Nothing’s easy #582 – Don’t they know how to use scissors?

Before we left Houston, I took the kids down to have a s%#$load of passport photos made because I knew that we would need to supply them for EVERYTHING! And, of course we have had to do that. We are currently trying to get their carte de sejour before the end of the year. (not sure why the deadline, but whatever) So Paul was asked to supply passport photos and he did. But we got a letter back saying that they were not the right size – and in the note was a box, drawn to the exact size that the photo had to be. It seems that the difference between an American passport photo and a French passport photo is that the American ones are square and the French ones are rectangular. So the American pictures have a lot of blank space on the sides, that’s all.

So… I’m wondering…. Why didn’t they just CUT the photo to the proper size? Did they not think of that? Did they just want me to cut the photos? Am I allowed to cut them? I certainly can’t get my kids to take a French passport photo when they are not over here. Should I take the chance, cut them myself only to have them sent back with a note saying…. “ah ha… we caught you cutting passport photos… you will be deported!”

So... what a dilemma! I decided to scan the photos and then reduce them on my computer then print them out in the new perfect size. Problem is...we bought Photoshop once we got here and it’s all in French (even though we installed it with the English option.) Time is running out and I’m losing patience... so I did it the old-fashioned way... kinda like cropping pictures when I worked on the yearbook in high school... except I did it with Paint. It worked. OK... good….. ready to print. Ahhh… the printer is running out of ink.

So... I go down to the mall to buy cartridges… and guess what... the photo cartridge that I need is nowhere on the shelves, all sold out! Now what???? I don’t know... except that nothing is easy anymore.

I think I will try those scissors after all.