Where iProducts go to die...(Zimmiz giveaway)

I don't know about you, but we are a household of iAnything addicts.

We have iPhones, iPads, iPods and enough accessories to choke a horse.

Admittedly, our daughter has been assisting us in curbing our iAddiction. By culling our collection.

We lost an iPod touch and an iPhone 4S to the toilet bowl. To Miss 4's credit, she did wrap them in towels to try and save them. Sadly, they had flat lined and no amount of water absorbing material was going to bring them back.

We lost another iPhone to the front stairs, and I lost the rear glass panel on my iPhone to our lounge room floor.

I'm sure we've lost another iPod touch along the way. I think that one succumbed to the asphalt in a carpark.

Our daughter will never be an olympic ball sports player with her butter fingers.

However, in the interest of full disclosure, I should mention that I lost my first iPhone after I left it on the roof of the car and drove off. But I think I was more upset about losing the gorgeous deep red cover than I was the actual phone.

So she's learnt from the best.

This Christmas just gone we were looking into getting a heavy-duty-will-survive-a-nuclear-explosion case for my iPhone since Miss 4 loves playing the games and watching Charlie and Lola episodes on it. We looked at the Otterbox Case, the Lifeproof Case, the Griffin Survivor Case and even one called the 'Mighty Vault'. All heavy duty, all fifty inches thick and all ugly as anything.

Yes, I know, I'm vain - what do I care for the look of it when it's going to mean I can save my phone from certain death?

Well, for starters, none of them came in pink. Or red. So it was a deal breaker from the start.

In the meantime, we did purchase one of the FisherPrice iPhone cases for babies. This was for The JellyBean when she gets a bit older and might be interested in what her sister is doing with anything iRelated. I like that it protects the phone, but Miss 4 has informed me that it's just for babies.

Right-o then.

So when I received an email from Sophie at Polkadot PR regarding Zimmiz^®, I was intrigued.

Zimmiz^® is a new App from Big Foot Toys featuring cute, customisable aliens, and you can bring them to life with the specially-designed plush toy which features a pocket to securely house your iPhone or iPod Touch.

A toy that acts as a phone case* appropriate for children from 4 years? Hello answer to my prayers!! The plush also features poseable arms and antennas with a little sleeve on its back to carry Zimmi^® with.

"Children today gravitate to smart phones and tablets as much as they do their favourite teddy bear," said Rowan Isaacs, Marketing Director and Co-inventor of Zimmiz^®. "Zimmiz^® represents the best of both worlds. It brings play to vivid life - and sets the stage for meaningful and rewarding experiences that go far beyond those of traditional toys."

Miss 4 had a chance to play with the App itself before her plush arrived for a road test. She liked it but, looking back, the interaction was a little restricted compared to what she can do with the plush attached.

Once the plush arrived, it was clear there was no way I was ever going to get my phone back.

Miss 4 loved the transformation from App to interactive toy, and Zimmi^® goes everywhere with us. I'm no longer terrified of her dropping my iPhone on the ground and it smashing into a thousand pieces- the plush holds my phone in there snug as a bug, and it's so padded and squishy I feel like it could fall from the roof of our home and come away unscathed*. I still fear the toilet bowl, but I've been informed that Zimmi^® prefers to wait outside the toilet, so the chances of him suffering an unfortunate flushing are minimal.

I love that Miss 4 has a toy with a wide range of emotions and reactions. Her interactive babies never sleep. They continue to talk, snore or cry unless you rip the batteries out of their backs in a frenzy to get them to shut up! Zimmi^® will go to sleep with the simple motion of closing his/her eyes...or hitting the home key and exiting the App. Yay for Mummy's sanity!!

Zimmiz^® is developed by a team led by David Smith, an animator for the film Happy Feet. And it shows, because the graphics are brilliant.

There are games to play such as 'Zimmiz^® Says' and a memory game, you can customise his face, right down to his birth mark. He laughs when tickled, blows bubbles with chewing gum, burps, almost explodes when you feed him a chilli and, Miss 4's favourite thing of all time, he farts.

