tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-161219772024-03-07T04:04:07.983-05:00Fall Down to FlyWelcome to Miranda's thoughts on living and learning with her two girls. This blog is all about the unschooling life that we lead, in the hope that it provides information, explanation and inspiration to our friends, family and random unschoolers out there on the web.Mirandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03942487056404830363noreply@blogger.comBlogger585125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16121977.post-17822548373467594512013-03-26T10:28:00.003-04:002013-03-31T10:53:41.976-04:00Dancing Queen
She is a Star, I tell ya.Mirandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03942487056404830363noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16121977.post-13024906424011635882013-03-09T09:55:00.000-05:002013-03-31T10:54:20.138-04:00A Day in the LifeThe girls made a video the other day with a friend. It's always good to be able to laugh at yourself. Enjoy!
Mirandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03942487056404830363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16121977.post-81564109357658452402012-08-13T18:55:00.000-04:002012-08-13T23:15:40.108-04:00PRIMAL-ish PIZZA CRUSTThought I would put this here, even if it is already on facebook. Redundancy is a good thing when it comes to saving digital info, right?
I'm not gonna call this fully Primal, or grain free, but it is gluten free. I have tweaked the flours to go for more protein and fat and less carb, but there is a fair bit of carby carb left. SO, if you are going for a very low carb diet, you Mirandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03942487056404830363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16121977.post-88675629458425998052012-07-18T10:50:00.000-04:002012-07-18T11:00:44.456-04:00Thoughts of HomeWow, I need a makeover around here. It doesn't help that my point and shoot camera is broken (sand got in it in HI) and I just don't want to carry around my Canon SLR right now. So, new pictures are needed to inspire a new design here on the blog that reflects where I am now.
Where am I right now? Home. I'm home, at last. You all probably know how much being Mirandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03942487056404830363noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16121977.post-53850979846836809532012-05-04T10:35:00.000-04:002012-05-04T10:35:16.821-04:00Light and LoveThere is beauty in chaos sometimes....
And there are always flaws in highly ordered systems...
Mirandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03942487056404830363noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16121977.post-44722186487870765342012-05-02T08:06:00.000-04:002012-05-02T08:06:28.447-04:00Random StuffSo, tomorrow they come to pack our stuff. Friday it goes on a truck in a crate or two, then on a train to Aldelaide, and then on a boat to home. I am pretty much ready for the packers. I have a few last minute tasks to keep me busy while I oversee the packing. In true Aussie style, I have no idea when they will show up, or how many packers will come. No oneMirandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03942487056404830363noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16121977.post-46863791196139709282012-04-12T10:22:00.003-04:002012-04-12T10:28:45.182-04:00My New Favorite ColorSee that blue? That's glacial blue and it is my new favorite color. I must have it in my life, somehow, from now on. Thanks to New Zealand for making that color and thank goodness I got to go and see it with my own eyes.Picture was taken, btw, on the drive to Milford Sound through the Fjordland National Park. Bus driver was nice enough to stop long enough to let us snap a few photos.Mirandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03942487056404830363noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16121977.post-90636258902368038402012-04-11T11:26:00.004-04:002012-04-11T11:39:31.105-04:00Blogger, How I Miss TheeFacebook is great, but sometimes you need to navel gaze a bit and nothing but a blog post will do. I have a story to share.Once upon a time there was a little girl. Her family lived in the best place in the world and she was happy. Then, her father got a job in a far away place and the family had to move. She saw the move as an adventure and looked forward to living there. She made some Mirandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03942487056404830363noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16121977.post-61607497884005325052012-03-01T05:20:00.005-05:002012-04-12T10:46:02.066-04:00Dart RiverOnce again, I am left pretty speechless with our experiences here in NZ. It will be good when I can get some pictures up here, so you all can start to understand better. Today, we went on a Funyak tour, which involved a jet boat ride up the Dart River, and then kayaking down the river, with a lunch stop along the way, and a quick tour of some filming sites on the drive back to base. It was myMirandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03942487056404830363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16121977.post-7664563969951095022012-02-28T05:25:00.006-05:002012-04-12T10:15:51.828-04:00Milford SoundToday started early with our pickup for our Milford Sound cruise. First we travelled many hours by tour bus to our boat, and then we cruised up the sound, which is technically a fjord, out to the Tasman Sea and back, and then back on the bus for the return trip. Long day, but so amazingly worth it. Words can't describe. Pictures to come won't do it either, I suspect. But, wow, majestic is Mirandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03942487056404830363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16121977.post-73113242232891575072012-02-27T04:56:00.003-05:002012-04-11T10:35:27.972-04:00QueenstownSo today we flew from Auckland to Queenstown on the South Island. It was such a beautiful day that we decided to jump right in and use our gondola and luge passes that were open ended for one of our free days here. We were going to go another day, but it might rain later in the week, so we thought it best to make hay while the sun shined. The view from the top was soooooo amazing. Wait til Mirandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03942487056404830363noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16121977.post-80919050036231701012012-02-26T03:14:00.004-05:002012-04-11T10:29:02.143-04:00Matamata and WaitomoYesterday was another full day for us. We left our hotel in Pauanui and drove south to the little town of Matamata, home of the filming set for Hobbiton in the Lord of the Rings. Our tour was so cool. We got to go right up to the doors of the Hobbit holes and walk all around the "town". It was set up so realistically, just like there really could be Hobbits living there. The scale was half Mirandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03942487056404830363noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16121977.post-57913175992981563052012-02-24T04:47:00.005-05:002012-04-12T11:08:58.292-04:00Hot Water BeachToday we left Auckland and drove over the mountains to the East coast of New Zealand. Our destination was a little spot called Hot Water Beach. The drive over was so amazingly beautiful, with peaceful pastures of cows and sheep, and even some deer - venison anyone?