I’m not doing anything fancy, but having my first guests has motivated me to finish a few of the home-improvement projects that I had started – mainly getting plants and straightening up. So now I have a few plants, but they aren’t completely potted into good receptacles.  I still have to go buy another pillow after work today, but I have enough plates, bowls, and linens for everyone. Well, almost enough, because since I’m having 2 guests, one of them has to bring an extra pillow and towel. I have 2 of everything except in the kitchen where I have 4 because I don’t want to have to do dishes as often as only having 2 of things requires.

My table looks much nicer with the books cleared off and a flowering christmas cactus in their place.

People are coming into town for the race that a bunch of us are running in this weekend. A couple of volunteers got funds to sponsor our entry into the race as a Peace Corps 50th anniversary event, so we will run in PC shirts as promotion. I’m running the half-marathon, and I’m a bit nervous.  I think that I am ready, but it will be only my third half-marathon (and third race). Since I’ve been training pretty well, I want to do well in the race for myself. There is no denying my competitive nature, even if it is just against myself. I’ve cursed my signing up for the event at various points during my training, but of course I have enjoyed the training. Now to enjoy the race as well.