What not to bring to a party

I'm going to a special kind of party this weekend -- a book giveaway party! Someone I know from my (typically neglected) other blog, also the proprietress of History is Funny, is moving and invited all and sundry to come take books away so she won't have to sell or move them. There is a caveat, though: While we can take as many books as we want, we are not allowed to bring any for her in return. Of course, that would defeat the purpose!

That admonition reminds me of when I was little and had no social skills. My parents would take us to dinner at people's houses, and I would beg and whine to be able to take a book with me. It wasn't just at their friends' houses either -- I have a picture of myself at age 6 on Christmas Day, and while I look ready to sit at the table and eat with my relatives, I am clutching my newly received LITTLE HOUSE COOKBOOK (recipes inspired by the Laura Ingalls Wilder series -- really!) and I know I was just dying to get the dinner and the picture taking over with so I could go read. Now I know that the real way to kill time at a family function is to seek out pets and/or small children to entertain.

Aside from that foray, which ought to yield many fun finds, this is going to be a great weekend to stay inside and read. The pollen forecast is "medium-high to high," which I am translating in my brain to "pretty-damn-miserable to holy-cow-I'm-moving-to-the-Arctic." I know I've been a little uninspired this week, and that is why. Since every allergy drug I've tried turns me into a narcoleptic zombie, I am expending all my energy in trying not to itch my eyes and sneeze more than 30 times an hour. It's almost summer, right?