Finding Your Irish Ancestors: A Beginner's Guide

Finding Your Irish Ancestors: A Beginner's Guide is the ultimate resource to help you learn if the luck of the Irish is in your blood or not. This easy-to-use guide will teach you to make use of the many Irish family history records that have become available in recent years. Explore the best family history sources in Ireland, including birth, marriage, and death records; church records; census records; and much more. Finding Your Irish Ancestors will help you discover Internet sites for searching Irish heritge and prepare for a successful family history trip to Ireland.

Eternal Echoes: Celtic Reflections on Our Yearning to Belong

There is a divine restlessness in the human heart, our eternal echo of longing that lives deep within us and never lets us settle for what we have or where we are.In this exquisitely crafted and inspirational book, John O'Donohue, author of the bestseller Anam Cara, explores the most basic of human desires - the desire to belong, a desire that constantly draws us toward new possibilities of self-discovery, friendship, and creativity.

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

The book that started the Quiet Revolution

At least one-third of the people we know are introverts. They are the ones who prefer listening to speaking; who innovate and create but dislike self-promotion; who favor working on their own over working in teams. It is to introverts—Rosa Parks, Chopin, Dr. Seuss, Steve Wozniak—that we owe many of the great contributions to society.

In Quiet, Susan Cain argues that we dramatically undervalue introverts and shows how much we lose in doing so. She charts the rise of the Extrovert Ideal throughout the twentieth century and explores how deeply it has come to permeate our culture. She also introduces us to successful introverts—from a witty, high-octane public speaker who recharges in solitude after his talks, to a record-breaking salesman who quietly taps into the power of questions. Passionately argued, superbly researched, and filled with indelible stories of real people, Quiet has the power to permanently change how we see introverts and, equally important, how they see themselves.

Now with Extra Libris material, including a reader’s guide and bonus content

Get What's Yours: The Secrets to Maxing Out Your Social Security

Learn the secrets to maximizing your Social Security benefits and earn up to thousands of dollars more each year with expert advice that you can't get anywhere else.
Want to know how to navigate the forbidding maze of Social Security and emerge with the highest possible benefits? You could try reading all 2,728 rules of the Social Security system (and the thousands of explanations of these rules), but Kotlikoff, Moeller, and Solman explain Social Security benefits in an easy to understand and user-friendly style. What you don't know can seriously hurt you: wrong decisions about which Social Security benefits to apply for cost some individual retirees tens of thousands of dollars in lost income every year.
How many retirees or those nearing retirement know about such Social Security options as "file and suspend" (apply for benefits and then don't take them)? Or "start stop start" (start benefits, stop them, then re-start them)? Or--just as important--when and how to use these techniques? "Get What's Yours" covers the most frequent benefit scenarios faced by married retired couples, by divorced retirees, by widows and widowers, among others. It explains what to do if you're a retired parent of dependent children, disabled, or an eligible beneficiary who continues to work, and how to plan wisely "before "retirement. It addresses the tax consequences of your choices, as well as the financial implications for other investments.
Many personal finance books briefly address Social Security, but none offers the thorough, authoritative, yet conversational analysis found here. You've paid all your working life for these benefits. Now, get what's yours.

Saying Goodbye to the Wired Rooster

I grew up in Wellsboro, and I can still remember a vibrant Main Street. My Uncle Bill would take my sisters and me out for ice cream. We'd go to Cuda's and then sit on a bench or in the car and watch people walk by.

I'm still watching what happens on Main Street, and I'm not happy about it.Today, I heard that Wellsboro is losing another funky and cool little shop, the Wired Rooster. There are several places to get coffee in Wellsboro, but the Wired Rooster has that special something.

I remember many a night writing with my friends at Mister Donuts, which is now Dunkin Donuts. It wasn't exactly an atmosphere conducive to writing, but it was always open, the coffee was always hot, and there was always something to write about.

It wasn't always easy to write though. There would be strange looks from both customers and the workers. The harsh fluorescent lighting would hurt your eyes, and the uncomfortable plastic seats were designed for you to drink your coffee and leave. Sometimes coffee needs to be gulped, and sometimes savored.

