Secrets Abound My Love

Pamela Foreman, Published Author

Genre: Romantic Fiction

SYNOPSIS: When David and Annette join their families and begin one of their own, the couple can’t imagine how their marriage will affect their children, new and old. As parents, they each have high hopes for their children and their marriage, but in only a few short years, the path has gone the way of destruction.

Drugs, alcohol, abuse, loneliness … Secrets hide among the folds of their new lives and David and Annette are faced with the challenge of reconnecting with their children, while learning to be parents all over again.

How will they cope, discovering the hidden secrets? Will their marriage survive or will the threat of losing their children drive them apart? Can they fight adversity and win, or will their marriage be over as quickly as it began? Find out in Secrets Abound, My Love, the third segment in the Nebraska Holds series.

Purchase Link: WILL BE GIVING THIS OUT ON THE 23RD OF JANUARY

EXCERPT:

“Oh, Georgia! Lighten up!” Jersey shook her finger at Georgia. Georgia could tell her sister had been drinking not only by her behavior, but Jersey smelled of the beer or liquor. The two girls plus their fellow triplet, Virginia, were barely seventeen, and their step-sister Mallory was still sixteen. The four were about to be seniors in high school and their sibling was already an alcoholic.
Jersey and this male friend of hers both laughed then shushed each other like preschoolers about to get caught in an mischievous act. Georgia didn’t even know his name and didn’t remember ever seeing him before. Georgia rolled her eyes, knowing this was not going to get any better.

“How did he get in here?” Georgia asked. She put her hands on her hips, an action she had observed her mother doing over the past several years as all her older siblings had become teenagers. Georgia knew for a fact this boy did not enter through the front door of their house.

“How else?” Jersey slurred. “The window.”

“The window? We’re on the second floor!” Georgia put her head in her hands, exasperated. She’s been covering for her sister for more than two years now, but she wasn’t sure she could any longer. Jersey seemed to be getting herself deeper and deeper in trouble.

Author Bio: Pamela Foreman is a wife of seventeen years to her high school sweetheart and the mother of four children. Having grown up in Texas, Pamela currently lives in central Virginia. Pamela received her master’s degree in accounting from Liberty University and is an avid reader. She enjoys sewing, crocheting, knitting and scrapbooking when she is not involved with her children’s activities and spending time with her husband.

Pamela is the author of the Nebraska Holds series, a series surrounding the lives of David Anderson and Annette Miller, middle-aged adults who have both gone through the sudden deaths of their spouses and each have children to continue to raise. The series currently has three books, You're Right, My Love (December 2011), Not Again, My Love (January 2013) and Secrets Abound, My Love (January 2014).

Author Links:

Website: http://www.pamelaforeman.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pamelaforemanauthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/pamela_foreman

About Me: http://about.me/pamelaforeman

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/pef1996/

Google+: https://plus.google.com/111814691744564977712/posts

Make your own bike panniers

     I rely on a bicycle to get around as many know that follow this blog. What do you do when you have groceries? Cabs are expensive and I do have very reliable transportation, it just happens to be two wheeled transportation.  Recently I got a new bike and when I went hunting through everything for the old grocery panniers I only found one. Interestingly enough with the rack attached there isn't quite enough room to put the bike trailer hitch on the axle. Anyway, it's time to make a new set of grocery panniers and I decided to share what I'm doing so you can make your own. They aren't difficult to do. 

     This black nylon strapping came with our new sofa when it was delivered. I've been saving the strap for over a year. I'll be using some of it around the top of the pannier bags. It's two inches wide so I'll fold it over, sew it together and then to the bag. 

     What the 's' hooks will be used for is to connect the grocery pannier to the rack of which I've got a really good one, an Axiom rack. It was really worth the money and I've had it on three different bikes now. I think it maxes out at 130 Lbs that it will carry. It's one of the most durable ones you can get. I've had others that I wasn't too happy with. Most of them are not designed for hauling $100 worth of groceries home. Each of the hooks will hold around 40 Lbs of weight which is more than enough for this application since I'm using three per bag. Notice that I've taken the hooks to the left I've squeezed one end in and it's the part that will be directly attached to the nylon webbing.

     Here is the initial bag as just an unfinished bag. I thought it looked good so I had to shoot a picture of it. To the right of it is the pliers I used to squeeze the one end of the s hook closer. You also see part of the sewing machine.

     Both of the blue materials I bought on a close out sale several years ago. I bought up all there was of the blue canvas they had in stock because to tell you the truth it was extremely cheap on that sale. In fact I wish I would have bought even more colors now that I look back. I think at one time I had five yards of the light blue and 3 1/2 of the dark blue. If you get new canvas you'll probably pay about $7.50 per yard now.

     Here's the pannier bag attached to the bike. You'll notice the bottom is slightly narrower than the top. There is a reason for that. It's so that my heel doesn't have as much of a tendency to hit the pannier while I'm peddling along. That's been something I didn't figure for on other panniers I've made. 

     If that's happening you have to slide your foot forward which isn't entirely natural and it's harder to peddle as a result. What should be centered on the peddle is the ball of your foot, not the arch. 

