saga in trying to get a passport has me wondering if it's time to give it up.  I've had my passport in my married name since shortly after I became Mrs. in 1975.  I have all my previous, expired passports with this name.  When I saw the itinerant Brazilian Consulate in Albuquerque in December with what I assumed was all my required paperwork for a new passport...I was missing my marriage certificate.  It wasn't listed on the necessary items since I already had an expired passport issued by same consulate in my married name.  She asked me to send her a copy of my marriage certificate, which since I wanted to get it right, didn't need to be notarized.

I get a phone call this week, and I believe the same person who assisted me in Albuquerque asks about my Brazilian marriage certificate.  HUH?  I didn't get married in Brazil, and don't have one of those.  Then she asks how did I get a passport in my married name.  I told her I've had it in my married name since 1976, and I got that passport from the Los Angeles consulate.  She now informs me that without a Brazilian certificate (registering my American certificate with the consulate) I can't have the passport in my married name.  She said she would call the consulate in Los Angeles to see if they had my Brazilian certificate.  I told her as far as I know, that had never been done.  She called them, and called me back.  Apparently back then, they didn't require that you register your foreign certificate in order to change your name.  So now, the requirement is to register your marriage certificate and they can't issue my passport in my married name without it.  The catch...another $20 fee, email them a filled out form, and then appear in person with the consulate in Houston or an itinerant consulate--they will be in Albuquerque in December--or Denver in May, or El Paso in August.  Let's hope I don't need to go anywhere anytime soon.  Why can't they grandfather it in like most changes in requirements.  And then the passport is only good for five years!  Arrrggghh!  If I could get my fee back, I'd be considering getting my American citizenship instead.  Bureaucracy at its finest!