About Me

 
Stacy and Shirley Wood. Blogger Owner at Intelligent Domestications
Hi, nice to meet you! I’m Shirley and this is my hubby Stacy. Although I do the majority of the blogging, my hubby, Stacy is a regular contributor and my number one supporter!
 
I love creating easy recipes using products and brands we enjoy in our own home! Eating is usually an occasion around here so food is my main focus on the blog but I also enjoy being a homemaker! I always have plans in the works for celebrations and seasonal decor! My craft room always has multiple projects going on at one time all with a frugal flair! Thrifting and upcycling are two of my favorite things!
 
We have two grown daughters and six grandchildren, all boys except one! 
 
Both of us were born and raised in the Peach State, Georgia! We love sharing Things to See and Do in Georgia so we created a new Facebook Page just for Ga. Events! Go Like our Facebook page, Explore Georgia Travel Adventures!
 
Our mantra is Work Smarter, Not Harder! We pursue a frugal and fun life style without blowing the budget. Our recipes are generally easy with few ingredients without sacrificing flavor. Together we create a warm and welcoming home through lots of family celebrations. 
 
Stacy and I are both born again Christians and in fact met at the church we were married in. It was a God thing. We are blessed. We attended the same college at the same time as adults which was not the easiest thing to do! It took me six years to achieve my Bachelor Degree in Human Services. Stacy graduated Magna Cum Laude with a B.S. Business and did it in 4 years while working full time.
 
Blogging has afforded me the opportunity to meet lots of wonderful folks all over the world. I have a love for people and enjoy sharing any knowledge I have been gifted which might help another in any way if possible. 
 
We love working with Sponsors and have done quite a bit of Sponsored work on the blog over the years. Take a look at our Media

Visit our Media Kit Page here.

 Contact: Shirley@intelligentdomestications.com

 

Words to Live By

My Life Verse is Romans 8:28

I’m a fan of poetry and the written word. I’d like to share, in particular, the following two selections which I reflect upon from time to time.

The Daffodil Principle touches my heart. You can read it by scrolling down. One of my clients shared The Daffodil Principle with me years ago and I have continued to pass it along since then.

I heard the poem, Myself when I was in the 7th grade. It is a great reference point for continual self improvement. You can read it by scrolling down.
 

The Daffodil Principleby Jaroldeen Asplund Edwards  

Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, “Mother, you must come see the daffodils before they are over.” I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead.

“I will come next Tuesday, ” I promised, a little reluctantly, on her third call.

Next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had promised, and so I drove there. When I finally walked into Carolyn’s house and hugged and greeted my grandchildren, I said, “Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! The road is invisible in the clouds and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and these children that I want to see bad enough to drive another inch!”

My daughter smiled calmly and said, “We drive in this all the time, Mother.”

“Well, you won’t get me back on the road until it clears, and then I’m heading for home!” I assured her.

“I was hoping you’d take me over to the garage to pick up my car.”

“How far will we have to drive?”

“Just a few blocks,” Carolyn said. “I’ll drive. I’m used to this.”

After several minutes, I had to ask, “Where are we going? This isn’t the way to the garage!”

“We’re going to my garage the long way,” Carolyn smiled, “by way of the daffodils.”

“Carolyn,” I said sternly, “please turn around.”

“It’s all right, Mother, I promise. You will never forgive yourself if you miss this experience.”

After about twenty minutes, we turned onto a small gravel road and I saw a small church. On the far side of the church, I saw a hand-lettered sign that said, “Daffodil Garden.”

We got out of the car and each took a child’s hand, and I followed Carolyn down the path. Then, we turned a corner of the path, and I looked up and gasped. Before me lay the most glorious sight. It looked as though someone had taken a great vat of gold and poured it down over the mountain peak and slopes. The flowers were planted in majestic, swirling patterns-great ribbons and swaths of deep orange, white, lemon yellow, salmon pink, saffron, and butter yellow. Each different-colored variety was planted as a group so that it swirled and flowed like its own river with its own unique hue. There were five acres of flowers.

“But who has done this?” I asked Carolyn.

“It’s just one woman,” Carolyn answered. “She lives on the property. That’s her home.”

Carolyn pointed to a well kept A-frame house that looked small and modest in the midst of all that glory. We walked up to the house. On the patio, we saw a poster. “Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking” was the headline.

The first answer was a simple one.”50,000 bulbs,” it read. The second answer was, “One at a time, by one woman. Two hands, two feet, and very little brain.” The third answer was, “Began in 1958.”

There it was, The Daffodil Principle. For me, that moment was a life-changing experience. I thought of this woman whom I had never met, who, more than forty years before, had begun ~ one bulb at a time ~ to bring her vision of beauty and joy to an obscure mountain top. Still, just planting one bulb at a time, year after year, had changed the world. This unknown woman had forever changed the world in which she lived. She had created something of ineffable (indescribable) magnificence, beauty, and inspiration.

The principle her daffodil garden taught is one of the greatest principles of celebration. That is, learning to move toward our goals and desires one step at a time ~ often just one baby-step at a time ~ and learning to love the doing, learning to use the accumulation of time. When we multiply tiny pieces of time with small increments of daily effort, we too will find we can accomplish magnificent things. We can change the world.

“It makes me sad in a way,” I admitted to Carolyn. “What might I have accomplished if I had thought of a wonderful goal thirty-five or forty years ago and had worked away at it ‘one bulb at a time’ through all those years. Just think what I might have been able to achieve!”

My daughter summed up the message of the day in her usual direct way. “Start tomorrow,” she said.

Myself

by Edgar Guest

I have to live with myself and so
I want to be fit for myself to know.
I want to be able as days go by,
always to look myself straight in the eye;
I don’t want to stand with the setting sun
and hate myself for the things I have done.
I don’t want to keep on a closet shelf
a lot of secrets about myself
and fool myself as I come and go
into thinking no one else will ever know
the kind of person I really am,
I don’t want to dress up myself in sham.
I want to go out with my head erect
I want to deserve all men’s respect;
but here in the struggle for fame and wealth
I want to be able to like myself.
I don’t want to look at myself and know
I am bluster and bluff and empty show.
I never can hide myself from me;
I see what others may never see;
I know what others may never know,
I never can fool myself and so,
whatever happens I want to be
self respecting and conscience free.