- , and then dramatic mountain passes with ferns that look like palm trees dotting the pine covered hills. We timed our arrival Mirandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03942487056404830363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16121977.post-33231927236228756482012-02-23T03:14:00.007-05:002012-04-11T10:14:35.539-04:00Kiwi LandSo here we are in New Zealand. We left Alice on Wednesday and flew through Melbourne to Auckland. We had to leave the building to get from domestic to international terminals, so can we say we were actually in Melbourne? We had an uneventful trio, other than the sound not working on mine and Cary's built in TV for the flight to Auckland. Oh well, I did not want to watch a movie anyway and theMirandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03942487056404830363noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16121977.post-58083393751080766972012-01-02T06:07:00.003-05:002012-01-02T06:56:09.740-05:00Full MontyRather than clutter up facebook with my complaining, I'll do it here, if you don't mind. You don't? Oh, good. If you do, stop reading now and go find something better to do with your time.I'll just come out and say it. Life sucks right now. I can't see a way up and frankly, I don't want to get up right now. Wallowing feels, if not good, then needed. I see people posting pithy positive crapMirandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03942487056404830363noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16121977.post-54603281507247125832011-12-27T09:46:00.001-05:002011-12-27T09:48:08.856-05:00BillabongEllery Big Hole. Purty, ain't it?Mirandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03942487056404830363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16121977.post-89796252835227684522011-11-20T08:09:00.003-05:002011-11-20T08:33:13.916-05:00The Middle WayIt is very interesting to me how people have to pick a side and defend it by dissing the other side. In the last week, I have hung out with both schoolers and homeschoolers and observed this strange habit galore. It is as if they fear that their reasons to do something can never measure up to the reasons not to and they have to rationalize their choice by putting down the opposing choice. The Mirandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03942487056404830363noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16121977.post-32257319933095993892011-11-11T10:28:00.001-05:002012-01-30T21:08:18.622-05:00My Poor Neglected BlogBlame Facebook. Sorry.Mirandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03942487056404830363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16121977.post-40982104502684220242011-10-12T22:00:00.001-04:002011-10-26T23:26:57.983-04:00TruthThe Dalai Lama, when asked what surprised him most about humanity, answered, "Man. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies Mirandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03942487056404830363noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16121977.post-5836059426043655372011-09-10T23:25:00.001-04:002011-09-10T23:36:29.201-04:00Midlife Boot CampAs anyone with military training will know, first they break you down and then they build you up again. It is like the Zen idea that you cannot fill your cup if it is already full of old tea. For many years, I have been working at tearing down the structures in my life that have felt inauthentic to who I really am. Which, unfortunately, were most of them, as I was raised in this culture where Mirandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03942487056404830363noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16121977.post-91056081089282358642011-09-04T02:17:00.003-04:002011-09-10T09:12:30.915-04:00Good AdviceThis was going around Facebook and I wanted to keep it here to refer to since it is such a great reminder. Got it from here. 1. Show respect for all of a child's interests equally.2. Keep the child in mind as I go through life, so that I notice things that might be of interest to that child.3. Find ways to include the child in my own daily life - live a more"open-book' life than the norm.4. Mirandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03942487056404830363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16121977.post-68938275565842730922011-09-02T09:18:00.008-04:002011-09-02T10:45:09.351-04:00UluruTo celebrate my 40th birthday my sweet husband took me to see a BIG rock. Sounds good to this rock hound! The whole family got up at 5am to meet the tour bus at 6am for our grand adventure. It was still dark when we got on the bus. This picture was taken at the roadhouse about halfway down the road to Uluru. We can highly, HIGHLY, recommend this tour company. They were great!! True to the Mirandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03942487056404830363noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16121977.post-34515367018340367572011-08-16T08:30:00.003-04:002011-08-16T09:39:56.140-04:00Kangaroo SanctuaryWe went to the Kangaroo Sanctuary today to meet the roos. The main focus of the place was education about how to care for orphaned kangaroos. It is the law in Australia that if you rescue a roo, you have to try to release it back to the wild if at all possible. The kangaroos there could not be released to the wild for various reasons and would be destroyed by the government if the sanctuary Mirandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03942487056404830363noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16121977.post-29860489675996053332011-08-07T06:12:00.010-04:002011-08-07T06:53:20.090-04:00Simpson's GapToday, we headed out west of Alice to hike at Simpson's Gap. It was beautiful and we had a nice time climbing gum trees and the rocks.Can you see A in this shot? Water in the desert! E and I want to go back and bring our watercolors! So pretty. Mirandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03942487056404830363noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16121977.post-1983639349989671362011-08-01T20:47:00.003-04:002011-09-02T10:45:09.364-04:00Guess Who?"While it is good to see serious debate about our debt crisis, I cannot support the reported deal on raising the nation's debt ceiling. I have never voted to raise the debt ceiling, and I never will. "This deal will reportedly cut spending by only slightly over $900 billion over 10 years. But we will have a $1.6 trillion deficit after this year alone, meaning those meager Mirandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03942487056404830363noreply@blogger.com1