I'm a full-time mummy

Almost a month ago, I received a pitch from Justin, the CEO of Fake Food Japan asking whether I would be interested in reviewing his products, the sort that makes awesome gifts that certainly no one has. His products are made in Japan, in fact, handmade fake food with themed items such as business card cases, cell phone accessories, keychains, magnets, and more. I received 2 items from him for my review. So here goes my review for the "Shrimp Tempura (small) Keychain" and "Taiyaki (small) USB Flash Drive (4GB)":

About the sponsor:
"Fake Food Japan prides itself in bringing you true works of art. Our handmade fake food are carefully designed and crafted from the most skilled in the industry right here in Osaka, Japan, where the fake food industry got its start in 1932. Starting our operations in 2012, our mission is to give people spanning the globe the opportunity to own and enjoy for themselves this Japanese time-honored craft of producing the most authentic looking fake food known to man.

So by all means, take a look through our web site to see all that is possible. And if you can't find what you are looking for, please let us know. We can take customized orders to create for you specialized one-of-a-kind items that you won't find anywhere else! And for our Japan-based customers, you can visit our sister Japanese site from this link: http://www.fakefoodjapan.net/ "

OK, need to interrupt you guys with some cute pictures of my 10 months old girl checking out the products that I got for my review.

Alright back to my review now, as mentioned earlier, I received 2 items for my review which are the "Shrimp Tempura (small) Keychain" and "Taiyaki (small) USB Flash Drive (4GB)". I like that the items are packaged neatly and they came with warning note at the bottom which says "This fake food is not consumable!"

Now the reason I requested the "Taiyaki (small) USB Flash Drive (4GB)" as one of the items to review is because my hubby lost his USB drive a while ago and I am so happy I get to give this to him! Hahaha! He chose the design himself (he loves fish!).

His feedback on the USB drive is that it is life-like and easy to notice because of its size (meaning not so easy for him to lose it!) although he did mentioned that there might be a problem when using it on notebooks or media players due to its size. Luckily our media player is high enough and the USB drive is shorter than our media players' height so that is not a problem for us. So far, the USB drive works perfectly for him!

Next item, the "Shrimp Tempura (small) Keychain"! My girl was so quick, she grabbed the keychain before I could snap some close-up shots of it! I do notice a strong plastic-ky smell from the keychain but after a few days of airing it, there's no more trace of the smell anymore.

I was surprised at its size, almost the size of my palm actually! And yes, it does look life-like! I chose it because I love eating tempura! Every time we eat out at some sushi restaurants, without fail I would be ordering tempura dishes! So yes, getting this keychain for my review is awesome as I am reminded of one of my favorite food! Hahahah!

Check out the pictures below for more details. I also love the key ring, it is so easy to hook into my keys!

You can check out the many designs at http://fakefoodjapan.com/

I am so excited to be able to hold this giveaway for my lucky blog followers and readers! ONE of you lucky people are going to win this awesome product! Winner get to choose any one item valued at less than US$55! Now, let's read below for the giveaway terms and conditions OK?

To enter the giveaway, kindly read and follow the instructions as stated in the Rafflecopter form below.

• You can enter either via login through your Facebook account or just key in your name and your valid email address.
  
• Please also leave your valid email address in the post comment so that I can contact you if you win this giveaway.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with the products by Fake Food Japan in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine.

I received an email for the opportunity to review an upcoming app from Auryn Inc, one that is narrated by Jamie Lee Curtis. Whoaaaa!! Ladies and gentlemen, I am thrilled to be given the chance to have a sneak preview of this app before its official release, hence without further delay, please read my review below...

* Title:   Where Do Balloons Go? 
* Price: $5.99
* Category: Books
* Released: July 11, 2012
* Version: 1.0.1
* Size: 170 MB
* Language: English
* Seller: Auryn, Inc
* Rated: 4+
* Requirements: Compatible with iPad.Requires iOS 4.3 or later.

Description from the product page:

"WHERE DO BALLOONS GO features a physics engine that simulates how balloons are blown up. Through an Animal Balloon Game, kids can blow onto the iPad to blow up balloons, twist and turn them to create their own balloon animals.

 Other highly interactive and creative games and activities include:
* Learn and explore as you play with animated balloons by recording your funny helium balloon voice, matching balloons with their human pairs and more!
* Bring stories from your child’s fantasy world to life by creating characters, recording dialogues, enacting scenes and creating a full-fledged play at the “Balloon Theatre”.
* Send customized and hand-written postcards to your friends and family.
* Let your little one’s imagination flow into outer space by getting them to join the stars and create imaginary constellations.
* Engage your kids with some foot tapping music as they shake a leg at the “big balloon dance”.
* Listen to what each character in the story has to say to you by nudging them to talk."

What's good?

* This app is engaging and interactive, there are surprises everywhere in the book as you move along the pages! 

* The illustration is so cute and beautiful! I love the details as well!

* It is kinda cool to have Jamie Lee Curtis narrating the story!

