The kids are getting older and I'm finding I have more free time. So, I figured it was time to fire up the ol' Huluhae again and start boring entertaining people with my random thoughts and observations. The plan now is to update this once a week...so in real life that means once every three months or so? Hey, maybe I'll even try to find a counter and a guestbook that isn't full of bugs. Or one which I can easily erase all the inevitable spam. I know this doesn't look like much, especially compared with so many other websites, but this takes a considerable amount of my time. Which is why I'm not planning to update more often than once a week and also why I don't get pictures on here any quicker than I do.

Huge congratulations to Regina and Jason! They're expecting their first baby, a boy, in early Spring. I'm so excited! I have so many things picked out already that I want to give my nephew. Toys, clothes, baby carriers, books. Shopping for my sister's newborn is almost as addictive as getting stuff for my own kids.

I've added a new set of pictures to the site. Toe age three. His birthday was in August, so these were taken from late August until the present. It's not completely done but you might as well enjoy what's there.

Toe's favorite cartoons are Futurama and The Simpsons. He loves live action scooby Doo, but he hates when his Daddy and I watch star Trek. We finally convinced him that Star Trek is the real life version of Futurama. Captain Picard is Professor Farnsworth, Will Riker is Zap Brannigan. Hehehe. Now he's sitting happily and watching it with us. Though, to be honest, the "sitting happily" might be more due to the bite sized Oreos he's eating than his new acceptance of 80s cult classic television programs.

I owe one of my online friends $125 for her Ellevil mei tai. Here's a photo of me wearing Ja in the one I'm going to buy. It's a drop dead stunning green swirled into an abstract pattern. I've saved $29 so far. All right! Yeah, I need to put a little more money towards that. My goal is to add another $20-25 each week until I can pay her. That should take four to five more weeks, as long as I don't get distracted by other pretty fluffies. Must...resist...temptations! At least until I've paid her. Stay in my wallet, money!

November 5 was a great day! I had three used books I'd ordered from Amazon come in the mail. Man, I really love reading. Getting a book, even one I ordered for myself seriously makes me almost giddy. I almost started squealing and jumping up and down when I saw the packages in the mail box. I've never had three books come in at once so that was pretty exciting. I got one photography book, Understanding Exposure and two anti-circumcision books, What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Circumcision and Marked in Your Flesh. I'm not going to start any of them now because I have a very long list of books that I haven't read yet.

I'll start with some general quotes by the admirable Thomas Jefferson.

1. I cannot live without books.
2. I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.
3. Never spend your money before you have it.
4. Never trouble another for what you can do for yourself.
5. I have the consolation of having added nothing to my private fortune during my public service, and of retiring with hands clean as they are empty.

1. Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity.--Notes on Virginia, 1782.
2. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.--Notes on Virginia, 1782.
3. Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law.--letter to Dr. Thomas Cooper, February 10, 1814.
4. In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own.--letter to Horatio G. Spafford, March 17, 1814.
5. And the day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme being as his father in the womb of a virgin will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter. But may we hope that the dawn of reason and freedom of thought in these United States will do away with this artificial scaffolding, and restore to us the primitive and genuine doctrines of this most venerated reformer of human errors.--Letter to John Adams, April 11, 1823.
6. Christianity is the most perverted system that ever shown on man.

A few weeks ago, I shook up a bottle of liquid foundation, opened the cap, tilted the bottle, and dripped a little bit on my fingertips. Then, for the first time, I really thought about what I was seeing. Light golden brown paint that I intended to put on my face. I felt this sudden surge of anger and disgust. Why did I feel the need to smear paint all over my face? Was I not pretty enough all ready? My husband would argue that I'm drop dead gorgeous. Or maybe he'd say I have a nice ass, 'cause he's a married man and that's what's really important. But he certainly wouldn't tell me I need to rub a thick skin colored liquid on myself to look gorgeous. I've also noticed that using makeup, even for one day, causes my skin to start getting all freaky, until I look like a sloppy extra in a B horror film. All this is why I'm swearing off make up for good. I want to look like me, not hide behind a color from a bottle. I want to have a naturally healthy, glowing face because I am healthy, not because I can fake it. The good news is every day without make up I look a little better. The first day I didn't use foundation, I just stayed at home. The second day, I went out, but only to one of those mass stores where no one knows me. By the third day, I visited my favorite coffee shop, Coffee Nation. It feels so good to feel so good about myself.

Email Reneé with questions, comments or suggestions to

I love you, Matt