biggest loser, here i [we] come!

We've been fans of "the biggest loser" on NBC since it's first episode, but over the last 2 years, we've changed things up and now we have cut out all but the bare minimum of tv watching. It's great. So refreshing. Mark & I are total nerds/geeks and so we spend most of our time either reading books, reviewing biology & chemistry, or creating/learning in photoshop & anything with "adobe" in it's name. Oh, yes, and we're always brushing up on our Spanish. I consider it a victory when my girls are at the mall and hear Spanish being spoken by little kids and they can identify it and know that in fact it's Spanish, and that, NO, it's not some code that i made up and am forcing it on them :)

This is also true of Sesame Street...LOVE it that they teach kids Spanish and that my kids have the opportunity to hear it from some other source than me & Mark ("see, i told you that we didn't make it up; there really is a language called Spanish"...)

We are confident that this lack of exposure will remedy itself when we are once-again immersed in it when we go back home to the U.S. of A. And for anybody that may be reading this and have given mark & i comments about how we're crazy to be going down to the U.S. during this time of recession...we say..."recession? what recession? we've always lived like we're in a recession, so we're used to it!" ;) This means that Mark & I are lucky enough to see eye-to-eye with how we use our money. He knows I'll always try to find the best deals and that I'll wait sometimes several years before getting something I want :)
So long story: a few weeks ago, a random guy representing the Edmonton Sun (a local newspaper) came by and was trying to get me to sign up for a free 2-week trial of the paper. I kindly said no and made the remark that we don't have enough space in our apartment and that if we did take the 2 weeks worth of papers, we would use them to package up our stuff when we moved. Then, he attempted to further "build a relationship of trust" so that he could get me to sign up. He started to make conversation and asked me where we were moving to because he could easily transfer the info to the paper guys and we would have "little to no interruption in our service". Anyway, because I have a really hard time saying no to people I told him that the papers wouldn't be necessary because we would be moving to the States...then he got all into our business and proceeded to tell me: "Really, you guys are nuts...There's, like, no jobs out there! You guys from there? Well, good luck!" After I told him that I was American, he kind of understood, but just his tone of voice made me feel like I was being told that I was stupid for choosing to go back. And since I'm an emotional girl, the comment bothered me a lot. And this is not an isolated incident. It has happened before when talking to other people that feel they have to voice their opinion. Another example: credit card companies...somehow, these people I get to talk to over the phone feel like the only common thing to talk to me about (once they find out I'm American) is how rotten the economy is and how screwed up anyone who lives there is...So, sorry for my long explanation, but to THESE random people who may or may not ever come across my words, they know who they are. Random people. I don't even know their names. Sadly, their comments hurt a little bit.

But, I digress, ok...so back to the biggest loser...hopefully it will one day become enough of a motivator for us all to be exercise and nutrition nuts...BUT until then, I'm going to make my South American cheesecake AND eat it too! (like, 3 pieces in one sitting)!