The Leverets Nest: hardcore gym

Sunday, 28 April 2013

Sexy Hot stuff! - a man's touch at The Leverets Nest

I go to my local cinema, Cineworld, every Orange Wednesday with my mum to catch the latest flick and I always enjoy the pre-movie trailers and the ads.

Lately it's been the new Diet Coke ad, with some lean dude mowing the lawn who gets wet and has to take his shirt off and ... you all know the story I'm sure...

and so I thought to myself -

if coke-a-cola use sex to sell their brown sugary drinks, surely I can use a lil' bit of hot stuff to sell my hares huh?!

Well, I happen to workout 6 days a week in an excellent free weight gym with serious athletes and they spot for me when I am benching 60+kgs, or decline pressing 70kgs, and give me the best advice ever on my deadlifts, which were an easy 13 reps on 80kg last time (will be 90kg next week for sure)

anyway, you get the picture - they are all super nice to me

and so, one of the super-nicest ones kindly said yes to me, he would hold my hares and humour me, as I took snaps to spice up my etsy shop a bit :)

Baby hare Adair was so excited!

his blue coat perfectly matched the rack and he was held as gently and tenderly as a newborn

and Baby hare Fergus was thrilled at being in the gym because his eyes are the colour of the walls and he wanted to meet my friends too,

(he was about to win the arm wrestle but I missed the shot)

plus, Fergus' coat is slightly tatty with threads fraying as it was once the lining of a jacket, and the gym is also a bit careworn with it's chips and dents and all that - and Ferg loved that - and me too!

Adair and Ferg had a few words about who was the strongest baby, as they eyed the impressive arms they were held in

slightly leaner Ferg said appearances had nothing to do with it, just look at Annette, scrawny but strong,

and

more robust Adair said - well, big weights means big muscles - just look at our new friend here

Baby hare Fighter was more than pleased because his dinosaur filled coat matched the cam pants and boots of his new pal, as they discussed the tastiest protein intake

Fighter said that he had only tried the occasional ear wig and ant that had crossed his path, after all he was a hare and hares are meant to be vegetarian

mind you, the ant was tasty he said, but he's not told anyone yet....

Mother hare Vortexa, on the left, and Mother hare Matrexa were so delighted to see inside my gym,

and em, to be pressed tight against the chest of their special new friend

(the bench had some drool on it afterwards, so I made them wipe it up, as that's only gym protocol...)

Matrexa oohed at the huge weights, then spotted the mirror and started to groom her coat

but then her eye caught sight of the amazing tattoo on her new friends arm, and my, my she sure had some compliments to give him,

because, she went on, did he know that her coat is from an upcycled tea towel that came from the Northern Territory in Australia where Annette grew up? and it's of an Aboriginal painting of a crocodile

very beautiful he said, and well - did you know that mine comes from the New Zealand Maori warriors?

oooooh sighed Matrexa, purring with delight

well what about my beautiful coat too, barked Vortexa,

and she was about to make a big scene

when she too received many flattering compliments about her markings and had her fur stroked attentively

much purring followed

(Vortexa is a gift for a very lovely lady in Texas, so won't be going into my etsy shop)

then finally when my new model's hand had nearly fallen off with all the patting and the hares were content

I gave him the tiniest hare of the day -

now you see me!

now you don't!

ha ha, isn't that the best ever hide-n-seek!

this is my Drive Safe with Baby Hare and the little hare was so happy to meet someone who shares the same great taste in fabrics!

and for such a tiny hare she kept a good conversation and wanted to know all about his wheels, what was the harepower, did it have mags, what was its zero to 60 and did it have ......

horsepower he corrected her,

oh, blinked the tiny hare, pretending not to hear .....

then it was time for the ring wearing man to brush up on the rules of marriage with my postcard set,

namely the postcard about giving during games time (perhaps it can be applied to monopoly or various card games, though personally, when playing those type of games I take no prisoners :)

'remember marriage is a game that must be played on a 50/50 basis - give and take - bear and forbear'

but ofcourse, tough men already know the roolz :) and have nothing to prove

so it was onto my Grey Hare Card next.

ready to ship and with an assortment of grey hares on the front, celebrating another year of your life, as you add yet another grey hair to your head....

and not necessarily another candle to an ever increasing cake circumference....

you must be joking Annette! - this is what you do outside the gym - cutting out hares for a living?

and I thought you had a serious job.....

