Funky, Fun, Fresh Interior Designer

John Jacob Interiors

Photo 1:
Love the round wooden architectural pieces behind the sofa.

A large coffee table with lots of room for books, shells, lion heads, and greenery.



Photo 2:

Exposed timbers and glass vases are stunning.











Photo 3:
Pitchforks hang on the back wall and old clock parts hang in rustic triple frames.







Photo 4:

Love the ironstone plates on the wall.

The transom window over the french doors give added light.







Photo 5:

I heart the old wagon wheels that take up some space in this lofty room.

Shiver me timbers....

I love the timber beams and iron supports.

The arched window over the patio door mimics the arch in the fireplace opening.

This makes me drool....slurp!











Wood and iron railing. Very simple, very stunning.















Love the stonework and timber in this living room.

The timber beams have a slight arch just like the fireplace opening.

The horizontal straps on the wooden posts really give it a rustic character. Lots of wood going on, but yet it still feels open and airy with all those windows!

Beautiful Homes & Garages near Briar Cliff Village in Kansas

Doing some drive by shooting...camera shooting that is!!

Here are some lovely homes near the Briar Cliff Village in Kansas.

Look at this neat walkway bridge...a flowing stream is below it. Love all the stone work.



Look at these stone arches...beautiful!

I love the architectural details in this front facade of the home.

Love the small brick arches over the windows of this garage. This garage reminds me of a carriage house. I love the brackets on the front of the garage under the roofline. The iron brackets on the garage doors make it look more carriage like.

Got a few spare windows?

If you have a few spare windows lying around..why not hang them!

Here they are suspended on picture hanging wire.

One is used for the shelf with which to put all sorts of pretties on it. Love the white birdcage!

The second window is hung as the vignette's backdrop.

summer fun

It's Mosiac Monday...Join us the Little Red House

It's so juicy Mom!

Crystal Lake Camping Trip

Crystal Lake, Iowa
World's Largest Bullhead!























Anna freezing after getting out of the water.




















Photo 1: Chase, Tjaden & Anna building a pirate fort on the beach.

Photo 2: Crystal Lake at dusk...isn't it peaceful and pretty?

Photo 3: Anna getting ready to watch the fireworks.

Fruit Pizza

On our recent camping trip to Crystal Lake my mom and I made fruit pizza.

It was a great refreshing treat on a hot summer day.


See recipe on bottom of post.







Here it is all dressed up with a small flag.


























FRUIT PIZZA

1 roll of sugar cookie dough
8 oz. cream cheese
2 Tbsp. milk
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups Cool Whip
Assortment of fresh fruit like kiwi, grapes, strawberries, blueberries

Press cookie dough onto a round pizza pan and bake as directed. Let cool.

Next beat cream cheese, milk, sugar until creamy. Fold in Cool Whip. Spread this mixture onto cooled cookie crust and then top with fresh fruit.

Drizzle glaze over fruit to help keep it from browning and to give some added flavor.

GLAZE:

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup lemon juice

Cook above 3 ingredients until thick. Let cool and spread over fruit topped pizza.



NOTE: any type of fresh fruit works. We also love bananas, pineapple, peaches. Mix it up or use what you have on hand.

My little boy's accident

Tjaden, age 9
Tjaden suffered from heat exhaustion 2 weeks ago. He passed out on the walking across the street of all places!

Luckily my nephew was nearby and scooped him up quickly and brought him to me. Tjaden had been at the pool for 2 long HOT days and got dehydrated.

Took him to the doctor, actually carried him as he was so weak. Dr. Osgood did some blood and lab work and found out he was severely dehydrated and fighting a virus. They hooked him up to a I.V. and started fluids right there in the doctor's office...I didn't know they did that there...thought you had to go to a hospital.

After a bag of fluids and rest, he was released with strict orders to REST, DRINK & NO PLAY for a few days!

I guess now we have to watch him carefully around the heat as he can easily get it again. Once you get heat exhaustion, it easily comes back.

He had a nasty road burn on his shoulder but I didn't get photos of that. Poor little guy!

Natalie's Buttery Herbed Baked Fish

Here is a recipe I love to serve my family. We even made it last weekend over the open fire grill at our campground site.

Bake in the oven, or bake over your campfire in a cast iron skillet.

1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp. garlic salt
1/2 tsp. dried basil
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
2/3 cup saltine crackers, crushed
1/3 cup Ritz crackers, crushed
1 lb. fish fillets (if frozen then thaw, separate and drain)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small dish, melt butter. In another dish, combine other ingredients except for fish.

Dip fish fillets into melted butter and then into crumb mixture, coating each piece of fish on both sides.

Arrange in a 9 x 13 baking dish and bake near center of oven for 25-30 minutes or until flaky. I sometimes throw the extra crumb mixture in the pan to bake as it is so good!

Serves 2-3 people.

Of course---I double this recipe!

Family mission statement

I am following Tsh with Simple Mom with a series called Back to the Basics. She shared with us her family's mission statement which I posted below. We are working on ours and will post it soon. I love how Tsh's family knows precisely their mission, the steps to achieve it, and if anything comes up that may alter their paths, they can easily reread their mission statement and realign themselves.

What's your mission statement? Please share with me.

Our Family’s Mission Statement

As a family, we want to glorify God in all we say, do, and are. We will…

• Put each other first.
• Cultivate deep relationships with one another.
• Extend love to those around us.
• Live simply.
• Be true to who God made us.
• Take care of our health.
• Be good stewards of creation.
• Be lifelong learners.

Within our basic mission statement, my husband and I have created some goals for the rest of this year that reflect our pursuit of this mission. I’ve shared just a few of them below.

Our Mission Statement, with a Few of our Goals

As a family, we want to glorify God in all we say, do, and are. We will…

• Put each other first.

• diligently do our chores without complaining
• help each other as we see a need
• take each other’s emotions seriously
• be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry

• Cultivate deep relationships with one another.

• eat almost every breakfast and dinner together
• go on regular dates as a couple
• spend one-on-one time regularly, each parent with each kid
• guard our outside commitments, and do our best to keep four nights per week unscheduled

• Extend love to those around us.

• keep our home tidy enough to welcome spontaneous guests
• have two families, couples, or individuals over for a meal per month
• regularly communicate with our friends scattered worldwide
• cultivate a heart of grace, so that we do not judge others

• Live simply.

• remain debt-free
• finish our emergency fund by fall ‘09
• provide enough time for each of us to pursue one hobby
• make homemaking a priority, taking care to plan ahead for things (budgeting, meal planning, etc.)
• generally pursue excellence as we steward our time, talents, and treasures

• Be true to who God made us.

• regularly spend time with God through the Word and in prayer
• pray for each other often
• provide ample room for each other’s interests
• encourage excellence in godly pursuits

• Take care of our health.

• Eat food our bodies were designed to eat
• Eat most of our meals at home
• Move physically at least once a day
• Spend time together actively
• Vigorously protect the boundaries of bedtimes, for children and adults

• Be good stewards of creation.

• Spend time outside as a family at least once a week
• Do what we can to be good stewards of the environment
• Take a vacation, and make sure that much of it involves the outdoors
• Enjoy nature in everyday life with things like gardening and neighborhood walks

• Be lifelong learners.

• Regularly read quality books
• Learn new things together as a family
• Take care to enjoy only quality books, movies, and other forms of entertainment
• Understand the times in which we live, and keep abreast on what God is doing worldwide

Cheri's having a giveaway!

Click on this button to take you to Cheri's blog to see all the goodies and how you can win.

Happy Summer!