And we're back!

I'm writing this post as a record for me more than anyone else, so if you don't want to read details of our Cyclone Ului experience, don't bother reading on!

Wow. I really do take electricity for granted. I mean, I know that we do (and I'm pretty sure I'm safe in saying 'we' there) but power blackouts had always just been an inconvenience more than anything. But I've never been in a blackout that lasted more than a few hours before.

I feel so bad now for all the times I've heard of storms/disasters etc that have resulted in thousands of people (or more) being without power and essential services for huge lengths of time, and just thought about it for a moment and not much more.  Well, after just coming out of a nearly 48-hour blackout (which isn't even that bad!) I can say that I have more of an appreciation of how much we rely on electricity and technology.  (Not that I didn't realise that before, though...)

Cyclone Ului crossed the coast about 100km north of us, so we were really lucky that we didn't bear the brunt of it. We are also very lucky in that we have great neighbours who took the threat as seriously as we did and cleaned up their yard/patios which meant there was not too much 'stuff' flying around that could damage our house. The winds apparently reached about 150km/hr, which was enough to rip out huge trees and of course immeasurable numbers of palm fronds from around the place. There were power poles snapped right off, and some fences completely snapped off and destroyed.  But the only 'damage' we had was some palm fronds from our front palm tree came off! Like I said, lucky. Our neighbours (across the road) lost the roof off their shed which landed in their neighbour's pool, and one of our side fences has a definite lean to it.  But, the only thing that looked really out of the ordinary when we woke up was an inflatable pool toy from next door in our backyard, which could have happened any night really.

We spent Saturday preparing for the cyclone.  We'd already bought some 'supplies' on Thursday (and luckily we thought ahead of time enough that we beat the masses to it), so Saturday was spent bringing everything inside, taping the windows and putting together everything we might need.  As silly as it might sound, I put together our little cyclone kit (in a laundry basket!) and had everything sitting ready in the hallway just in case we needed it. 

We lost power at about 10.30pm on Satuday night as we were lying in bed listening to the radio.  No worries - we'd bought batteries and loaded them into the two radios in the house in readiness for this so that we could still stay up dated.  We also had the torches sitting by the bed.  So, we tried to turn the radio back on using the battery, but to no avail.  We thought that maybe that particular clock radio only kept the time/alarm with a battery, so we tried the other one. Still no go. We ended up trying all three batteries in all three radios, and none of them worked. We had a pack of faulty batteries.  So, every hour on the hour I would go and sit in the car to listen to the radio updates on the cyclone. At least the car was in the garage and not outside.

As the time passed, it got less and less exciting listening to the wind, as at times it was so strong you had to wonder what exactly was going to be being destroyed. Also, as the time passed, I got hotter and hotter.  We had all of the windows and doors shut and taped, and without the ceiling fan on it was so hot and humid.  John didn't mind - he just slept through it anyway! I was having a very hard time sleeping - I don't go so well in the heat and need things to be nice and cool when I sleep.  So, traipsing out to the garage wasn't such a bad thing.  The roller door wasn't airtight so a bit of a breeze was let through.  I ended up spending most of my time in there to catch the breeze!

The wind was so fierce, but there was no where near as much rain as we thought there would be (about 130mm overnight).  But, if that was only a Category 3, we can't even imagine how scary and destructive Cyclone Larry (Category 5) would have been than hit Innisfail a few years ago.

At about 5.00am the radio gave the all clear and said that we were no longer under a cyclone warning, so I took that as the ok to open all the doors and windows.  There was still some wind around which gave a nice breeze through the house and I finally got a few hours sleep.

Saturday was spent doing not too much - cleaning up a bit, going for a walk around the neighbourhood to check it out (we've got underground power, not overhead, so there was no danger there) and just hanging out. Surprisingly, the wind died down very quickly, and most of the day and night was absolutely still and very humid.  I didn't sleep well Sunday night either as it was even hotter than the previous night with no wind.  Some of that may also have had to do with the three generators that the neighbours were running outside of our bedroom window.  I definitely don't begrudge them that - I would have done the same thing in their shoes, but it was still annoying and loud!  I actually looked forward to work on Monday to get in the air conditioning and drink some cold water (rather than tap water).

