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Momma's Black Bottom Muffins

1/29/2016

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My momma is known for her black bottom muffins... no one can make them quite like her... but I do try! Mine are actually pretty good too, I have won over my colleagues at the office with them; they are always a favourite at my many open houses! I have been asked to share the recipe, so here it is! :o)
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What you will need:

3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup coco
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

MIX DRY INGREDIENTS TOGETHER

then add:

2 cups water
2/3 cup oil
2 tablespoons vinegar
2 tablespoons vanilla

MIX WITH MIXER

IN A SEPERATE BOWL, CREAM TOGETHER THE FOLLOWING INGREDIENTS:

1 package of cream cheese
1 egg
1/3 cup sugar
a sprinkle of salt

ONCE ALL INGREDIENTS ARE CREAMED TOGETHER BY HAND; USE THE MIXER TO MIX THEM AND TO GET THE LUMPS OUT!

then add:

1/2 package of chocolate chips

MIX CHOCOLATE CHIPS THROUGH THIS CREAM CHEESE MIXTURE BY HAND.

SPOON THE CHOCOLATE MIXTURE INTO MUFFIN CUPS- 3/4 FULL IS GOOD. I SUGGEST THE FOIL CUPS, AS THEY BETTER PROTECT THE BOTTOMS FROM BAKING TOO MUCH. ONCE ALL YOUR CUPS ARE FILLED, ADD A GOOD SIZED DOLLOP OF THE CREAM CHEESE MIXTURE TO THE MIDDLE OF EACH. USE THE HANDLE OF THE SPOON TO POKE THE CREAM CHEESE MIXTURE DOWN IN THE CENTRE SO IT SINKS TO THE BOTTOM!

PREHEAT THE OVEN TO 325 DEGREES, WHEN READY, POP THE MUFFINS IN AND BAKE FOR 20 MINS.

*** Depending on your oven, you may require more or less time. I suggest setting the oven to 18 mins and watch them closely from there. When the chocolate is firm to the touch, remove from the oven!

Allow to cool on baking racks or on a tea towel and serve once they have reached a good temperature- BEST MUFFINS EVER! They can be frozen as well... actually they are delicious right out of the freezer too!

​HAPPY BAKING!
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January 25th, 2016

1/25/2016

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Supplies
1 set of mini blinds the width of your window
Fabric of your choice
Iron-on hem tape
Fabric glue
Paintbrush (optional)
Scissors
Sticky back Velcro
Steps
1.  Open your mini blinds and lay them out on a flat surface, extended as long as they will go.
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2. Cut away the thin ladder-like strings by running your scissors along the top of the mini blinds.  These strings are typically used to turn the mini blind slats to let more or less light in – but you won’t be needing them.  Don’t cut the strings that go through each slat (used to lift and lower the blinds).
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3. Completely remove all the ladder-like strings so you are left with 2 lift strings and slats floating freely on those strings.
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4. Decide how many folds you want in your Roman shade.  My window was approximately 60″ tall, so I decided to have 6 folds, 10 inches apart.  Pop off the plugs on the bottom of the weighted bar at the end of your mini blinds.  Untie the lift strings and remove all the extra slats (leave one slat per fold, counting the bottom weighted bar as a slat).
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(Note: In this photo above I have 6 slats plus the weighted bar.  I should have only had 5 slats plus the weighted bar to make my 6 folds.)

5. Set aside the blinds and lay out your fabric.  Cut a rectangular piece of fabric to these dimensions (width of your window + 2 inches  x  length of your window + 5 inches).  My fabric ended up being 37″ x 65″ since my window was 35″ x 60″.

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6. Using hem tape, fabric glue or your sewing machine, hem the long edges of your fabric.  My hems were all 1″ wide.  I chose not to hem the top and bottom edges of the fabric during this step, but if I did it again, I would also put a 1″ hem on the top and bottom at this point.
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7. Lay your mini blinds on top of your hemmed fabric.  Place a mark about 2 inches from the top edge of your fabric on each side.  Then continue down both sides, measuring and marking the distance you want between each slat.  I made 6 more marks on each side, 10 inches apart.
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8. Brush fabric glue on the convex side of your slats, flip them over, line them up with your marks, and glue them in place.  Make sure to smooth out your fabric and press hard to get good contact between your fabric and the glue.  Don’t get any glue on your lift strings!
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(I realized when I got to the end that I had left one extra slat on my strings.  The solution was simple.  I carefully snipped the slat where the lift string went through it and removed it from the strings on both sides.)

9. Before gluing the bottom weighted bar in place, tie big knots in the ends of the lift strings, pull them tight, and replace the white plugs.
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Here’s a look at the shade once all the slats were glued in place.
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10. On the top edge, line the top bar up with the marks you made on the fabric, fold the fabric up and over the bar, and glue it in place on the back of the bar.  I left about 5 inches of fabric free on each end of the bar, since I still needed to be able to slip the bar into the brackets that suspend it from the window frame.
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11. To keep the fabric from looking droopy on the sides, you can add a piece of sticky velcro to the back of your brackets and to the flap of fabric that didn’t get glued down.

​12. Time for the installation!  Take a trip to the lucky window.  Install one bracket on each side, drilling the screws into the your window frame!  Probably a good idea to test it out – go ahead and pull those strings to make sure you didn’t accidentally glue them to anything. Congratulations!  Your Roman shade is done!
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Here’s a close up of the Roman shade.  You may have to train your fabric to fold nicely for the first few pulls, but after awhile it should fold up nicely on its own.  One lesson I learned was to make my shade just a teensy bit narrower next time.  This one fits almost perfectly, but still touches the sides of the window frame and doesn’t “fall” as nicely as a set of mini blinds would when I lower it.
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Overall I’m really happy with how this Roman shade turned out.  Start to finish, it probably took me 2 hours.  I have one more to make, but it will probably only take half the time since I know what I’m doing this time around! One last look for good measure.  What do you think? :)
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Its A Brand New Year!

1/7/2016

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Greetings and Happy New Year! I hope you all had a lovely and enjoyable holiday! It's time to get back cracking at it!

The latest stats are in and things are looking pretty good!

​Some key points I'd like to share are as follows:

1. The 2015 Sales to Active listing Ratio was 11.1% (this indicates a buyers market) 

2. Average MLS sales price for 2015 was $296,812 which is down 3.1% compared to 2014.

3. There was 1845 Active Listings on the Market last month, down (four months in a row!) -10.2% compared to December 2014.

4. We had 3378 sales in 2015, a 3% increase when compared to the 2014 calendar year. 274 sales in December 2015, which is up 4.2% compared to December 2014. Awesome news!

5. In 2015, for the fourth year in a row, we had over $1 Billion in total dollar volume trade in Real Estate. FANTASTIC!

Important tidbits for 2015:

Inventory was up 3.1%, unit sales up 3% & our average MLS Sales price was down 3.1%.

No doubt the tides have been changing but so have we! We are going into 2016 with high expectations for another successful year!

 

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    Author: Sherry Butt

    Fun. Fearless. Full of life. I am loyal and passionate; a lover of life and people!

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