This is a Mersman table. Very popular back in the day. So popular, they’re not worth a whole lot, and they are supposedly easy to find, though I haven’t been able to find the particular one I’d like to find, and am probably even less likely to find the specific one I’d like to find. But, you don’t care about any of that. So, let’s move on…

This one is not a Mersman. It’s a Melissa and Doug. Some of you will know what that means. At any rate, this is the furniture you are really interested in knowing more about, because I’ve kept you hanging for so long. Well, not on this nightstand, nor the bed beside it, but on the sofa and the original bed.

As I mentioned before, though, I was on a quest for more furniture, which resulted in this nightstand and bed from Melissa and Doug. For those not in the know, that’s a brand name, not a couple named Melissa and Doug, although they might be, but that’s another story, probably.

And why does the spell checker think that nightstand is spelled correctly in one spot, but not anywhere else? Nightstand. Nightstand. Nightstand. Weird.

So, anyway, today was going to be the reveal, but now it’s not. And, it wouldn’t be appropriate to have the reveal on Easter Sunday–you’ll probably understand why after you see it–so now you are going to have to wait until Monday.

Monday is when you’ll see what this nightstand and bed were used for. In fact, the photo in this post was cropped from the actual image you’ll see on Monday. The sofa and other bed will have to wait a while longer, but you’ll have the general idea after Monday what’s going on with those as well.

Your extra teaser, or Easter egg if you prefer, is that Monday’s reveal will involve a redhead. And you should probably keep children away from your computer monitor when you take a look.

I just love creating these space backgrounds. I should probably try not to overdo it…

I am now 98% finished writing my eBook. After that, it’s just tweaking it and polishing it up a bit. Oh, then I have to write the bonus materials.

Then hope people will buy this thing that I’ve spent the last 8 weeks working on.

I think that I could shake a stick at a pretty large pile of money. How about you?

I’ve seen those game shows where they roll out a table with one million dollars in cash on it. I’m pretty sure I could shake a stick at that.

Roll out ten tables, and I could shake a stick at all of them. Pile it all up on one table, and I still think I could shake a stick at it.

I bet if you took an area fifty foot wide by fifty foot long and stacked money fifty feet high that that would be a lot of money. Billions maybe. And, I’m sure I could shake a stick at it.

I think I could shake a stick at a pile of money in any size. How big would a pile of money need to be for you to not be able to shake a stick at it? Stars are pretty big, and there are a lot of stars in the sky. Yet, I can still stand outside and shake a stick at them. If you had piles of money the size of stars, therefore, I could shake a stick at, well, I guess that might be close to a gazillion dollars. Or more! Of course, I wouldn’t be able to shake a stick at the stars facing the other side of the Earth, so I guess there is a limit to how much money you can shake a stick at. But, I think I could live comfortably on a gazillion dollars, even with the current rate of inflation.

Of course, I’d lose a lot of that to taxes, but those taxes would pay off the national debt and fund a whole bunch of stuff. So, you should be pretty grateful that I can shake a stick at a pretty good amount of money.

But, don’t blame me when Congress spends it all, and they come looking to me for a bailout. I don’t care how many sticks they shake at me–they’re not getting the rest of my money!

Today’s post also comes from an old book. No author is listed for this little story. It’s public domain in the U.S. If you’re from outside the U.S., you may need to look away now. Thanks.

I’m sure you will enjoy it.

Forest Street, the literary corner of Hartford, is a most friendly place. The fortunate members of that charmed circle hobnob together in a most friendly manner at all times and at all seasons. When Harriet Beecher Stowe was alive, Mark Twain, who lived near her, had a way of running in to converse with her and her daughter, often in a somewhat neglige costume, greatly to the distress of Mrs. Clemens.

One morning, as he returned from the Stowes sans necktie, Mrs. Clemens met him at the door with the exclamation: “There, Sam, you have been over to the Stowes again without a necktie. It’s really disgraceful the way you neglect your dress.” Her husband said nothing, but went to his room. A few minutes later Mrs. Stowe was summoned to the door by a messenger who presented her with a small box neatly done up. She opened it and found a black silk necktie, accompanied by the following note: “Here is a necktie. Take it out and look at it. I think I stayed half an hour this morning. At the end of that time will be kindly return it, as it is the only one I have? Mark Twain.”

This comes from an old book. No author is listed for this little story. It’s public domain in the U.S. If you’re from outside the U.S., you may need to look away now. Thanks.

I’m sure you will enjoy it.

A young teacher who graduated from the normal school last June, was asked one day last week to substitute in a higher grade than her own. She was a little nervous over the temporary promotion, and was anxious that everything should go off in the usual good order. While instructing the class in composition, she said: “Now, children, don’t tempt any flights of fancy. Don’t try to imitate the things you have heard, but just be yourselves and write what is really in you.”

