I refuse to believe it.

Massive storm ahead.

Winter storm warning.

Snow. Ice.

WHATEVER!

I refuse to believe it until I am knee deep in snow or slipping my way down the icy driveway to collect the mail. It's not that I don't like snow. In fact, I desperately want to be snowed in. It's a throwback to my stay-at-home mom days when wintry weather meant that I could stay in the house for days on end, leaving the driving to Mike and smiling as I looked out on inches of snow while I sipped hot chocolate.

We've had plenty of snow this winter, but not enough to shut us in. Just enough to be a nuisance.

I've been trying to ignore the weather updates that show up in my Facebook newsfeed and only listening with half an ear to the weather reports on the local news. I refuse to let those dang weather people get my hopes up.

To be fair, the guy on NBC tonight did suggest that there is a chance that all we will get here is rain. But while he was saying that, my eyes were focusing wistfully on the swath of blue indicating that northwest Indiana and the Chicago area could get anywhere from 12 to 24 inches of snow.

Am I nuts or what?

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.)