... right, thank god that's over!

I'm thirsty after all that gym-bunny stuff

got anything for me to drink?

- and remember - real men drink real coke!

ha ha :)

thanks SO much to my awesome model!!!

yay - he's the best :)

and so much better than the diet coke dude

Friday, 1 February 2013

i iz no gym bunny

a few weeks ago I received a delightful surprise in the mail ~ from across the pond

~ a holiday card (American xmas card 'happy holidays') with house bun Mr Mick on it, wearing his beautiful blue scarf

and

a calendar for this year, that Jade had mentioned on her blog, featuring the most gorgeous rabbits,

including her Mr Mick, posing perfectly as Mr May

the rabbits in the calendar are just adorable, or should that be 'abunable' ?

and this pretty lady caught my eye, with her little toy koala peering from behind her

some of my baby hares and my ram looked on in admiration at all the tenderness (after drooling over Mr May first, ofcourse)

and when I looked over the months again (as I had rushed thru to spot Mickey), the bun for January was a little fluffy treasure lying nonchalantly amongst some free weights!

and my heart started to race as I totally love my free weights!!

infact I love them so much that when I first stepped inside my local gym at 14, in Darwin, Australia, I was hooked!

I took up bodybuilding on the spot, because my hero Arnold Schwarzenegger had done that, and I loved the strict discipline, the 6 day a week/ 2hrs a day routine, and the 'moulding of the clay'.

The most muscliest biggest hugest man in the gym patiently took my under his wing and wrote me a great programme that I have followed ever since. Thanks Bruce you are the best :)

I was rather the star, and the local paper contacted me for a feature and I got a full page spread. How about that?!

that's not me on the right, that impressive lady was the world's No1 champion Ms Olympia and had quite a few years of serious muscle building under her belt, I was a weaky compared to her!! but I used to push the metal real heavy though

I won a First gold medal for bench pressing 52kg at a body weight of 48kg for under 18s

...anyway, ahem (pulling the tickets off myself), I digress...

a while ago I remember seeing the handsome Mickey wearing his fetching sky blue scarf, and about Jade saying she would post out a greeting card to anyone who wanted one,

so ofcourse I said Yes Please

and in the meantime I began to ruffle up a 'thank you' in readiness....

hey! what's this? blue isn't my colour lady, white is, you know that, and what's those fancy ribbons on the side? I'm not a kitty!! honestly?!

and I made a surprise white hare to go with a tiny hare Jade was having, and called him Kinglet - as in 'little king', because Mr Mick is a very regal, demanding king-like rabbit, and each of my hares come with their own original stories that I muster up, and so.....

Baby Hare Kinglet

One afternoon Kinglet was making her way across the meadow when she heard the rabbits making a big fuss about something. The rabbits usually made a fuss about things, they always seemed to have extra time on their paws and find things to fuss about but today Kinglet thought the fuss was extra loud so she loped over to see what it was they were fussing about.

One of them, their leader Sir M, had discovered an annoying piece of material that had been left outside his burrow. Infact it had been draping his burrow entrance, imagine that, the cheek of it! So he had tried to pull the pesky thing away but it was too cumbersome for him.

At first Kinglet wasn't exactly sure what it was because she had never come across something like this before. She had come across picnic blankets, and they were always brightly coloured with stripes and checks and bits of cheese stuck on them, but today, for the first time she saw a thin, unchecked and unstriped blanket with no cheese on it so she said to Sir M (what a strange name she thought!?) that she would drag it back home to show mama and all her friends.

Ofcourse Sir M agreed, anything to get the offending scrap away from his palace and out of sight! And so Kinglet got to work. It was a bit of a struggle because it got tangled a few times on the thistle bushes and brambles, and none of the lazy rabbits had wanted to help her, but she pulled and pulled and eventually got the whole enormous piece home. Whew! that sure was tiring work she thought as she proudly trailed the treasure behind her, though she noticed her furry feet were filthy from all the purchasing she had had to do!

