As seen on TV under the tree

'Tis the season for all those crazy commercials hawking various and sundry useless and overpriced items. But they can't all be useless and overpriced, can they? Santa, if you're watching (and I know you are!), here are a few "as seen on TV" products I wouldn't mind finding under my Christmas tree this year:

1. Chia Herb Garden -- Maybe I'd be inspired to cook?
2. The Perfect Brownie Pan -- Edge pieces in every bite.
3. The Clapper -- for Annie's room. She is forever leaving her lamp on.
4. Foot Detox Patches -- in the so gross it's intriguing category
5. Bendaroos -- Have you have played with those things? They are fun!
6. Magic Bullet -- Sure, I'll be cursing it's million pieces to put away, but at least I'll be enjoying homemade salsa while I'm doing it.

What "As Seen on TV" product would you secretly love to find under your Christmas tree this year?

Friday Fragments: Who needs a title anyway?

Time once again for Friday Fragments, courtesy of Mrs.4444. Check out her site for more editions of FF. Thanks to Mrs.4444 for also following the BetterU blog!

Oops! I was in such a hurry to get this post finished, I published it without a title. Hence, the title it now has.

Missed Milestone: I didn't realize when I posted last week's Friday Fragments on New Year's Eve that it was my 300th post for the year. What a great number to end on! 300 posts in one year. I think that's pretty cool!

What was she thinking?! The building where I work houses a community health and dental clinic. While I'm sure that plenty of the folks who bring their kids in there are terrific parents, there are some who make you want to shake your head (or call CPS). Earlier this week, as I walked toward the building, all bundled up because it was 13 degrees with windchills below zero, I saw a woman standing outside smoking. At her feet was her baby, small enough to still be in a car seat. In below zero weather! Outside! Just so mom could grab a smoke! Nice...

As seen on TV: EggCracker. Really? Does anyone honestly need a $19.95 gadget to crack eggs? If you've got $20 bucks to spend on an egg cracker, I can help you spend your money in better ways.

Then there is Heeltastic. Now this, I'm seriously interested in. My feet are horrid (I'll spare you the pictures). You know that scene in Dumb and Dumber where they take a power sander to the guy's toenails? My heels are that way. When I go to those cheapie nail places, the tech usually takes one look at my heels and the Asian chatter is suddenly flying. I just know they are talking about my gnarly feet. So has anyone used Heeltastic? Does it really work?

Fat Jillian? I saw Jillian Michaels on Jay Leno this week. She said she was a fat kid -- about 175 pounds at 5'3". I'd love to be that "fat." And I'd love to see her fat pictures.

Snow charm: When the 4" of snow we received were only a twinkle in the forecasters' eyes, I had two different people tell me that their kids were wearing their jammies inside out to bring on the snow. I've never heard of this before. Is this some new folklore -- maybe concocted by some morning radio team? Or have I been missing out? Because if it's for real, I'll be wearing my jammies inside out more often!

Speaking of the radio: I need to wrap this up because I'm due downtown to tape my "heart story" for B105.7 radio. From February 1-5, the radio station will be playing "Stories from the Heart" as part of a fundraiser for the American Heart Association. This year, they've invited each of us Better U challengers to participate as well. (In other Better U media-related news, Mike thinks he can pull my television appearance off the DVR and upload it. If he can, I'll be sure to post it.)