I Heart...

alarm clocks that make me take notice.

I'm notoriously poor at getting up in the morning. I'm a snooze whore who intentionally sets my alarm 45 minutes ahead of when I actually have to be up – because I like playing mind games with myself. Does it work? Hell, no. But it's better than hearing voices on a regular basis. I'd prefer to listen to Dexys Midnight Runners while I'm slowly coming to life.

I've read the studies that say one should get up at the very first alarm – if they even need an alarm clock at all. Most sleep experts would suggest that if you are getting enough sleep, you don't need an alarm in the first place. I'll be sure to use this tactic when explaining to the Delta agent why I missed my next flight.

Enter the Clocky. This devilish little creature acts as both an alarm clock and a moving target. If you ignore your alarm, it jumps off your nightstand and rolls around the room until you physically get up and turn it off.

I can see it now – I'm sleeping soundly as the alarm chimes 6:15 am. I turn over to hit the snooze button and then turn back over to cuddle the hound dog – who, by the way, is just as addicted to the snooze button as I am. Exactly 7 minutes later, my Clocky rolls off the nightstand and starts rolling around UNDER MY BED, where an extremely pissed off Captain Tony is loudly meowing for his breakfast. Clocky chases the fat cat out of the room, thus ensuing the standard "chase the cat" game that both the hound dog and the husky love to play. Fat Cat jumps OVER the baby gate while Maggie and Kira run through it. I have 3 distracted animals, one pissed off, still asleep, obscenity-screaming woman and an alarm clock that's wedged under the bed playing 80s dance music at decibels that aren't fit for anything inside.

Yep, the Clocky sounds like a great idea. I hate that I like the idea so much, because I give it 2 days before it becomes "Clocky in pieces at the bottom of the wall it just slammed against."

Photo courtesy of Nanda Designs.