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[[File:Mad_Margaret.jpg|left|450px|Mad Margaret]]
==A little about me, the mum==
I have 5 children. I still can't quite believe that. 5 children. How on earth did that happen?
I got married in 1981 and after 8 years of happy life, decided to crucify my marriage and carry on having children against my husband's wishes. Perhaps wishes is too light a word, demands might be better. He responded to this with that cliché of clichés, infidelity. We had 3 children together, two sons (now 24 and 26) and a daughter, 18. We remained married for far too long and after 20 years divorced amicably. I suppose I assumed I would remain single for the rest of my life, but that was not to be and I met my current husband (keeps him on his toes) only 3 years after I had separated from my ex. I was rather horrified to discover that he was a lot younger than I thought and decided (for both of us) that it couldn't work with an age gap of 16 years. But you don't get a lot of choice with love and before we knew it we were living together. He proposed to me, on stage, on the last night of a show I was directing. I had absolutely no idea and nearly fainted when I realized what was going on....
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yv30y2pAY0E]
We had a genuine fairy tale wedding in Scotland and soon after, started our IVF journey. We tried 3 times and had success in Ukraine with our boy and girl twins, now 2. I love the man with all my heart, he is my best friend and my soul mate.
===A little about me, the person===
When I was about 7 I knew that I wanted to be two things, an artist and a teacher. I am now both. But the journey getting there was not obvious. Having achieved a 2:1 BA hons I knew that finding work using art would be tricky. And it was. I have had a lot of interesting jobs, from making and performing with marionettes in a Puppet Theatre to running a thriving Art Department in an Enamel Box Company (and Copywriting for the same), but becoming freelance was the best decision I ever made. I became a very successful Greeting Card designer, moving on to designing exclusively for a large company who sculpted both comical and realistic animals and figures. I learned that I could sculpt too and had a couple of my own ranges, which was nice. And this all fitted in well with my children, although my ex would most certainly have been happier had I had a nice, safe 9-5. I began teaching in Adult Ed in '95, all art including GCE and A level, and have loved it since, but I no longer work for the local Councils, preferring self employment (and 99% less paperwork).
I love performing on stage and have done since my 20s, with a particular fondness for the operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan. I am lucky enough to have achieved all the soubrette roles in those and many other musicals. I have had various cabaret groups, but my current one is on hold as the twins just take up too much time right now. I also Direct and find that perhaps more rewarding than actual performance, although I'm currently writing a musical...which will hopefully get finished when I have more time. Sigh.
I have lived in my lovely, but antiquated, house for 13 years and wouldn't change it for the world.
And that's about it really. Singing, painting, drinking wine, loving the husband and loving the children. That's really rather a nice life.
====A Wine Story====
This is actually what my life is now about...wine and babies. The latter enforce the former.