Updates and Kitty Pics

Well, I haven't had a whole lot to say lately, but some things have been going on behind the scenes.  After about 2 months of heavy uncertainty, I have a bit more stability in my job.  Rather than my contract potentially ending on 12/31, as of Monday I was picked up to remain where I am through an Indian outsourcing company that is taking over the majority of the contractor positions where I work. That is what I've been hoping for. I had also interviewed for and was offered another position locally last Friday, but remaining where I am is a much better deal for now. 

What that means longer term isn't clear, but I'd say worst case that buys at least 6 months worth of time to either figure out if I want to stay where I'm at or if it might be better to move on.  Pay is good, job should remain pretty much the same as it is now, I still keep my 2 telecommute days per week, etc.  So yay for that!

I made the Fantasy Football playoffs in both my work league and the Bills Backers of Jax league, so I've been spending a bunch of my spare time trying to pick up players off the waiver wire and strategizing on who to play!  If you happen to play and have an opinion on who I should put in my flex spot between Marcel Reece,  Montell Owens, Brandon Lloyd, David Wilson, and Kendall Wright, please drop me a comment!  I'm having a very hard time deciding who to put in for that last spot on my roster!

My sisters Jen and Michelle both close on their new homes in the next week or two, which is great news!  Jen has been waiting months and months to complete their short sale purchase and the end is finally near.  I'm hoping their luck rubs off on us.  We had received a good offer on our house the day after it was listed and it was sent on to the bank about a month ago, so we're hoping for a positive outcome soon and expecting that to be complete within the next month or two.  Can't wait for that to be done!

Update: As of 1pm today, the offer was approved by the bank.  Now the buyer just has to do their inspection and we can set a closing date.  Woot!

The holidays are fast approaching and we've been enjoying a lot of time out with friends lately.  Holiday parties are about a week away and then it's almost Santa time!  Whew, I guess I better get shopping, this is coming up way too fast.  Unfortunately, this year I'm on-call for work the week of Xmas, so I won't be doing any traveling or pretty much anything at all Xmas week.  I would really like to see Max, Hadley and the rest of the family, but that will have to wait.  We'll be sure to do some video chat hangouts!

Other than that, we're happy to say our newest kitty is becoming a bit snuggly!  We were thinking he would be a great lap cat when he picked me over the summer, but that didn't happen initially.  Lately however, he has snuggled several times with both of us and we're hoping that will continue.

I'll leave you with a bunch of recent pictures of the boys.  We just got them a big kitty condo for Xmas, mostly so Monkey has a place to hide from Buddy the newest guy, but you'll see that didn't work so well.

Yes I'm one of those people that posts pictures of their pets as if they are our children, cause they are.  I love to see pictures of my niece and nephew and I like pictures of pets as well, so here they are!

Poker and Buddy ready for turkey time

Monkey and Buddy exploring the new kitty condo

Went in 15 mins later and Poker was sleeping in there!  They love it. 

As I mentioned, the main reason I got the kitty condo in the first place was because Buddy terrorizes Monkey real bad.  He hardly gets any time to relax.  If Buddy is awake, chances are he is cornering Monkey or trying to attack him.  So I wanted to give Monkey the ability to go up high and escape.  Well, in the picture above Buddy is above Monkey and repeatedly wacking him on the head.  We'll need to work on making that a little escape for Monkey and not just another place to get attacked.  :P

Buddy loves to snuggle anytime we lay on the spare bedroom bed

Evidence of Buddy snuggling again

Sage and Buddy hanging together by the Xmas tree

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KC Crave Restaurant Review

I wanted to give a shout out to KC Crave, a new restaurant in Jacksonville Beach, Florida.  We have gone the past two weekends with different groups of friends and I have to say that everything is SOOOO good.  So far 10 of us wholeheartedly agree.  If you are in the area, you really need to go.

The initial draw for us was that they have an upstairs Tap Room with circular booths that have 2 self-service beer taps right at your table.  We had never been to a place like that, so we definitely wanted to try it out.  I made the reservation and invited 2 other couples to meet us there.  

KC Crave Tap Table

There are 4 tap tables upstairs.  Ours had Miller Lite and a local beer, Intuition Pale Ale.  The other tables had one local beer each, Dukes Brown Ale and Green Room IPA with a national brand and the last table had Sam Adams and Sam Adams Seasonal.  So if you have a particular preference, you might want to try and reserve a particular table. 

Those tables seat up to 6 and I'd say you definitely want to go with at least one other couple.  You will need to reserve the table and you can choose either 5, 7, 9, or 11pm and you get the table for 2 hours.  They require a credit card number to hold the reservation. 

For the regular dining room on the 1st floor, they do not take reservations.  Just get there by 6:30 and in our experience, you won't have a problem getting a table.  Arrive 7pm or later and you may have to wait. 

Tap Table Dispensing System

For the tap tables, the waitress will "check-in" each person that would like to drink beer from the tap, which unlocks 32oz or approx 2 pints for each person.  If you would like more, they can unlock more.  They charge 30 cents per ounce for the beer out of the tap, so you don't have to drink the full 32oz each, it's just a way to keep people from overindulging.  It was definitely cool, but having done the tap tables once, we decided next time we'd just get a regular table downstairs. 

The food is a combination of tapas style starters/small plates, sharing plates and sides.  As their webpage says, sharing is encouraged.  The sharing plates typically have 3 small portions of whichever item is ordered.  However, if you know what you want and don't want to share, you can also turn your plate into an entree that includes two sides for an additional $7. 

We've done it both ways.  The first time we went, we all ordered a bunch of different starter and sharing plates.  We shared the Tsunami Chips, Roasted Pork Corn Cakes, Filet Mignon Medallions, Hawaiian Style Poke, Beer Cheese Soup, Butternut Squash Raviolis and  Bourbon Chicken Stir Fry.  For dessert we all shared the Cinnamon Crusted Fried Cheese Cake, Peanut Butter Ice Cream/Flourless Brownies and Banana Cake/Ice Cream.  Everything we individually tried was amazing.

Bourbon Chicken Stir Fry

Roasted Pork Corn Cakes

Red Potatoes and Artichoke Side

The second time the wifey and I shared some Fried Green Tomatoes and because we loved the Bourbon Chicken Stir Fry so much the first time, we both had that as an entree this time and had a Crave salad and side for our meal.  Our friends and their two daughters shared the Beer Cheese Soup, Coconut Curry Chicken, Roasted Pork Corn Cakes and Filet Mignon Medallions.  We shared the Banana Cake/Ice Cream and our friends shared the Peanut Butter Ice Cream/Flourless Brownies and their kids had the White Chocolate Fondue for dessert.  We have yet to have anyone say anything bad.  All of the items are so well prepared and tasty and service has been outstanding and it is of course always a good time to get together with good friends for good eats/drinks!

Cinnamon Crusted Fried Cheese Cake

Banana Cake / Ice Cream

Peanut Butter Ice Cream Flourless Brownies

On top of that, they have Happy Hour prices on drinks every night until 7pm with $1 off drafts/well drinks and several other drink specials.  Their drink prices are pretty good to begin with, they have several $5 martinis on their drink menu. 

With all the food and drinks we had, we were pleasantly surprised at the final bill as well.  You can't go wrong with KC Crave and we will definitely be back after trying to implement a self-imposed 30 day waiting period on our next visit.  Everything is so good, we tend to over-do it a bit. :o)

Have you been?  Any favorite dishes?  If you have any plans to visit the area, be sure to check it out!

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