As a result of this advice, one little boy turned in the following composition:

“I ain’t goin’ to attempt no flite of fancy; I’m just goin’ to write what’s in me, and I got a hart, a liver, two lungs, and some other things like that; then I got a stummick, and it’s got in it a pickle, a piece of pie, two sticks of peppermint candy, and my dinner.”

Will probably see snow today.

Anyway, Friday night, I was about 85% finished with my eBook.

Twenty-four hours later, on Saturday, after working on it Saturday, I was 85% finished with my eBook. I added new material, but I also added additional topics, which is why the percentage stayed the same even though the page and word count actually went up.

Now, tonight, late Sunday night and early Monday morning, after having added about 3,000 words to the eBook over the course of the weekend, I am now 77% finished with my eBook.

That’s right. I added to it. Again.

Which means, since March 25, I’ve only finished an additional 17% of the eBook, even though I’ve written a whole bunch of stuff since then!

I hope that someday I will be finished with it! I should be working on my other eBook by now, because spring is really an opportune time to release that eBook! But, I’m not going to switch gears and jump on that one. I will finish this one first before moving on to another project.

And, I still don’t think I’ve done those Twitter posts I mentioned in the March 25 update!

I am going to head off to bed now. But, first I’ll see if maybe I can knock out a percentage point or at least a partial percentage point. I really want to get this eBook done and out there!

Well, I did have plans for a substantial post today.

But, then I got distracted reading some of my old writings, which gave me an idea for another, but still substantial, post.

Then, I spent part of today working on my eBook.

Then, I spent some time preparing dinner. Oh, I did get pictures of ducks wandering through the backyard. So, look for those sometime soon, if they turned out!

Quack! Quack! Quack! Except I don’t think they quacked. Well, if they did, I might not have been able to hear them over the sounds of Little Too barking at them. She barks at groundhogs. She barks at squirrels. She barks at ducks. She barks at birds, even robins! She doesn’t like anything in the backyard!

And, now, storms are on the way, and I don’t like to have my computer plugged in with thunder and lightning, so you’re going to have to settle for this post about me telling you you’re not going to read a substantial post today.

I did have a rather good one planned too. I should have written it last night when I was thinking of it, but it was 3:00 a.m. and I was tired.

Perhaps tomorrow. Have a great rest of your weekend!

Many bloggers have heard about getting paid to blog. You might get paid to write on certain subjects for someone else’s blog. Or, you might get paid to write a review of a site. Or, you might count selling ads as getting paid to blog.

But, would you take money to unblog?

Several weeks ago, I read about a blogger who was offered several thousand dollars to remove a blog post. I’d link to the article, but I didn’t save the link and don’t even remember where I saw it. At any rate, I think he was offered something like $10,000 to remove a negative review he had written about a company.

The review was ranking high in the search engine results for searches on the company’s name or keywords. I think it held a top spot in Google. Obviously, the company wasn’t too happy about that. I think they had tried several ways to get him to remove the post, and the final offer might have been the $10,000. He refused.

Would you remove one of your blog posts for $10,000? How about $25,000? Or $1,000? Or even $1,000,000? Would you do it?

Some might argue that it’s a matter of personal integrity, but is it? When it comes right down to it, isn’t it more a matter of how important the post is to you?

Let’s say that you bought an Turbo Whammy LE automobile from XYZ Motors, and you weren’t happy with it. It didn’t have enough cup holders for you. The steering wheel didn’t have a smooth motion. The seats were hard to adjust. And so on.

Overall, you’re pretty disappointed about your Turbo Whammy LE, and you blog about it. Well, XYZ Motors doesn’t like your negative review and comes along and offers you money to take it down.

How important is that post to you? Do you really think you’re informing others and helping others with your review? Or, were you just expressing your opinion? Was it just a matter of personal preference?

If you think you’re helping people, your personal integrity will come into play. If you just feel you were expressing your opinion, well, everyone has opinions, how important is it to express your opinion about your Turbo Whammy LE? You could express your opinion on many other things, so is it a big deal for you to not express your opinion on your car, especially if you can pocket some money for it?

If you needed $25,000 for a medical procedure for a loved one, would you remove that blog post for $25,000? Is keeping that blog post on your blog more important than getting the medical help your loved one needs?

Or, if $15,000 pays off all your debts, is keeping your blog post up more important to you than that?

Of course, if you’re warning people about a real scam, principles will probably come into a much higher level of play. For one thing, your post may be helping others not to fall victim to the scam. For another thing, would you even feel comfortable taking any amount of money from a con artist?

So, would you always go with integrity over all else? Or, would you evaluate the value of keeping that blog post up on your blog?

The Time-Space Continuum!

Or, how many times can I reuse this same set of clock photos in different ways?

Now, of course, would be the appropriate time to explain to you my theories on space-time, but I really don’t feel like it.

Instead, look… I think we’ve just started building Skynet!

Sometimes, time just flies by, especially when you’re standing still.

There is a lesson in there. Stare at the photo, and perhaps it will be clear to you.

If not, stop standing still!