JRR Custom Designs

10/27/2024

Well this has been a week for sure….. 3 years ago I was finally “Brooke” legally through all government agencies. 6 months ago I had heart surgery. Last but not least I made it to 38. There was a couple of times that nobody knew if I was going to make it at all since my heart failed.

It really makes me sit back and wonder about things and about life. Glad I’m still here for peanut though!

09/09/2024

Well this summer has flown by. I’m doing rather well since my heart surgery now almost a full 5 months ago. I had Aidrian for the first time by myself over Memorial Day weekend when I finally had enough energy to keep up with him! I was bouncing around on the planter at work at 7 weeks. Finally decided to get the car built and tuned, sheeted off the final wall in the garage, and we finally did some racing back in July. That was the first time that Aidrian and I were able to get out and do it for the summer. Aidrian went to his first live tractor pull this year and we were invited to be in the Arlington fireman’s fest parade from work. Bought another car mainly to use as good parts to swap onto my WRX, but now it’s turned into “project grocery getter”, and we will be rebuilding the engine and still swapping parts over! It was too nice to just scrap once the main goal was achieved.

That mostly sums up how I’ve been and what we’ve been up to. My chest still from time to time hurts, but it’s a night and day difference from where I was back at the end of January where I died twice. It just shows that anything can end at a moments notice, unless you fight it head on like I was and given another chance.

Brooke

05/07/2024

Well as most or at least some of you know that I’ve had a rather interesting last 5 months to say the least….. it all started back in January when I couldn’t breathe and I was in diabetic ketoacitosis and was carted into st Mary’s er. From there a few days later my blood sugar was finally coming down but I also had given myself an acute kidney injury forcing me on to dialysis later on.

A few days later I was intubated and sent over to UW hospital because my mitral valve on my heart was torn and failing. They fixed it up with 3 clips and an echmo machine for almost 2 weeks. I cheated unaliving my self now for the second time and was then in the icu the rest of February. March I was finally discharged to go home and get stronger because they didn’t want to hurt the kidneys any more and I might loose them with too much stress of surgery.

On dialysis now to get my kidneys working better and I get a blood infection from a new line they had put in, putting me back in the hospital for another week and a half.

Now moves to mid April and I’m retaining an extreme amount of fluid that I can’t walk more than 10 feet without being out of breath, so I’m readmitted to the hospital again. This time almost another 2 weeks but I finally get the surgery! Split me right in front and now being held together by stainless steel and I sound like the alligator from Peter Pan.

But now I am home and recovering. Today is a full 2 weeks post-op and I’m feeling a lot better. Still a very long road ahead for recovery, but I’m alive and in recovery.

Brooke

01/09/2024

Probably one of the smarter things I've done... drive forward, hook, and go!

11/26/2023

I don’t post here nearly as often anymore since I have changed directions with my life and the life around me.

I was contacted by the Dyersville newspaper for an interview for an article. It unfortunately isn’t about JRR Custom Designs latest product, but it’s a good article about 3D printing to which we all know has become a lot more relevant in the toy world now.

As for what’s going on in my life …. Aidrian is now in 5k and turned 5 in June. This summer him and I went all over the state of Wisconsin racing our ex cars. He has taken such a liking to it that his progression has been tremendous over the last year. He even posted his first ever 9 lap race! I was so proud of him, and for being one of the youngest drivers out there, it’s an awesome accomplishment for the little guy.

As for me, I’m getting through. I have bad days and good days like everyone else. Some of me misses the toys, and others of me only want to see Aidrian happy. When he’s in school, I sit around the house a lot and just tinker with the rc’s.

Brooke

05/02/2023

I haven’t posted anything in a while, but here is a photo dump from this last winter. Aidrian and I have been rc racing at Cheese City Xtreme in Monroe and Trackside in Milwaukee all winter long. He has really taken a liking to it and I like it as well. We started racing in September where he could barely do a lap, to finishing out a points series a few weeks ago with an 8th scale in novice class. I’m so proud of his achievements so far as we move into the summer racing season.

12/26/2022

Well I’ve been quiet on here and quiet on a lot of things. Never made it to the national toy show, and really haven’t talked to anyone in the toy community for a while now.

It’s been one hell of a journey to get to this point, but now we can move forward on a new one.

Love always
Brooke and Aidrian

09/25/2022

Well everyone, it’s an end of an era…. All the farm toys are packed up (for the most part) and moved off to the corner. This weekend I had a lot of thinking and decisions to make regarding myself and my future.

I’ve had a lot of people ask me when I’ll be building again, the simple answer is, I don’t know if I will. I just don’t have the will, desire, or passion for farm toys anymore.

I’ve moved back into rc cars and my son and I enjoy them. I only have him now on the weekends, so we do what he wants to do, and right now that’s what he wants to do.

I spent the last few days up in Baileys Harbor up in the Door Peninsula of Wisconsin. Did another photo shoot with some classic cars at the car show. It was a lot of fun, minus the rain. Overall it was still a success.

Onto other things than farm toys. I’m now for sure doing things more for me and my son.

Farewell community.

Brooke

07/31/2022

Well nothing toy related, but feeling accomplished…. Got the bed off my truck so that I can get my new bed put on and I cleaned up and painted the chassis since it was the perfect time to do it. I’ve also gotten back into R/C cars since the little one has taken a liking to it as well, so it’s something we can do together.

Brooke

07/11/2022

06/04/2022

Well, made it down to the summer show this morning. I was hoping to find Aidrian his birthday present, but I wasn’t going to spend that on my soon to be 4 year old! Had lunch at Q casino before I left Dubuque and even caught some old guy eyeing me up…..

Got home a little after 4, and the only thing I bought was an original deluxe farm set from ERTL, and to my amazement…. All still factory sealed in bags and no stickers missing from the sticker sheet! I scored one hell of a deal on this set (also considering it’s from 1990!), and for the first time in a long while, I’m actually happy with this. I scored a rare complete set in factory bags. I am actually happy!

Brooke

05/21/2022

Not sure what has possessed me to clean the garage, but this is the first time in 9 months that I can actually get 2 vehicles in the garage again. There is still a ton more cleaning to do and stuff to throw away, but goal of 2 vehicles has been achieved!