fanlain and I almost had to answer that philosophical question last night; we were starting to lose hope when it turned past 6 p.m. and no guests had arrived. But finally the two people who RSVP'ed held true to their word and arrived bearing ice cream and wine. We had a nice evening, mostly focused around Soba in both conversation and activities. They really liked the chicken (between brining and using the rotisserie, it ended up being super-moist!) and were surprised to learn that I, and not fanlain, had made it.

I guess the other side effect of holding a party, whether anyone comes or not, is that we got to clean the house. Our kitchen is finally uncluttered (though some of the clutter moved to the office) and the floors are cleaner than they have been in months. The hard part about cleaning our house is that Soba relentlessly tries to attack the mop, broom, or vacuum, and will throw a huge tantrum if we lock her in her crate or outside while we clean. We're seriously considering throwing technology at the problem and getting the Scooba, not as much to save us the work (though that's certainly a welcome bonus), but to be able to run it while we take Soba to the dog park or the farmer's market.

I've been really enjoying how trips to the farmer's market have become our Saturday morning routine. Soba gets to enjoy a nice long walk and lots of attention, and we get to enjoy some tasty treats from Mirabelle's and some fresh stuff from the market. Our trip Saturday was prolonged by delayed baguettes: apparently, Mirabelle's had a power outage in the morning and were behind schedule. They kept promising that the baguettes would come first at 11, then at 11:30, and they finally put two baguettes (still hot!) into my hands just before noon. But we got sit outside, have a leisurly lunch, and talk with an ECE prof and his family, and even say hello to our dean (who didn't remember who I was). I guess that's one of the advantages of living in a small town.

Most of the time I like the size of our house. It's nice to be able to walk around and not bump into things, and to have the space to store all of our stuff out of the way. Granted, our office is still a mess, but that's mainly due to a lack of containers, rather than space. And once we put together our new IKEA purchase, things should get better. But sometimes the house feels just a bit too large, and mopping the downstairs is one of those times. Maybe I should get the iRobot Scooba!

fanlain was tired so she took a nap while I finished up the cleaning, so I set up some music to keep me company, and ended up re-discovering Pandora. It can be eerily good at predicting what songs you like; for three of the artists I've added, it immediately went to the song I most wanted to hear. Then again, I had to fight it for a bit to convince it I didn't actually like country, despite liking songs by Blue Rodeo and Dire Straits. But it's still nice to hear music that's both new to me and that I kind of like.