Yesterday I learned some things.

Several days ago, my cousin (and close friend Allen, who currently lives in Asheville, North Carolina) and I had a conversation (might have been via email) regarding paying unnecessary expenses, late fees, etc. We talked about how that bothered us, since we are frugal and make attempts to live simply and not waste money. He had missed a tax extension deadline. Yesterday, I had to order a propane delivery on the same day, since my tank was low, and was charged a high amount (see yesterday's post below). Luckily, I got out of the extra expense.

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Part of my daily routine (well, probably four days a week) is a 30 minute ride on my exercise bike. I usually go about 6 miles and burn about 245 calories. It's not too bad, even though I don't generally love exercise. I typically listen to my iPod and/or read. Yesterday I picked up a book again that Allen had sent me, a book by Krishnamurti on the subject of fear. In the initial pages, the author talked about how fear could not exist without thoughts, and those thoughts are based on things that happened in the past, and the idea that they'll happen again. Instead of focusing on fear, and allowing it to reign, he seems to be saying you must live only in the present, where there is no fear, just action. That idea helped me turn away some negative energy yesterday.

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For the last few months, I've been taking the kids (on an alternating basis) to see a family counselor, dealing mainly with issues of anger and the divorce. Yesterday, I was brought in with Sarah and the counselor to discuss some more effective conflict resolution tactics. Sarah has been worried a bit about the interactions between Matthew and me, which often led to frustration and anger on both of our parts. Now I feel like we have some tools and better attitudes to deal with conflict. I'm sure I'll be practicing them very soon, like when they get home from school. ;)

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I'm hungry (I ate cereal for breakfast, which seems to induce hunger). I'm trying to wait a little while for lunch (it's not quite 11 a.m.). I gave Karen and her kids most of my key lime pie yesterday. My next pie might be pecan (I noticed I had some pecans in the freezer...my moms had given them to me). I might make an attempt at meatloaf tonight. I've never made it before, but I've found several good recipes on http://allrecipes.com.

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Tonight I'll probably do a combination of the following: listening to Auburn basketball, watching American Idol, and watching The Moment of Truth.