     The rough size of the finished pannier is 6 1/4" inside to outside panel, 12" wide along the top, 9 1/2" wide across the bottom. The reason for the 6 1/4" size is for gallons of milk so that it will fit and not get damaged.

Here is a detail of the hooks. You can pretty easily see what I did.

Update, 25 January: What I've also done is finally came up with something that will work in the bottom. Some cardboard cut to size, multiple layers that are running different directions to give it the greatest strength. I simply used masking tape to hold the pieces together. It turns out I don't have any glue to turn it into a solid sandwich. I've used four layers here. It turns out the bottom is 6 1/4" by 9 1/4" inside.

     Because the cardboard won't do well once it gets wet and it will at some point I wrapped it in a black store bag to help keep it dry. I believe in recycling whenever possible.

Here are both panniers complete and on the bike. The left one is the particular one I put together today and it's a little neater than the one on the right.

I'm thinking they'll do a good job on the groceries they'll be hauling.

     Here they are with a full load. I just got back from the grocery store today. Yes, they worked exactly as intended. My heels didn't hit the bottom of either pannier as I was peddling. I will say it's a heavy load that I readily noticed especially as I started moving forward. Because of the angle on the front side it did take a little while I was at the store on loading them.

     The rack itself is by Axiom and this is the particular one has been an extremely good one. In fact, I haven't had one that does as well as this one does. Of course I bought it in January 2010 so the same model might have different characteristics now. It doesn't say it on Amazon these days but the rack will hold 100 Lbs (45 Kgs) pretty handily and it seems to center the load well. 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002SR3LKE

The Storm Sullivan Saga

Violet doesn't know I'm doing this but she's got a great set of books available for 99 cents, it's a real bargain. My wife read the first couple of books and really liked them. If you're into paranormal romance you'll probably want to check it out also.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Storm-Sullivan-Saga-Emerald-ebook/dp/B00HYPKRKC

Spirits Move

Spirits move and writhe here

This night of the full moon

Cold orb dark in eclipse

It's over far too soon

Dancing in the ruins

Chilling all my senses

As I am enamored

Lost within their presence

The wispy phantasms

Disappear with the light

When the eclipse is done

And all becomes so bright

19 January 2014

My new wheels

I finally got a new bike this week and it's a Takara Kabuto. I guess the name Kabuto means helmet in Japanese. I'm actually quite impressed with how the bike performs. One thing I will add is that the Vitesse racing saddle is actually quite comfortable which was a nice surprise. It doesn't look like it would be but there's actually a reasonable amount of padding for your butt. The 700 x 25c tires are a good compromise between rolling resistance and shock absorption. 

Earlier today I installed the rear rack. After all, this is a commuter vehicle and if I go to the store this is my only transportation other than walking. In the next week or so I should be creating a new set of grocery panniers, they're far too expensive to buy having looked for some. I went and hunted up my extra canvas today. To admit, I wanted to make some new bags anyway, maybe slightly more aerodynamic that the rectangular ones. For some reason there's only one left of pair I had made before. The Axiom is specially designed to center any weight that's attached to it but when you have a heavier amount of stuff you need both bags to help maintain your balance.

Tomorrow the front and rear lights should be in so that I will be able to ride safely at night. I've even dusted off my helmet and made sure it fits right. I didn't install the trailer hitch yet though I probably will pretty soon.

Here is the review I posted on the Fingerhut site where I bought it at and I gave it five stars. The same model is on Amazon also and it averages 4.1 stars there with 318 reviews that have been posted. It's a really good bike.

The weight and balance are excellent on this bicycle which makes for great handling characteristics. I think a person who really knows what they're doing is who designed it. It felt like one of the road bikes I used to race on many years ago. There really isn't a need for multiple gears if you're in the city and this bike is proof of that. It will take a little oomph getting started though, since I'm close to 50 I'm noticing that.

Even going up 6% grades like one near where I live hasn't been an issue. I just zip right on up it. My daily commute is about 3/4 mile each way and it's now quite a dream compared that heavy mountain bike I was last riding. I timed it tonight and it took me 6 minutes, normally it's been taking about 12 minutes.

Assembly once I got it out of the carton went like a breeze, I think it took me about 15 minutes and I was taking it out for its first spin. It started getting noticed immediately so get yourself a really good lock or you may end up missing the bike rather quickly. I had a couple of people came to congratulate me on how good it looks.

Cover reveal

I was able to finally put together the final cover for Ascendancy Rising today and I think it's a really good one. It definitely calls attention to the good versus evil aspects of the storyline. This particular painting was created in 1895 by Carlos Schwabe and is called "Death and the Gravedigger." It's filled with lots of occult symbolism which also fits the storyline perfectly like the grave markers in the background. From what I was able to research the woman that modeled as the angel was the painters wife. I thought that was cool. I've been hunting a long time for the image that would be displayed on the cover.

Etheusela

What I've decided to do is put the entirety of what I have of Etheusela up on Wattpad one chapter per week and I think there's 22 chapters ready to flesh out. Note, these are rough drafts. Many of the basic concepts in Etheusela did become part of Beyond Realms but they are very different stories. Here's the first chapter. http://www.wattpad.com/35346601-etheusela

And if you really like what's there please leave a comment. I'm also trying to decide when I want to finish this novel up. I think there's 16k all together.