Tell it like it is!

Usually I don't bother with reality too much
I much prefer to live in my own world, playing by my own rules

However, when it comes to my deadlifting I take the reality very seriously
and there are certain facts that I acknowledge and try my bestest to adhere to, 
- the first being good form

so it had been a little while since my gym mate had checked my form, a few months infact, and I had managed to muscle my way up to lifts on 100kg

and I sorta felt that I was doing pretty good

and any boys in on deads day would kindly check out my form and make sure I was doing good

but last week my mate was there, 
and he did watch me, 
and he did pick up on my form 
- yay! thank goodness for that! 
so I wanna say thank you so much!!! (he's the bestest ever! :)

cos I wanna lift as strictly as possible so I can pile the weights on, and that will not happen while my style goes to hell

so luckily he kept me straight, and filmed me

and all I can say is that it makes a huge difference when you see yourself on replay hashing up a lift

because every lift I do from now on will be more focused

(except in this 100kg deadlift I actually lost my grip and it tumbled like a feather out of my hands....  I don't normally look like I'm not trying)

so I went down to reps on 90kg

usually I do about 4 to 6 sets on 90, with 3 reps per set

anyway, here I am, showing all you beginners how NOT to deadlift! ha ha!!

yeah - that's right - my tush is sky high! (I was tired that day, honestly)

so I have something concrete to work away on now, and even though it felt 'right' to me as I was doing it, I can see that in reality I look like a bag of sh* 

and I am gonna have to change my mindset about the feel of doing them, and really start lifting more with my legs at the start of the lift

hmmm.... girls on film....

and ofcourse I wanted my papa to see me (he lives in the Far East), and my brother (he lives in Norway), and my beautiful friend (she lives in Australia), and my mama (she er, lives 5mins up the road :)

so that meant getting a youtube channel and a catchy lil name!

and after much deliberation I settled for Leveret Loves Iron

yeah - had to be a free-weights-loving little hare eh?

anyway, I shall add clips of lifts that are totally impressive and amazing and.....

just joking! I'm past all that bravado stuff - I shall post clips of stuff that I can study in detail, and er, my occasional maxes when I do manage to pull them off, and ones of me when I am having a good-hair-day :) (I am a girl after all :/ )

well, it's not been all rosy here

see that biscuit+chocolate filled plate, the cup of lady grey tea and the warm, comforting sunshine? 

that all equals one thing only = a little bit of a glumness 

but after all those chocolates and biscuits and two cups of tea (because with that amount of chocolate you really do need 2 cups of tea to wash it all down!) I was feeling SO much better! might I even say a little bit sickly...

chocolates and tea really are the thing!!

anyway my glumness was only because I had made a slight misjudgement in this real world and attempted something I'd never done before and thought I wanted to do, but which apparently I did not want to do! ha ha ha!

still, nothing tried, nothing gained

it all comes down to experience and living, and experience has taught me to never be hard on myself, like never ever ever (hence the choccys)

though just beside me in the sun and plate of chocolates is my favourite photo of my little heart

but I never get glum when I look at Wesley. I kept my promise to him good!

All I can feel is unconditional love for him and seeing his photo always makes me smile!

I still love that little beastie with all my heart to the moon and back and back again and...

my little heart surrounds me in my happiness and I bask in his love when I am feeling good

isn't that nice to know?

these little guardian angel hares are in my etsy shop 

and waiting for their forever homes 

where they will sprinkle some unconditional love about

they come with a complimentary angel hare card (ofcourse)

and a wee sheet with some comforting and uplifting words I wrote 

you have * gained an angel *

who is amongst the stars

on wings that will never tire

amongst love that only gets stronger

who will be watching over you

shining down on you night and day

sharing your joy and love

for only in love can we feel love

~so every day from now on~

promise your angel ~ that you will 

celebrate with love, smiles, laughter

and good memories, and in return your

angel promises you ~ to be right there

by your side, deep in your heart

always nice to spread a little love

and hoping that in your reality of fur-less-ness, that any glumness will disappear when you hold something as cute as these little hares and remember your own little heart

~ chocolate, sunshine and tea help alot too!

and adding to the angelic lagomorph culmination on the clouds is now a tiny winged rattus norvegicus!

aren't rats the most adorable ever?

I used to have a little ratty when I lived in Darwin, Australia. I got him (I saved him) when he was tiny and about to be fattened up to provide food for the snakes at a local wildlife park. They let me choose him for free, and so 'Ratty' came home with me, and we had many great adventures together.

I made him a minuscule leather collar and lead and took him with me when I went exploring at the beach. If a brahminy kite happened to fly over then he would make a bee-line for my shoes! He was so adorable, and had a huge condo (alrighty, it was a hutch) that my dad built for him beside my bedroom with an enormous run attached to it. Though most days he was neither in his condo nor his run. Could never find the hole he used to go out exploring but every day he was always there, amongst the grass in the middle of the back garden, so happy to see me as I gave him his daily raw egg.

these little rats are made to order

and it never seems to matter - the size of your little beastie -

because if they have a beating heart, and glistening eyes

then you can be sure that they have made their way deep into your heart

I really like the way he has turned out. This little chap is already on his way to his forever home

Ratty was about the same size, no matter how many eggs he ate for breakfast.

well, aside from deadlifting, eating chocolates and making rats, I rustled up a new baby hare for my etsy shop

this fiery determined handsome chap - on the right - is called War

my hares always tell me their names

(yeah, I can hear my brother asking now exactly what reality I am living in... :)

so here is War, with absolutely huge golden eyes! I painted them myself and they turned out pretty good I think

I also painted Sunlight's eyes too. Sunlight is on the right and he is away to his forever home with his smaller brother Alexander (on the left)

yeah, those two also 'told' me their names. 