Well, mama was impressed and so were all her kindergarten friends because this big thing will indeed come in handy once it has been nibbled and torn into pieces for everyone. Mama said that it was a sheet, she had seen one once, as a baby, a long time ago. So she gave Kinglet a pat on the head and then they took it down to the stream to give it a wash. All the other hares went as well to help out, because it was really a very, very big thing. And when it had been put in the water at the shallows and everyone bounded in to stomp their hind feet on it, it nearly floated away! Picnic blankets usually sunk to the bottom but this sheet stayed near the surface.

Everyone had such a laugh trying to stomp it clean. However the laughs soon disappeared when it came time to pull it out and dry it off. The mamas all took a side and pulled and dragged and scuffled and, well, you get the picture – they all exerted themselves as it slowly slithered along the rocky bank and up onto the soft grasses. But in no time it was dry, unlike picnic blankets which usually took a few days, sometimes a week. And again, everyone immediately joined in, nibbling it into sections. Even the babies were encouraged to nibble and they found it so funny at first and squealed in delight! It was very easy to pierce and soon all the mamas had a decent snippet to take home. Some of the babies had been naughty and nibbled extra holes in it, they had just been a little zealous, but ofcourse no-one said anything to them. And a few of the pieces were interesting shapes, but again, no-one said anything, the mamas were just happy to have a bit of this.

Kinglet asked her mama, what will she do with it, and mama said, why, to make a beautiful blanket for sitting on! Wow, how delightful! bleated Kinglet.

Kinglet is looking forward to dozing cosily on your armchair. She wanted to take her special piece of sheet with her but on second thoughts decided not to because she knows that you will have plenty of these sheet things in your airing cupboard and she can pick and choose as she pleases.

She may even have a quick look at the ones on the beds too, but knows that it's usual human practise to keep the best tucked away nicely in cupboards for that special occasion. Well, she'd like just the one thanks, and she'll have it folded up neatly on her armchair, between the cushions, so that she will look extra pretty on it as she snoozes away. You can do the folding, she's seen how big they are, can you just imagine a tiny hare like her struggling with the folding? Don't be so silly, not even for laughs!

And she'd like the French doors left ajar a little thanks because mama will be coming by to see her, and so will her friends.

Besides she will be showing off her new throne to them! Oh, okay, it's not really a throne but to her it will be because it's an extra special place to sit and nap on, and any place that cosy must be a throne! Plus that rabbit friend of hers, Mr M or whatever his name was, had said that he wanted to see what she had done with the scrap, so he will be hopping by too.

And just before they all turn up can you make sure to refold her throne because there are a couple of small nibbles in it, she couldn't help herself. (And don't even think of inspecting your cushions). What do you mean she has to take care, you are not made of thrones? What kind of way is that to talk to a cute little baby hare? sharp teeth or not?

and here is the picture of the king himself on his own 'makeshift throne' that inspired that story!

what?! you mean that beribboned nest is not for me?!

not that I really wanted it anyway, what with bows and no white, but that is beside the point

*furred foot stomping the ground*

**massive huff attack**

....the cheek of it !! ...... when do I ever get anything new? I've never had a cosy bed stitched up just for me! bah! hmmmph!

hmmm, well I'm sorry Wesley, I shall change that this year for sure because I can see that Mickey is really enjoying his new 'throne'

and even Kinglet gets to play in it

but you are right Wesley, it is high time that I rustled up a nice bed made just for you :)

....shall do it as soon as I get back from my gym

I love the free weights gym at Meadowbank, it's the bestest ever, tough, old, worn - no fancy crap, no bright shiny new stuff that makes you your morning cup of tea and toast, just old style hard-core weight training equipment

and I get to train amongst serious athletes who are all really nice lads

I have been back into 'pumping iron' for over a year and a half now and perhaps I am just as muscly as I was way back then, but there won't be any revealing shots cos I don't do bikinis no more

and besides, I'm not a gym bunny, I don't do lycra or leotards or singlets or skin hugging stuffs like that, I wear my old asics trainers, old training pants and scrappy workout Ts that I stitch up myself

though I do follow the same 2hrs a day / 6 day routine plus I run 2/3km most days, and I can bench reps on 60kg, and decline press 70kg, preacher curl 30kg, concentrated curl 20kgs and I can lift ......