The Wired Rooster reminds me of a place where I could take my time with my drink, Penny Lane in Boulder Colorado. I went to massage school in Boulder, and one of my classmates was also a singer. She'd play her guitar some evenings, and several of us from school would go and get a tea, or an espresso and listen to the music and watch the people walk by.

I loved the idea of the Wired Rooster, and what it was becoming. I didn't hang there much, because I'm always busy. I have my own business during the day, and at night I work on my writing, but I usually start my day with a dose of caffeine in the form of a double espresso from the Wired Rooster.

The Wired Rooster announced today that their last business day will be Tuesday March 31st. If you haven't stopped by, check out what Wellsboro is going to be losing. It's a fun atmosphere and I'm going to miss it.

Coffee is important to writers. We run on caffeine. I might be able to buy it somewhere else, but it always gives me an extra boost to buy it from the Wired Rooster. It's the kind of coffee shop that I wish were in Wellsboro when I was growing up. It's the kind of coffee shop that Wellsboro needs...

150+ Screen-Free Activities for Kids

Bring back playtime, all the time

Dive into a Bubbling Swamp World. Drum on an Outdoor Sound Wall. Explore the gooeyness of Glowing Slime.
With the one-of-a-kind projects in "150+ Screen-Free Activities for Kids," your family will rediscover the spirit of imaginative play These fun activities help develop your child's creativity and skills--all without a screen in sight. Featuring step-by-step instructions and beautiful photographs, each budget-friendly project will keep your child entertained, engaged, and learning all day long. Best of all, no one will complain about turning off the TV or computer with such entertaining activities as:

Natural Dye Fingerpaints
Taste-Safe, Gluten-Free Playdough
Erupting Volcano Dinosaur World
Fizzy Rainbow Slush
Taste-Safe Glow Water

Complete with dozens of exercises for babies, toddlers, and school-aged children, "150+ Screen-Free Activities for Kids" will help your family step away from your devices and step into endless afternoons of playtime fun.

I Survived the Great Chicago Fire, 1871

Oscar Starling never wanted to come to Chicago. But then Oscar finds himself not just in the heart of the big city but in the middle of a terrible fire! No one knows exactly how it began, but one thing is clear: Chicago is like a giant powder keg about to explode. An army of firemen is trying to help, but this fire is a ferocious beast that wants to devour everything in its path, including Oscar! Will Oscar survive one of the most famous and devastating fires in history?

Suspendered Sentence

The national bestselling author of Shunned and Dangerous returns to the Amish community of Heavenly, Pennsylvania, where shop owner Claire Weatherly has come to appreciate a simpler, more peaceful way of life. But dark secrets are about to complicate things—and lead to murder…

After the Stoltzfus barn catches fire, Claire is awed by the response of the community. Hundreds of Amish men gather together to raise a new barn for the family in a matter of days. But in the midst of the work, a human skeleton is unearthed. Found with the remains is half of a friendship bracelet last seen on Sadie Lehman, an Amish teen long believed to have left her strict upbringing for the allure of English ways.

Now Detective Jakob Fisher—once a member of the Amish community himself—is determined to solve the young woman’s murder. With Claire’s help, he must dig into the past and bring to light long-buried secrets—secrets that someone is willing to kill to protect…

Little Critter: We Are Moving

When Mom and Dad tell Little Critter® they have exciting news, he thinks they mean they're getting a new dog—not moving to a new house! Will he be able to bring his sandbox? What if he has to go to a new school full of bullies? What if his new next-door neighbors are monsters!? Eventually, Little Critter learns moving is not so bad after all. . . .

Building Stone Walls

Since 1973, Storey's Country Wisdom Bulletins have offered practical, hands-on instructions designed to help readers master dozens of country living skills quickly and easily. There are now more than 170 titles in this series, and their remarkable popularity reflects the common desire of country and city dwellers alike to cultivate personal independence in everyday life.