That's the thing about being a writer and a creative person - your creations come alive and before you know it, they are dictating their story to you, pointing out all their important and unique traits and characteristics and preferences. 

That is just the way it is.

and I've also been busy with more Drive Safe baby Army Hares!

the latest litter is in German Flecktarn cams. Aren't they handsome little fellas?

Though the flecktarn is rather on the thick side, and I am having a hell of a time pulling out their tiny ears. Infact it is so darn hard that I have to use pliers to slowly prize them out! it's taking like forever!

And I even invested in a pair of some scary looking surgical plier type things to drag the material thru (ugh! the thought of these being used to poke about blood and skin and inside stuffs... euuggghhh!) 

but they are not as effective as the pliers.

anyway in a few more days time I will have my first ever batch of German leverets!

just before I go - did you hear the toons I was deadlifting to?

all good stuff! 

Metallica, ACDC, Motorhead, Disturbed etc etc

this is the stuff that makes my heart beat fast and the blood course thru my veins - just the thing I need when I am pushing the metal

It is after all, a hard-core, old school, free weights gym! 
couldn't be doing with anything poncy like!

so here's one of my most fav Metallica songs! 
*enjoy* :)
oh, did I mention that Metallica is my fav band?  

so LOVE Metallica!!!

Anyway, enough of this reality! 

I have a story to write and War is gonna tell me like it is.....

Happy / Merry / Hoppy ~ c Рождеством ~

Happy / Merry / Hoppy 

Wesley and I wish everyone a good one

a good good one

and may the bears be friendly

the racoons polite

and the young hares well behaved 

and this is for my good good friend in the States 

( ~ she knows who she is ~ )

an abundance of  **!! HAPPY !!* 

just for her :)  yay!

Happy Christmas beautiful lady! xxx

and may you bask in the light of love

often and always ♥

okey dokey, personal greetings over

I've got my calendar up already

though my tree is still not yet up

- no time! 

I've been flat out bringing many little leverets into the world and sending them safely on their journeys to adorn xmas trees else where

I treated myself to a calendar from the Hare Preservation Trust

I am their volunteer business development manager (big title huh!) and I run their online shop

I've been doing it for quite a few years now.

I like that the Trust is primarily concerned with changing the law regarding the status of hares in the UK by political policy. This is a nice approach to do things and we work with all sides of hare interests. 

The calendars are all sold out for this year. They sold well, and fast!

I rather like this pic of a hare.

I usually keep my fav pic on display all year round, so maybe I will be fast forwarding to August, in January (most probably!)

I'm not into dates or numbers or week days or stuff like that. I work for myself, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, so every day is the same to me - work, work, work....

*yaaaaaawwwnnn* ..complain.. complain.. complain..

no, not complaining Wesley! just sayin'

I bought Wes a heater the other week. 

A little one that can be kept on all the time.

It's a tube type thingy and gets nice n toasty and Wes has spent every waking minute dozing by it

his toys wanted to get in on the action too

hey! get them away!

heat hoggers!!

infact Wes has adored his heater so much so, that when I was cuddling him the other night I happened to notice that the inside of his ear was all raw and pinky and *burnt* (shameful blush!!)

so I remedied that right away 

- with a kiss for Wesley (kisses Always work!)

- and a little loose sock slipped onto the heater

(the heater does have huge writing saying Do Not Cover, but hey! just look at Wes and his toys!? it's completely covered in my opinion!) hmmmm

the Edinburgh skies have been all pinky too

beautiful December sunsets over the Scottish capital, so good to see

took this one a couple weeks ago, was so breath-taking

and then got a repeat a couple nights later

isn't it just amazing how beautiful the world can be

truly blessed to live on earth

(em, as opposed to the grey dry desolate moon .. perhaps..)

and as the year draws to an end I am more than half way thru War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

I read this book in high school for my English matric. I studied the persona of the Russian male hero in a few of the classics (Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky et al). 

I read the book in lightening speed ofcourse as I had a few books to wade thru and dissect and study. I loved them all ofcourse, being a huge fan of things Russian. And War and Peace is a BIG book! 

but now that I'm older, not under exam pressure and can relax and enjoy a read, I am taking my time to savour it.

I get it in my inbox 3 times a week from Daily Lit and when it comes in at 11pm I make myself a lady grey and sit down for a cosy 5 minute read. 

This really is a great way to get thru books you've always wanted to read but never found the time.

I've read a few Chekovs, and the autobiography of Benjamin Franklin and a few other bits here and there but just now I am adoring my War and Peace with Andrew Bolkonski, Pierre and Natasha. 

It's good good stuff!

Tolstoy is truly a master story teller and such an insightful man. Now that I have some life experience, as opposed to purely intellectual dissemination, under my belt, I can really appreciate his incredible wisdom and sagacity. 

alrighty, enough high-brow

next on my read list is Conan the Conqueror. So, so excited!! LOVE Conan :) *sigh*

I just have to finish my current books, which in no particular order are - Andy McNab ~ Immediate Action, W.Stanley Moss ~ Ill Met by Moonlight, John Le Carre ~ The Constant Gardener and Douglas Reeman ~ Battlecruiser that I started about oh, about a year ago. 

Hmmm, then again, maybe I will just go straight on to Conan. I do like to eat my dessert first. When I go out to dinner I look at the desserts first :)

anyway, whatever book I pick up next

will be because I surely LOVE it

I have always loved books. 

I love their feel, their contents, their voice, their world, their comfort, their....

so, whatever you do this xmas,

whether with friends or family or familiarity 

make sure you have a good good one

and you're happy 

merry

and if you've had a few, hoppy :)

and to all my Russian readers who've been stopping by ~ спасибо!