Heart full of...

CHOCOLATE BROWNIES!!!

"I Love You With All Of My Heart Stacked Chewy Fudge Brownies"

This will probably be my quickest post yet. My sis Laura, of Laura Lee's Tasty Treats is baking like crazy lately! She is THE baker of our family and ever since she opened up her Etsy shop she's been rockn' and rollin'! I keep buggin' her to make some wheat/dairy free goodies for me to have and she's working on it (hint hint ;)

Okay, gotta go. Jason's here for dinner and our Rock Band night. Oh, I'll be blogging about that soon.

Peace & Love,
Rocki

Very Sad Day

This will be short and sweet as I have to keep busy, which isn't a problem as I have several orders to fill, and to keep my mind active. Danny had yet another heart attack yesterday. We were at the hospital last night and I'm crushed - simply crushed.

For those of you who do not know who Danny is, he is our best friend/brother in heart and soul. We've been friends for years and now he is loosing his battle with lung cancer. I have several posts about him on my blog, but if you click on the pic it will take you to the one about our Sea World trip.

I'm so horribly sad, eyes swollen from crying so much that I can barely see straight. Danny is only 48. In his short, but well lived life, he has had about 4 + heart attacks, bi-pass surgeries and unexpectedly diagnosed last April with stage 4 lung cancer after a chest x-ray because he wasn't feeling well. That was a blow. Mark & I went to appointments with Danny & Margie and when the doc said stage 4, we all pretty much lost color, to say the least. I was Danny's chemo buddy. I took him to chemo, we would people watch, eat snacks (he loves chocolate!) watch DVD movies, talk, laugh and whatever else to pass the 8 hours of his chemo therapy. Chemo and all other treatment have now stopped. All we have is time.

There are no treatments or surgeries that can be done due to his failing health. A surgery would actually kill him. Danny is now on DNR, per his request. They are setting up hospice today so he can be at home and comfortable. The doc, obviously, could not give a time frame - said it could be days, weeks, etc. Danny is one tough cookie and has fought this battle so well that he's amazed the docs - and us. I know he will continue to fight. Funny, he's worried about me! Even told Mark last night to please take care of me and make sure I'm okay. Danny. I just love him.

Well, guess this wasn't so "short and sweet" after all. I do need to get to work though. I have to work, just can't think anymore.

Live every moment as if it counts - because it does.

Love,
Rocki

Ahooooooooh?

Did you ever watch the TV show "Home Improvement" with Tim Allen? Ahoooooooh? I actually liked Al the best. Anyway, remember how terribly excited he would get over new tools? He would get this look of a mad man, a happy mad man, and make that funny sound that for the life of me I can't think how to spell it out right now, but it went something like "ooooh ooooh ooooh".

Well, I'm Tim at this moment - right down to the ooooh ooooh ooooh! It's bye-bye Dremel, helloooooooo Foredom Flex Shaft!! Yep. I'm a big girl now!

For those of you who are not familiar with a flex shaft, it is... well, like a Dremel on steroids! Basically it is a must have tool/machine for metalsmiths/jewelers (and other skills) that makes you more productive, proficient and... oooh oooh oooh, a big girl!

So today I'm giving Mark back his Dremel, rearranging my studio and setting up my new toy! You know where I'll be all day. Gosh, I'm just so darn happy that I could drill... or file... or buff... or sand... or...

Happy day everyone!

Rocki

Rocki Lasso's Stork!

If you've ever watched the classic movie "It's a Wonderful Life", then you know the line I'm talking about where Mary tells George: "George Bailey lasso's stork!" I love that line - so cute!

Well, at 48 I lassoed the stork last week.

Oh, not THAT stork! I don't know where you got that idea from in the first place ;)

I had a customer that wanted to know if I could make my Small Hoops and Baby Elfins about 1/2" long as she wanted to make some earrings for her daughter. Yep, you know me. I had to see if I could do it. I mean, I made a size 1 heart ring (smaller than a dime) before! I don't know why I didn't think of offering smaller earwires for little girls. Guess it just takes my customers to get me moving sometimes :)

So, without further ado, here is what Rocki's Stork delivered:

Teenie Weenie Elfin's

Itty Bitty Hoops

Oh, while I'm at it, I might as well show you my newest Headpins: Antiqued! Each one is hand brushed for a random aged look.

Time to go take care of my poor sick hubby now. Mark ended up with Bronchitis/borderline Walking Pneumonia this week :( He NEVER gets sick, but when he does, watch out!

Happy Weekend everyone,

Rocki

Happy 30th Birthday Jeremy!

Bitburg, Germany - 2 1/2 years old

Thirty years ago today, my first born son came into this world and forever changed my life. The moment the nurse placed Jeremy in my arms, a feeling came over me that touched my heart forever. I felt like a mom - complete in every way.

Both of my sons mean the world to me and I'm so very proud of them. I find it hard sometimes to talk about one without the other as we are all very close, but today is Jeremy's special day, so it is about him.