Last night (Monday night) our power came back on. That was so good! (There's still about 24,000 homes without power now though.)  We lost a heap of food in the fridge and freezer though, but that's all replaceable. The best thing was being able to have the ceiling fan on last night - hooray!  We still have no telephone landline or internet, which is a pain with John working from home as he can't get his work emails.  But it's still only a minor inconvenience.  As I write this, John is sitting at McDonalds using their free wi-fi network to check his emails.

We've still got a little bit of cleaning up to do, mainly leaf litter and debris on the patio and in the backyard.  The Council has asked people to limit their water usage to the essentials for the next day or so (as the water treatment plant is being run off a generator at the moment) so we won't start cleaning that off until the weekend probably.  The windows will need a good clean as they are now filthy too, but all in all we escaped unscathed and very lucky.

So, that's our Cyclone Ului story.  Very dull, really, which I'm happy to say!  Because the rain was spitting when we went on our walk around the neighbourhood I didn't bring my camera, so I don't have any photos, but there'll be some around on the internet and such which I might post later.  Now I can get back to sewing 'stuff' - I have to admit that my craft room was the room I was most worried about getting damaged!

Back on the horse

Well, not that I've actually fallen off the horse (in the last 8 weeks anyway).

I'm talking about exercise.

John and I joined the gym in the middle of January, and made a commitment to go at least 3 times per week, but preferably 4 or 5.  Those who know me know that I'm not a morning person at all; but, we do go before work (yes, that's a 6am start) twice a week at least and we've only missed one day so far (which was when I rolled my ankle).

Three times a week we do our program which is weights based, and once a week we do a boxing (for exercise) class which is very full-on! I then try to do a pilates-type session once a week as well.

While I'm noticing differences (that probably wouldn't be enough for most others to notice just yet) I found that the thrice-weekly weights session was probably not having the impact it should, which I am sure is due to the lack of cardio sessions overall.  So, when John and I had our re-program last Friday I told my trainer that I think I need to do more cardio and he agreed.  Our new program now has 5 x 5 minute cardio sessions incorporated between the weights exercise. It's a killer, let me tell you, but I like it. I'm hoping that, combined with the weekly boxing, pilates and my planned 'walking home from work' at least once a week things will start coming together.

I have to keep telling myself 'baby steps' - it's a lifestyle change, becoming used to exercise being part of my daily regime and not just an exercise kick. 

It's now time for me to take stock of what goes in my mouth. It's not like John and I eat takeaway a lot, or drink alcohol (apart from John having a beer or two occasionally) but that's not the point. I've found that my portion sizes are the issue, and that's my focus for the next two weeks (and after that of course, but 'baby steps').

So, over the next fortnight, more cardio exercise plus reducing my portion sizes will be the name of the game. Perhaps posting this on the blog (which only a handful of people read, anyway, but those people are all important to me) will help me keep my commitment.

I'll keep you posted.

A newfound interest

I've well and truly caught the sewing bug - I am loving sewing little bits and pieces lately.  I'm finding that it's also helping to take the edge off some of the excitement about our upcoming travels - actually getting in and doing things that I've been thinking about in preparation for our trip is definitely helping me to quell the excitement to a manageable level!

I still have a list of things to buy/do before we go away, and when I realised that it was the beginning of March today it just seemed that much closer! We still have a number of weeks left to go yet though, so there's no need for me to start panicking just yet though!

I had a dream the other night that we arrived in Europe and we were in such a rush to pack that we left behind all of the extra SD cards for the camera, my travel journal, and the second little compact camera! Hmm, do you think I'm thinking about our packing list much?!

I've made a list of the little pouches/bags that I want/need to keep the little bits and pieces in and have started working my way down that list.  (We've got a heap of SD cards that I want to keep together in a zipped pouch, we've got four chargers and the power point adaptor that I want in a drawstring bag together, etc.)  I'm really using them as an excuse to sew things and hone my skills I suppose - things like sewing with zippers, gathering fabric, inserting linings.  I'm learning so much from tutorials posted on various blogs all over the internet.  It's amazing what you can find by typing in 'zippered pouch tutorial' into Google!  I'll post a list of some of my favourite tutorials that I've learnt at the end.

