Kim Kulture Club Musings

Hot Chocolate

Pretty sure that smile says it all! Sometimes the only thing you need to fix whatever ails you is a good warm cup of hot chocolate. Were you aware that January 31st is set aside as National Hot Chocolate Day? Yes, it is. There's the excuse you were waiting for! (You're welcome!)

I know there are people that will argue that there's a difference between Cocoa and Hot Chocolate. Here's the truth: those people need to chill out and have a cup of whatever they want to call it. Ha! It's chocolate, it's made from cocoa beans and it's served hot. Same thing in my book.

To honor this day, I'm including our go-to recipes for Cocoa/Hot Chocolate. The first two are mixes. These are the kind that you make in bulk and store in an airtight container and use as you want. They make fantastic gifts too! A fancy jar with some homemade cocoa mix and a bottle of flavoring or a bag of marshmallows? Definite winner!

The third is a beautiful variation of the Cocoa you'll find at the Happiest Place on Earth.

All of these are basic recipes that don't require a lot of ingredients. They really are a blank slate that you can build upon. Like peppermint cocoa? Add Candy Canes or Peppermint Schnapps. Mexican Cocoa? Cinnamon & Cayenne. Coconut? Coconut syrup. The possibilities are endless and only limited by your imagination.

Basic Cocoa Mix

Sugar Free Cocoa Mix

Hot Chocolate

Bad Partner Experience

I wanted to take a few minutes tonight to share something that happened. It's kind of a new thing for me. I actually fired one of my affiliate partners today. There have been a handful along this path that we just weren't the right "fit" for each other so those were easy decisions to make. This was different.

This particular one was actually one of the first ones I added and I really loved their website. I used them in a lot of my posts (you can imagine how much painstaking work is going into "undoing" all of those tonight) and, in fact, I ordered Christmas presents from them. That's what did it.

When I went from "partner" to "customer" I got a real good look at what happens when they screw up an order. (I ordered 6 items, they only shipped 4) 6 weeks later the missing items are not coming and I've gotten about 35% of my money refunded. I've gotten the run around, calls & emails unanswered, been ignored and treated pretty lousy when I finally got a response. I expect better.

Most of my life I've worked with the public and one thing that speaks louder than the product is the service. Mistakes happen and that's okay, but when they happen fix them. It's that simple.

So my vow to you remains unchanged: I will provide you with partners that I feel are a good fit, provide good products or valuable services. If I ever find that one is not living up to the standards I feel they should, they're gone. The trust you have in me and my reputation are more important to me. I cannot, in good conscience, recommend a business that isn't up to my standards.

That being said, if you have a bad experience with one of my partners, let me know. Please reach out to me and let me know what happened. Many I have chosen from personal experience, the recommendation of a friend or family. The ones I'm just learning about I try to vet really well before I enter into a contract with them, but I'm human. I miss things. If something happens, I really do want to know. I want this to be a great experience for all of us and I need your help to do that.

Thank you!

~Kim

Changes

Ch, Ch, Ch, Changes

I'm not a big proponent for "New Years Resolutions" but one thing I can appreciate is how it provides an opportunity for us to take a step back and evaluate things. We are about 6 months into this journey and, as you all know, we are constantly making changes. That's part of the process - figuring out what we think is working, might work or is an utter flop and moving forward.

I've been toying around with an idea for awhile, but wanted to get through the madness that is Christmas first. We have a lot of things in the works, but starting today you're going to start seeing a "Partner Spotlight" pop up on our social media posts. We're going to share 1 or 2 of these a day in the hopes of introducing you to one of the many incredible companies we've partnered up with. It gives us a chance to introduce them and tell you a bit about them, their story and why you should do business with them.

I'm going to start at the top and share them alphabetically (because that seemed the most senible way to do it) but as I complete the profiles they will all be available on the website. On the "Partners" tab on the site you will find their logos and a link to their site (that is always getting updated and will, in fact, be updated this morning again). On the "Deals" tab you'll be able to find a listing for each of them in the directory on the right. Each link will take you to a page just for them.

On the "Deals" tab you'll also find a weekly deals roundup that I will publish on Sunday or Monday each week. Throughout the week I will continue to share reminders about expiring deals or new ones that pop up mid-week, but those will be less frequent.

I will continue to share a couple of Amazon deals on social media platforms daily. I've not shared as many of those recently because, frankly, there haven't been a lot of super duper deals they've offered with my promo codes. (I love a good bargain so you can be sure I'll keep watching those.)

The hope is that using this format will make things easier to maneuver. I struggle with "clutter" and sometimes feel that things get bogged down in it. This is the part where I encourage you to regularly check our website, bookmark it, make it a habit to see what's new. Need to buy something online? Click us first and let us help you find it.

Also, don't forget the other tabs on the website - there are some incredible recipes, idea, crafts and adventures to be found. Those are constantly being updated too. We've just barely scraped the tip of the iceberg with posts! Thank you for being here and sharing - without you and your support we can't keep this ship afloat.

http://kimkulture.club

Diving Into 2021

As we begin 2021, I just wanted to take a minute and thank you for being along on this ride with me. I hope that you each know how much your support and continued encouragement means to me.

2020 was a doozy of a year: Covid, quarantine, school at home, unrelenting political and social unrest, job/income loss, cancer and a whole lot of unexpected surprises we never saw coming. We're hopeful 2021 will be kinder.

I find myself, a lot closer to 50 than 40, trying to reinvent myself and find a path to provide an income for our family doing the things that make me happy. As we enter into this next year, it's my hope that we'll continue to be able to grow and refine the site/social media platforms to be able to successfully do that. Starting a business in the best of economic times is hard, during it right now is kind of crazy. I have the utmost faith in this journey though. I know this is the path I'm supposed to be on, as scary as it is sometimes.

We're working on a lot of new avenues and changes that you'll start to see over the course of the next few weeks/months. I always welcome feedback and suggestions. And again, thank you for being here. Without an audience, this fails. You are integral to the success of this venture and I am grateful for you.

Recipes, Recipes & More Recipes!

We have a New Years tradition that we've done for forever that, no real shock, involves food. (Don't most GREAT celebrations involve food in some way?)

Every year to usher out the old & welcome the new, we celebrate with appetizers & dips. The way it usually works is the appetizers come out the evening of New Years Eve and we graze on them that night and the next day too. (Sometimes even longer depending on how crazy overboard I've gone! Ha ha!)

2020 has been a ride in more ways than I can even wrap my head around so I am more than happy to bid this year a fond adieu. Do I think 2021 will usher in like some winged angel? No. I think it'll be more of the same, but at least there's a chance it'll be an improvement. That's enough for me at this point.

Here are some of our favorite savory appetizer & dip recipes. (There are lots of sweet options on the website too!!!!) Please make, share and enjoy!

Blessings for whatever comes next!