Visiting in-laws in Clarksville, Tennessee - 10 months old

Jeremy has always been a great son and has accomplished many things in his life so far. I can honestly say that raising my boys (okay, this is about Jeremy...) was a piece of cake as they never gave me any problems. Honestly. He was an honor student throughout school, was busy with school activities such as the Marching Band, loved to help me around the house, got a scholarship to NAU and wanted to be a Veterinarian ever since he was in grade school. However, he has found his true calling and has been going to school to become an A.S.L. Interpreter (American Sign Language).

Jeremy & Jason, Nov. 83, back from Germany traveling to next station.

Jeremy & Jason are 17 months apart and are very close brothers. Always have been and I'm sure will always be. Some people used to tell me that it was strange that they didn't fight like "normal" brothers, but to us this was very normal.

You never seen one without the other. In fact, I'll never forget the day we moved Jeremy to the NAU dorms (only 2+ hours north of us). It was hard on all of us and there were tears. After leaving the dorm and walking to the Blazer Jason broke down and cried. We got seated and Jason just curled up like a baby. Crying myself, I asked if he wanted to go see him once more before we left and he mustered up a "yes". We knocked on the door and as soon as Jeremy opened it, Jason bear hugged him. I was crushed.

Bigburg, Germany, 4 years old. Found the cookies.

Jeremy learned to read when he was about 2 1/2 years old. His first book that he read to me was "Are you my mother?". He also became very interested on how babies were born and was persistent on finding out - he was 4 years old. I always wanted to have an honest and open relationship whenever I had kids as I did not have that with my mom. So, I gave him the best answer I could, which he bought for a while. I mean come on, he was only 4. It wasn't until he asked his Kindergarten teacher that we had another talk about it.

Visiting Jeremy in Portland, Oregon couple years ago

Jeremy now lives in Portland, which I think has been about 7+ years now. THAT was another hard day, but he's very happy there and we love visiting him there. I especially love when he comes home for visits! We text and talk as much as we can, but there's nothing like seeing him in person :)

I could go on and on and on about Jeremy - my boys - as I love them so very much & so very proud to be their mom. However, this post will go on forever if I do!

Happy Birthday Jeremy! You are loved beyond words and I wish you peace, love and much happiness!

Love,
Mom

a.k.a. Rocki

Bye Bye Rocki's Rock n Beads

Yep. You read the title correctly: bye bye Rocki's Rock n Beads (RRB).

Ever since metal entered my life and a torch was put into my hands, my life changed. I started playing with fire & metal well over 1 year ago and was making all kinds of creations. My poor rocks n beads were feeling neglected, so I started playing with them again and things were fine.

Then the middle of last year I opened up my handcrafted metal supply shop and I've been amazingly and thankfully VERY busy ever since then. BTW - my supply shop started with my Signature Elfin earwires that I used in my own jewelry and ended up making left and right from my RRB shop by requests from sellers. The rest is history.

To sum this up (as I could go on and on you know), after a long hard look at what I've been doing over the past few months and what I truly love to do, I have decided to close my RRB shop and pursue my metalsmithing career further. I want to do even MORE with metal than I'm currently doing. Oh, yes I'm keeping my Rocki's Supplies shop of course, but want to advance using more intricate metalwork to enhance my supply shop further. We'll see where it goes.

Oh, about closing my RRB shop. Until everything is gone, including overstock destash items that I'll be posting when I have the time (time... HA), EVERYTHING in my shop is on CLEARANCE SALE at 40% OFF. Feel free to tell your friends, family, co-workers, etc. I won't mind one little bit.

This leads me to my other news. As some of you have noticed, I have not been blogging much or getting around to blogs lately. As a matter of fact, I haven't had time for much of anything lately. This is due to my very heavy schedule that leads into the evening hours, which I'm trying to change (I need some time for *me*). Although I miss you all terribly, I have to cut my computer time down as I'm in the studio more than not. So I *plan* on blogging at least once per week... maaaaaaybe twice, but don't hold me to it - and Twitter as much as possible (much quicker).

Speaking of time, I need to have breakfast and get into the studio.

Love and happiness to all,
Rocki

Groovy Baby!

I'm rather late with pictures, but better late than never, right? Well, in short here are a just a few from Christmas day with my family.

Above is me and my buddy/son, Jason. Yes, for those of you who do not know, I'm in braces :) Oh and the outfit? Well, you can ask just about anybody I pretty much dress like that all the time (minus the flower headband).

The love of my life, best friend and hubby dressed as much as he could for our Groovy Retro Christmas. Oh, guess that would help to mention. Each year, whoever is hosting the holiday selects a theme of their choice and we all pitch in from there. This year it was at Chris's house, my youngest brother, but it was my theme and I helped them with it. So, we had a late 60's theme. What else would it be? ;)

Unfortunately, my oldest son Jeremy couldn't make it home this year, but next year he will for sure. Above is me, Mark, Jason and Lauren (Jason's long time girlfriend).

We had a lot of fun, played games, did the gift exchange and had a LOT of AWEsome food!

Laura looked pretty groovy in her outfit I must say. Oh, that was one of the requirements, but for those who did not dress up in one way or another received groovy love beads to wear.

Well, that's about it for now. Unfortunately I won't be blogging too much right now due to a very busy schedule, again.

A little late, but Happy New Year everyone!

Rocki