Feeling parsimonious

This is a word I learned in the audio book I just finished. When I looked it up in a dictionary which just happened to be in my path, I saw that it means excessively frugal. Hmmm, that could be me. Yes, I just lost $40 at the casino (but I didn't feel good about it)! And am spending $175 to take an art class. But on a daily basis, I am really quite parsimonious. It is all part of my getting-ready-to-retire strategy. The plan was to keep the daily expenditures down by only spending over $20 at one place. Of course, this requires another LIST and a great deal of just-say-no. I HAVE been accused by at least one friend of being CHEAP.

Audiobook review: Please ignore Vera Dietz, by A. S. King. Found in Young adult section at the Vineland Public Library (AUD CD YA FIC King. A.) All the teenage angst got annoying and there was too much "Are you OK?" and "What are YOU doing here?". Endless bullying gets really tiresome. Also the father/daughter repartee. So, I was sort of glad when it was over. A young boy and his neighbor are good friends. Then things and people intervene and he goes off with the cool/dumb/bullying crowd. Unhappiness ensues. Sometimes with young adults, you just want to shake them and say, "STOP IT!" The jerks are not quite innocent but only the reader seems to know it. I did enjoy the words Vera was studying for her vocabulary quizzes, like parsimonious.

Finally went up into my scary and depressing attic and found the origin of the leak. There were already buckets there (!) so, obviously I had already had a leak on a prior occasion. Guess I need to leave a note on the wall with the relevant info for future reference. The ominous sky threatens another rainstorm which only fills me with dread. It means that I have to go up in the attic on a regular basis, dump the buckets into a traveling bucket and take it down two floors to dump it outside. If it rains too hard or I wait too long, the overflow will drip down through my hall ceiling. SIGH...it is so hard being me. On the plus side, I have already called a roof guy and he is planning to do something about it as soon as it dries out.