Progress

In the Studio

Finally decided on hair for the first of the smiling doll heads. 

The decisions about hair and costume 

take such a long and frustrating time. 

The floor of my studio is awash with fabric and miscellaneous items 

I've dragged out for auditioning.

Anything that might give me a hint of where this fellow

might want to go

or 

who he might want to be.

Because I have several heads in progress,

I made three clay head pieces,

and chose a couple of others as possibilities.

Until I have chosen hair and/or hat,

I'm in despair.

Once I know who I'm working with,

things get a little easier.

I'm happy now about where this fellow is going,

but prepared for more frustration along the way.  :)

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Reading

I've taken a long break from the Lewis Carroll biography, but have read several mysteries that I need to review.  Also finished This Shattered World, a YA science fiction novel that I enjoyed.  Since I've been so busy with working on Eccentric dolls, I've not been keeping up with writing my book reviews over at my book blog.  It is on my "to do" list for today.

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Donations/Charities

Do you receive pleas for donations all year, but especially during the Christmas Season?  If you plan to make a donation to a charity, it is a good idea to check it out and see how much of your donation goes to fund raising and how much to the actual cause.

Charity Navigator offers information about charities that overpay their for-profit fund raisers, as well as some of the charities that have consecutively good ratings or that are worth watching.

Charity Watch also provides ratings for a wide variety of causes that I'm interested.  I like this one because of the number of charities they rate.

When I get a donation request in the mail, I go to the computer and Google, "how is _____ charity rated?"   Like everyone else, I have several favorite charities on my list, many of them local, but when I get a request from a new one, I check it out.  The ones I hate are those with phone calls; many charities that make those persistent phone calls (although good causes) are those that spend too much on paying fundraising groups and too little on services.

I want to contribute to good causes, but I want to know that the money goes to research and services.  Charity watchdogs give me that sense of security.