He'll also throw up if you give him a whizzee for too long - and then you can either watch it slide down the screen, or wipe it away with a cloth yourself. Miss 4 enjoys both options. I just do my best not to relive my experiences with vomit during my pregnancy with The JellyBean.

Overall Zimmiz^® has been a hit in our household, and if you have a iAnything savvy child in your home that could do with a friend who will sing, choke on his food and forget to cover his mouth when he sneezes then this is the giveaway for you!

I have one Zimmiz^® plush toy to giveaway to the person who has the most hilarious iTragedy. So share your best iAccident involving a mobile phone, tablet, or iPod before 6pm CST on Sunday 6 March and you could be welcoming Zimmiz^® into your home soon! So I can contact you, don't forget to include your email address in your comment entry.

For more information on the App and the plush toy you can visit www.planetzimmi.com, “like” Zimmiz^® at Facebook.com/planetzimmi, follow Zimmiz^® at Twitter.com/planetzimmi or view their YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/PlanetZimmi

The Boring Bits

• Giveaway will be open from Tuesday 26 February 2013, and will close at 6pm CST on Sunday 3 March 2013.
• The winner will be determined by me as the most hilarious accident involving a mobile phone, tablet, or iPod.
• I was provided with one Zimmiz^® plush toy for a road test, and a second plush to giveaway.
• The winner will have 24 hours to respond before a new winner is chosen.
• All decisions are final.

* The Zimmiz plush toy is NOT marketed as a phone case, and it should not be relied on as such. The phone case properties are simply my own, personal observation.

You know it's going to be a long day...

when the Yummy Mummy doesn't cut it and the Bubba Gump has to come out.

Ah, Bubba - where would I be without you and your ability to hold obscene amounts of coffee?

Most likely under my desk in the foetal position.

Image from Here

Are you a coffee-a-holic? Or am I the only one who want's to bury my workmates alive if they approach me while I'm holding an empty coffee cup first thing in the morning?


Image from Here

Oh - and just for the record, no amount of coffee can make Rhianna's 'California King Bed' sound like anything other than 3 cats in a street fight.

I'm just sayin'.

Another post on obsession and lack of self control.

I am a jewellery whore.

There, I said it.

I can't walk past a jewellery shop without picking out a few pieces I would like to own. I drool over the glossy catalogues that get crammed into our letterbox. I am constantly finding jewellery I'd like to own.

The only thing I would never want more than one of is my bridal set. Because the Guru did an amazing job of sorting that out all on his own - and on days when I think he has no bloody idea who I am (like when he's pointing out items he thinks I'd like for my birthday...like a new 8TBFGRT RAM fdhsjaofdhsajkldshjakglds thingy for a computer...uh - what??) I look at my left hand and realise that when he gets it right, he does a fabulous job.

But when it comes to watches, bracelets, earrings, necklaces and anything else that takes my facy - I am just a downright, dirty jewellery-a-holic.

At the moment my whoring is related to necklaces. More specifically, the type the allow me to have parts of my family embedded in them.

No, I'm not meaning an Angelia Jolie-blood-in-a-vile-type thing. I'm talking fingerprints, or perhaps even art done by the Toddler.

I discovered Tina Steinberg not long ago and I immediately fell in love. I was prepared to sell a kidney to get one of her creations. And technically I still am - but I'm discovering that money is easier to procure and send to another country.

The one from Tina I was drooling over is here:  Little Love Charmer Plus by Tina Steinberg.

And I was stunned to learn that the Guru was paying attention. And I don't mean just vaguely nodding his head and staring past me at the telly while I danced in front of him with print outs, a white board and diagrams of exchange rates, postal rates and the process involved while wiping the rabid, jewellery love foam from my face.

So I almost fell on the floor when he told me he'd found a company who does the same thing in Australia. And they have a consultant in Darwin.