By the way, the fabric that I've used is just so beautiful - I am in love with it! Spotlight has nearly sold out though, so once I finish what I've got that will most likely be it!

This is the first one I made with a boxed bottom. I was so excited to do the boxed bottom and give it some width, and I think I did the 'box' too big.

This next pouch was my first go at gathering fabric, using a great Vimeo video from someone that I can't find now! I had previously tried to gather some fabric using a long stitch on my sewing machine, and found it hard to get exactly how I wanted and the thread kept breaking.  What I found was a great method, which used two rows of long straight stitch - one either side of the finished stitching line. The fabric to be gathered was then pinned in the centre and at the end to the piece of fabric that you wanted to stitch to (this made sure that the end width was correct). I've found out that my bobbin thread is looser than my top thread, and was easier to pull.  The final stitch to the 'flat' fabric was done in between the gathering lines which made it really easy to stitch down nicely.  I won't bore you with the rest of the details (well, probably too late), but the bottom line is I'm so happy with my little gathered detail, and I think I'll definitely be putting some more pretty gathered fabrics in my upcoming pouches!

I'm definitely happier with the size of the little 'boxes' at the bottom of this pouch.

I then saw this and this and decided that I really like that type of boxy pouch.  I had trouble with the finishing of the boxed seams being concealed, and could only work out on method that was really really fiddly.  I finally found this one with french seam finishing which worked so, so well.

I then decided that I needed a matching luggage tag, and made this:

Just don't look too closely, it's a bit of a mess! (The white is a piece of paper beneath a clear vinyl front for me to write my details on.)  I used this tutorial, but struggled a bit with the casing around the vinyl (the teal bit).  It was my first time sewing with clear vinyl, and I found that the trick is to stick a post-it-note to the edge of the vinyl so that the foot will not wreck it.  The post-it-note then tears off really easily.  I think I would use bias binding around the piece of clear vinyl next time as it may have a nicer finish - or maybe I just need to be a bit more careful. 

The piece I was most looking forward to making was my document wallet:

I used this tutorial and instructions that I had previously posted to make this, and I'm really happy with how well it turned out, considering I've never made anything like this before!

My only disappointment is how floppy it turned out - I didn't have heavy duty interfacing, so I just used what I had.  I've inserted some pieces of chipboard into the pockets to make it a little firmer.  (I've pulled the chipboard pieces out a little so that you can see the pockets more easily - they normally slip in out of sight.)  My passport actually fits, as does my drivers licence (which has been substituted for the back of an ANZ business card in the photo).  My credit card actually fits in the purple pockets, and the little pouch is for loose change.  I've since bought some heavy-duty interfacing from Spotlight (and it really is HEAVY duty) so I might give it another try.  The instructions and pattern were really easy to follow.

I've also made a couple of lined drawstring bags:

and a new camera strap cover. 

The last camera strap cover that I made was really a bit small and didn't sit nice and flat.  I started off with the idea to make a pocket to fit my lens cap and also a smaller one to fit a spare SD card, and I lined the back with some corduroy to make it a bit softer.  As with the last one I made, after everything was done, it had magically shrunk quite a bit, and the width was nowhere near what I wanted.  I am at a loss as to how to make these things wide enough!! This is the third one I've made now, and it started off soooooo wide just so that I could make sure it ended up being what I wanted, and it still found a way to become too narrow! Needless to say, my lens cap definitely won't fit in that teal pock, and my SD card won't even fit in the pink pocket! The cover actually fits the strap though, and I just think of the teal/pink as being some decoration! This is probably something else that I will try again, and cut the strip of fabric 12" wide if I have to!

I made a pouch (with a string to hang around my neck) for my iPod last night, and it was my first attempt at quilting a 'quilt sandwich'.  I don't have a walking foot, but I'm really happy with how it turned out.  And, it's a miracle, the iPod actually fits! I'll post pictures of that later.

Now that I've bored you all to tears with my blow by blow acount of what I've been making (which only I'm really interested in, I know that) I'll sign off and be back later with some more.