* I love the idea of writing our own postcard, from choosing the postcard template to writing and sending it off!

* I also enjoy the the dot to dot plane game as I'm trying to introduce this activity to my 3 years old boy in our learning lessons.

Room for Improvement?

* Jamie Lee Curtis’s voice is a bit boring at some pages. In the beginning, she sounds awesome but as we go through the pages, her voice gets into the same flat tone – you know children loves it when we talked in different pitches and tones? Similar to apps, I think having children narrating the app is a better option!

* There is a game where you need to touch all the balloons, I find that although it is fun, to be finding all the 200 balloons is a bit tiring even for me. I did managed to get down to 2 balloons left, but I do hope that the developer can reduce the number of balloons required and maybe change the balloons colors once we tap it? (Can consider putting all balloons in faded grey color, once we tap it, count reduced and balloon has colors on it?)

* There is a particular page shown below which I do not like (this is just my own opinion): I find it scary to see a boy inserting something into his ears and found myself immediately flipping over to the next page so that my boy does not learn to do that!

You can purchase the "  Where Do Balloons Go? " app from the iTunes App Store.

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with the promo code by the sponsor to redeem the application for free from iTunes Store in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine. And if you'd like to read my previous iPad Apps reviews, you can do so by reading this post of mine called "My iPad App Reviews"

I read the press release of these new books with great interest especially when it mentioned "...the books illustrate everyday scenarios that can challenge parents and young children: getting ready in the morning, sharing toys, and going to bed at night. Along with simple dialogue and full-color illustrations, the books include color-coded text to cue parents about positive language to use with their children. The ParentSmart/KidHappy series teaches four positive parenting techniques: (1) how to validate a child’s feelings, (2) how to offer choices, (3) how to promote problem-solving skills, and (4) how to encourage alternative behavior." 

So I immediately wrote in asking whether there is any possibilities of me reviewing the printed copies of these awesome books and a month later, these books arrived safely into our hands! Yes!!!

Without further ado, here goes my second review for the "ParentSmart/KidHappy™ Series" book entitled "Ready for Bed! A Tale of Cleaning Up, Tucking In, and Hardly Any Complaining":

Title: ParentSmart/KidHappy™ Series (Ready for Bed! A Tale of Cleaning Up, Tucking In, and Hardly Any Complaining)
Author: Stacey R. Kaye, MMR  Illustrated: Elizabeth O. Dulemba
Publisher: Free Spirit Publishing
ISBN-13/-10:  978-1-57542-269-5
Paperback:  32 pages
Dimension: 8 1/4" x 8 1/4"

Description from the product page:
" “I don’t want to go to bed!” If you’re a parent of a preschool-age child, you’ve probably heard this before. And you probably know about the crying, fits, and complaining—by both of you—that can follow. Ready for Bed! offers healthy, lasting solutions for a stress-free bedtime routine.

This book, and others in the series, provides a BONUS for parents and caregivers. With honesty and gentle humor, Ready for Bed! shows how to handle typical bedtime struggles by modeling three parenting techniques using color-coded text to teach the language of positive parenting:
* Giving encouragement
* Validating feelings
* Offering choices

These techniques are explained in detail in a section at the end of the book that is just for adults. The result: you get through bedtime challenges with less stress while building your child's emotional intelligence and your own parenting skills. Ready for Bed! features:
* An engaging, realistic story that will ring true for parents and kids alike
* Easy-to-use techniques and positive language highlighted in color-coded text
* A section just for adults that explains the language of positive parenting
* An easy, fun way to improve parenting skills—by reading with your child

Ready for Bed! is part of the ParentSmart/KidHappy series, the only parenting books intended for grown-ups and kids to share. Reading this book not only teaches adults effective techniques for encouraging bedtime cooperation, it provides a model for kids to follow. "

I love the idea of this book where mummy gently guides her son Marco (the main character in this book) who is not ready for bedtime through a series of choices to make while making them fun and exciting and in the end, able to accomplish her objective to getting her son to sleep.

As I go through the book with my 3 years old son, I can see him nodding in agreement (while displaying sad face because the little boy has to go to bed I guess hahaha!).

I love the beautiful and realistic illustrations! I I love that the ideas the mummy used relates to what I do with my boy on daily basis too, like bathing and brushing his teeth before bedtime and I'd love to try the idea where the mummy let Marco choose his own pyjamas. I let Ben decides when we reached this page and he too chose the crocodile pyjamas and I can see his happy face when Marco wore the same pyjamas!

One particular thing I had to deviate with the book was the part where mummy reads a bedtime story book with Marco. We don't really do that for bedtime, instead we use iPad and go through some of Ben's favorite games and storybook apps. But I think my boy gets the idea that it is a way to bond and get ready for bedtime.

My verdict? Definitely a must have book!

You can get this book from Amazon and Free Spirit Publishing website.

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with a copy of the book in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine. And if you'd like to read my previous book reviews, you can do so by reading this post of mine called "My Book Reviews"