Speaking of power tools...

I spent the entire weekend sanding, drilling, painting... That's right: Me. With power tools.

I brought home my icky coffeetable and end table, both of which were in terrible shape. I had sanded off the top layer of varnish about four years ago, but never bothered to refinish them. Now that I have a nice apartment, it seemed about time to do them right. So my brother Randy and I spent all weekend stripping them of every vestige of paint, then put on a couple coats of this shiny polyurethane that is normally used to finish hardwood floors. They look amazing. Who knew that the wood underneath is so nice?

I know this is probably a very boring thing to read about, but I am so excited about it that I must blather on. It's just cool to know that me, a known homosexual, was able to not only refinish pieces of furniture, but I was also able to bond with my brother in the process. We were "men" together, something that doesn't happen very often with me and my male relatives.

In other news, I drove the two and a half hours back to Minneapolis tonight, and as soon as I pulled up to my building.... I realized that I had left all of my apartment and work keys at home. Yep. Thank god I had the wits to let myself into my building (using a sneaky method which I will not mention here for security reasons), then was able to find the maintenance person who lives here to let me in to my actual apartment. Big Mama is overnighting my keys to me tomorrow. I'm such an idiot. I was, literally, banging my head on the steering wheel when I realized I had forgotten them.

But, it was all made good when my door was opened to reveal my Christmas package from Bryan! Lots of goodies inside. A Diana Krall CD (on which she covers "A Case of You"--I can't wait to hear!), a Liza Minelli CD (an inside joke, I guess), a few books, and a little stuffed animal that looks exactly like my dog Pal, except he's grey. I'm going to put him at the foot of my bed and pretend he's with me--his normal position when I'm at my parent's house. I can't wait for B to get my present on Tuesday...

I have some catch-up phone calls to make tomorrow, and then lots of grocery shopping for the big party. First I'd better get some rest... That friendly tickle in the back of my throat tells me that I either have chlamydia or another cold has worked its way past my defenses. Curses!