"Cabin Fever"

This is what happens to a doll maker on her day off when she has cabin fever. My intention was to be creative and come up with some beautiful new doll designs. Instead, I've had the worst case of "cabin fever" which has resulted in my being restless and unfocused. We have had one of the worst storms in Sacramento history here for the last three days. We are in a "severe storm alert" right now. We have had blizzards and road closures in the mountains and torrential rain, gale force winds, falling trees, failing levees, 4 tornados and major flooding in the low areas.

I have tried to stay focused but the wind sounds like it's going to take the roof off. Yesterday I was listening to the radio and the emergency alert system came on. At first I thought we were under attack. Instead, it was a storm warning telling us that if we saw a funnel cloud we were to take shelter immediately in a solid structur or underground. We don't have too many basements in this area and I live in an upstairs apartment.

I've been working at organizing my projects and making decisions about who, how and what my dolls will be but it's just not happening for me today. Instead, my dolls look like a bunch of abandoned mannequins in a department store warehouse. I decided that if I can't be creative today I will at least try to be constructive. Thus the pile of doll parts you see above.

Maybe I can at least finish a few blank dolls before I go to bed and concentrate on dressing them over the next few weeks. Dressing is the fun and creative part. I usually focus on a person or personality when I plan my dolls' faces and costumes. Then it's like painting a portrait. It gives me a direction to follow.

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