Right about then I blacked out for a moment while my brain processed this joyus moment and filed it away for future reference when he tries to get me computer parts for our wedding anniversary.

Smallprint could potentially make my dreams come true this Christmas. And believe it or not they can do impressions of a drawing by your small one in a pendant. You can witness their awesomeness here: Smallprint: A Unique First Impression.

Okay, so it's not a Tina Steinberg...but it's the homegrown version and I'd reduce my carbon footprint by going local. Or something. Whatever.

So I was set with that - all excited and spending many, many hours on their website deciding what and when.

Then - I found The Vintage Pearl. And my addicitive personality kicked in and fingerprints were all but forgotten for a moment...

The Vintage Pearl - I'd be leaving a massive carbon footprint - but the US and Australian dollar are pretty much 1:1. What's a bit of carbon when fate has given me a sign that now is the best financial time to be making a great, big, muddy print on the world?? I'd be stupid to miss my chance!! (I'm also completely aware that I'm going to environment hell when I die...a place where nature will have it's revenge...)

So this is what I want...

I love you to the moon & back by The Vintage Pearl and with the whimsical font have the Guru and the Toddler's names on it. And when the time comes I can have the third and final name added to the pendant.

Then, down the track - I can get a Tina Steinberg original to add to the chain.

The other Vintage Pearl option that I love is this: Dainty Drops by The Vintage Pearl.

But my heart is set on the moon - so I am making a final choice and it's going to be my Christmas wish.

I would say that this will be the end of my jewellery whoring...but I know it probably won't. There will always be a bracelet, a watch or something to catch my eye and make me want to get a kidney ready for trade.

But maybe, just maybe - this will be the end of my necklace searching days...

I think I'm addicted...

To the most amazing blog, created by Kelle Hampton. For those of you who haven't had a chance to peek into her world - I highly recommend it.

I think I need to check myself in to the Betty Ford Clinic for Blog Addiction. I was up to 2am last night (or this morning) just reading post, after post about the going's on in her life.

Maybe it's because so much of what she has done, I aspire to. I love photography - I love taking photo's of anything and everything. Especially the Guru and the Toddler - they are my main inspiration for everything. And although I'm not as blessed as Kelle is to have a partner keen to partake in my photography joy, I like to think that when he does think to pick up the camera and photograph me with my gorgeous Toddler that it's for posterity and out of love.

But I am fully aware that photographs are often taken after screeches of  'Get the camera for goodness sake, we're doing something cute together!' or 'Why am I forever taking photo's of you and her - get the camera and take some of ME and her!!'. Not the same. And the photo's generally reflect that. Blurry, directionally challenged, or else taking a photo of something across the room from where we are doing our cute thing together.

I also love that Kelle has embraced the challenges life has handed her - and she is honest about everything. I don't think I could have that kind of honesty out there for everyone to witness. I find it hard to take negative feedback on personal matters, and even if I haven't heard it, I have the sort of panicky mentality that makes it up for me, convincing myself that everyone thinks I'm terrible.

But that's just me.

I also love to type. I've always been a better communicator on paper/email/text etc than I ever have been face to face. Maybe that's because I hate confrontation, I hate public speaking, I hate getting bad news, or even worse, giving it. For me, it's always felt that face to face communication was always saved for the negative things in life. But anything on paper was always comforting. Which is where my love of reading comes in to play, I suppose.  In books, even when something goes wrong there is always an outcome that over-rides the sad. Especially anything written by Jane Austen. But again, fiction is my love - anything too real and I run for the hills!

Maybe I'm too much of a dreamer, and maybe I need to be a little more realistic now I'm a wife and mother. Put away my dreams of Jane Austen romance and everything being happy, always. Because that's not what life is - nothing is perfect and facing up to the reality of life is hard, but worth it.

And I guess that's the best thing I get out of Kelle's blog. That life, no matter how challenging or different from the plan we had in our mind, is wonderful. And while facing the truths of life takes tears, courage and determination, the outcome is amazing and worth every second.