How does distance make the heart grow fonder?

No seriously somebody tell me, how does this work? It has been a whole week since I have seen Mr Saunders and I can't wait till he gets home tomorrow. I won't see him till after I finish at the day job and I am sure I will be counting the hours but my heart is not “fonder”.

Call me crazy, call me pathetic but I miss Mr Saunders just as much on the last day we are separated as I do on the first. Actually we have a couple of friends in our circle that really do call us pathetic, telling us we should not be happy living in each other's pockets...but we are!

Maybe that is the secret, if you are the type of people who never get sick of each other's company then you don't need distance to make the heart grow fonder. If your best friend is your soulmate and your life feels complete just by having them beside how much fonder can your heart actually grow?

Time away from Mr Saunders doesn't make me miss him more, doesn't make me love him more, doesn't make me want him more. It just makes me sad and lonely, and honestly I get less done when he is away, somehow I am far more productive with Mr Saunders hanging around.

I have spent the better part of the week snuggled on the couch with the dog and two cats who would be most upset with me if I did not point out that they too have had a very melancholic and mopey week. Distance does not make their hearts any fonder, they miss Mr Saunders just as much now as when we are home alone at night while he is at work.

Distance has not made any of us sad, lonely, couch dwelling beings appreciate Mr Saunders more, miss him more, or love him more. He is our world, he is my soulmate, he is missed and there will be hugs galore tomorrow. I am sure my heart is not any fonder, there is no room for fonder in a heart that is already full. Mr Saunders I have, I am and I will always be loving you, but you need to come home now, I can not live another day without you!

What does everyone else think...Can distance make the heart grow fonder?

Real Mother's day with a fake daughter...

This is not what you think, I am not having a cheap shot at a daughter who does not live up to my expectations, I have an actual fake daughter. I didn't give birth to my Pookiebear, I didn't adopt her at a young age or become her foster parent. We met for the first time in November last year when I moved to Mount Isa for the day job, we hit it off immediately and somewhere along the way appointed the role of mother and daughter to our relationship.

I can only guess what it is Pookiebear gets from calling me Mama, stern and unsolicited advice, hugs on tap and the occasional family dinner cooked by myself or Mr Saunders... Myself on the other hand, gain much more then I could possibly give.

Mr Saunders and I have never been blessed with children, it seems the stork has lost our address, as the years tick on by it becomes more apparent that the pitter patter of tiny feet and midnight cries are just not something we will hear in our household. We consoled ourselves with the tick tack of doggy claws and plaintive cries of clingy cats until we were blessed with a beautiful seventeen year old daughter.

I always dreamed of becoming a mother, as a child it was what I wanted to be when I grew up, I may not have given birth, or raised my Pookiebear but I am thankful that I have someone to shower love on and smother with unrealised maternal instincts. I am grateful for the birthday card that reads “for mum”, The chocolate bar left at the day job marked “Mama bear's”, the hugs, the love and the “family” dinners.

This is the first mother's day in quite a few years I have not felt inadequate, or like I failed at being a woman, it is hard to watch the world celebrate a day dedicated to something so beautiful and natural that you will never experience for yourself. Thank you Pookiebear for making Mother's day a happy day, and for making me feel special, I can not wait to watch Practical magic with you on our next mother daughter movie day xox.

Sunday on the couch with a pot of tea and a good book...Yes please!

Just like every writer I have ever met, I love to read, and when I say love, I mean capital L.O.V.E love! I will read anything, except instructions, gods how I hate instructions, much to Mr Saunders horror. Now horror, that is one of my favourite genres, in fact horror and fantasy are my two all time best-loved genres when it comes to what I like to read, and write.

Sci-fi and crime are front runners too, a good suspense, a tear-jerking drama, all of these will make me pick a book up off a shelf and read the cover at the very least. One genre that I have ignored a lot throughout my adult life is Romance, I don't hate romance novels, I don't even dislike them, I have just never been interested enough to seek them out or pick one up off the shelf.

I use to read romance, like all teenage girls I had a stash of mills and boon and harlequin hidden behind my Sweet Valley High and Dolly romances. It really was a genre I forgot about after high school though and shame on me for doing so.

It was my helpful nature that succeeded in getting me to pick up a romance book again, my beautiful friend Ann B Harrison gave me a copy of her newest release Outback Gold in exchange for my truthful feedback. To be honest I picked it up with some reluctance, Outback Gold is not only the first of Ann B Harrison's books I have read but also the first romance book I have finished in a very long time.

What can I say about Outback gold? I loved it! I mean capital L.O.V.E...well I am sure you get the picture. From the first moment Morgan walked into the Pindon Pub and Stacey set eyes on him I was sure I knew where the story was heading. Girl meets boy, girl and boy fall in love, boy leaves, girl discovers a hidden truth about the boy causing complications and misunderstandings which keep them apart but they are reunited at the end.

Outback Gold delivered so much more however, Ann provides her readers with a sassy heroine, a hot hunk (who I am perhaps a little infatuated with...sorry Mr Saunders), sizzling sex, colourful supporting characters, plenty of drama and a twist that even I (master of spoiling whodunits) did not see coming.

I loved the story, I loved the characters and the ending had me all teary, I will definitely be reading more from this very talented author. In fact I may become a little obsessed for a while, not just with Ann B Harrison but with the love of the romance genre she has re-awoken within me.

Part of me is mourning the lost value of the romance genre in my life, a bigger part of me is already planning which romance book my pot of tea and I will be curled up with next Sunday...