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Take a Trip Tuesday: Meet me

Each Tuesday, we’ll take a trip.  Go meet someone and do what I do best.  Ask them TONS of questions. Okay, maybe only 20 or so.  Yah, I guess that’s tons.

Well, today I’d like for us to take a trip….to visit me.  Yes.  Let’s head to the big metropolis of Cedar Rapids and it’s surrounding area.  You’ll find out more about who I am and perhaps some favorite places that you can visit the next time you are in the area.  (Now, as I said, generally, when we do these Take a Trip Tuesdays, I’ll interview someone else.  Together, we’ll learn more about this person and he/she will be able to give us some pointers on hot spot tourist attractions in their area.  So, be thinking because I’ll probably be asking to interview YOU sometime soon…)

Today, I’d like to introduce to you ~ ummmmm, this is weird…me.  Angela Banae (Conover) Patterson


Look at these handsome boys we have!


What is your current job title?  I’m a stay at home mom, chauffeur, avoider of matching socks when folding laundry, newbie at drinking coffee with creamer and lots of Reddi Wip whipped cream, currently the push (not a riding) lawn mower operator at our house, blogger, and a wannabe writer an aspiring writer.

Share with us about your family.  Patrick and I have been married for almost 14 years.  We have two boys — Nate, who is finishing up 3rd grade and Maxim, who is finishing up four-year-old preschool.  No pets at our home (though we once were the proud owners of a pet snail until we told Nate that Mr. Snail (yes, we are just that original when naming pets) needed to be released back into the wild), but Nate feels like he can say he has a dog, Ripper, who lives out at Papa Dan’s and Grandma Carol’s farm– the 240, so I’m gonna go with it.

You are living in  the big suburb of Cedar Rapids (ha ha)…Walford, Iowa      . Where are three places everyone should go if they come to visit your town?  Well, The Angle Inn has great pizza (and cold beverages, if you’re thirsty).  Other than that, you’ll want to head outta town because that’s pretty much all we’ve got here in big Walford.  So, I’d recommend The Amana Colonies…they have this 1970’s/early 80’s style bed and breakfast in Middle Amana that I once reserved for my annual Girls’ Reunion with my college friends.  Okay, it’s not a 5-star, but does some character and charm count?  And in my defense, it DID have a hot tub that we were able to use.  And delicious Hahn’s Bakery is just down the street.  Finally, I think you all need to visit the 240…it’s an outdoorsman’s dream where one can hunt, fish, have a bonfire, or ride in our Ranger through woods and in fields.  Even me, being a girly girl, enjoys this place where nature and ticks and other bugs and deer all collide.  I guess that’s what love does to a person…makes you love being anywhere, as long as you’re with those you love.


Riding our Ranger at the 240



Hubby and the boys


What is something you love about your home?  I love the memories we’ve made as we’ve raised our boys here.  Eating “picnic” suppers out in the living room and watching a movie together.  Celebrating the holidays here.  Planting flowers with my mom.  Having all of our families over for the boys’ birthday parties.  Having the kids and their friends play ball and hide-n-seek in the yard.  It’s a cozy home filled with lots of love.

Share with us what your favorite meal is.  Well…I am so classy (and honest) that I’m going to have to go with…pizza.  Yes.  I’m pathetic.  But I could seriously eat it 5 nights a week.  But, a meal that I love to cook…Chicken Tortellini Soup w/ Cornucopia Salad and warm bread.  Don’t forget dessert…maybe some peanut butter fudge brownies?  Or Surprise Cake made with cream of coconut.  Okay, I’m getting really hungry now.

Tell us about an amazing place you have visited.  I’ve always loved Hawaii, especially the North Shore.  It’s just beautiful and I love boogie boarding while the waves crash on the shore…the deep blue water glistening in the sun is just stunning.

What is currently on your DVR?  I have 10 Christmas movies that are “protected” and cannot be erased…I love Christmas movies!  I have Pop Up Video, The Tonight Show, and Survivor recorded, but I never have time to watch them anymore.  I used to DVR Scandal and Revenge, too.  Otherwise, it’s a boy’s or man’s world…Wild Kratts, Curious George, Tom & Jerry, Dude You’re Screwed, Fast N’ Loud, Counting Cars, Seinfeld, Swamp People, Man v. Food, Buckmasters…yah, I think you get the picture.

Your favorite books of all time?  I love Sparkly Green Earrings or The Antelope in the Living Room – both by Melanie Shankle, Streams in the Desert Devotional Book by L.B. Cowman, The Trouble with Trolls by Jan Brett, Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown, and The Bible.

Share with us a funny memory from long ago. This could pertain to elementary school, high school, or last week… I could tell you about the time I was working at The Brass Buckle in Oskaloosa (back in high school) and I was on my lunch break.  I stopped by Mahaska Drugstore and on my way to leave, I had forgotten that there was a parking curb there.  I tried to just drive out of the parking lot back onto the road because I was in a hurry.  Instead, I drove my maroon Ford escort up ONTO the parking curb.  And had to go back into Mahaska Drug and have a pharmacist come out and help me lift the car off of the parking curb so that I could get back to work.

Okay, give it to us straight up. What are your top five go-to snacks?  Peanut Butter M&M’s, Honeycrisp apples, popcorn, all kinds of cheese, and any type of homemade soft cookies or bars (brownies, frosted sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies to name a few).


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If you had to live somewhere else in the world, where would it be and why?  Near the ocean…probably an island in the Caribbean.  Or else in Colorado or out west somewhere on a ranch with a stream running through it (where the boys could ‘pan for gold’ like they’ve always dreamed of doing) and living in one of those mega-amazing epic log cabins…Patrick and our boys would be thrilled out of their minds.  Clearly, I cannot make up my mind and pick just one place I’d like to live.

Three things you’d take if stranded on a deserted island…  My MAC lip gloss, my Bible, and Super Bubble bubble gum

What are four items that are always in your refrigerator?  Heinz ketchup, apples, string cheese or co-jack cheese, and cucumbers  How about your pantry?  Share three things you always have in there.  Hostess powdered mini donuts, Lays Kettle Cooked potato chips, and Orville Redenbacher’s movie theater butter popcorn…all healthy stuff, of course.

What is your favorite thing to cook, grill, or bake?  I love to bake delicious birthday cakes for the boys or peanut butter fudge brownies

What are you really good at?  Talking.  It’s always been hard for me to be quiet.  And loving our boys.  I don’t always have the cleanest house or a gourmet meal prepared (just ask Hubby), but I spend time with the boys doing fun things (playing with them, reading, helping with homework, or snuggling with them) and showing them how much I love being their mom.

Favorite sport?  Track and football

What is your favorite season and why?  Ummm…this is a hard one because I love something about each of the seasons.  I might have to go with winter because of Christmas no, spring because the flowers are blooming summer because I love the sunshine, taking the boys to the pool, and hearing the crickets chirp (do they chirp?) and frogs croak at night.

What are your favorite reads?  I love the sophisticated and intelligent Us Weekly.  I love reading cookbooks, too.  Then, I have a few blogs I follow – Boo Mama Blog, The Big Mama Blog, and Mix-and-Match Mama Blog.

Share with us your top three favorite songs of all time.  “Say It Isn’t So” by The Outfield, “I Get Excited” by Rick Springfield, and “Given to Fly” by Pearl Jam.  (Okay, I am so not following the rules…I have another one, “I Need You” by Tim McGraw and Faith Hill.)

What is a memory you have of me?  Well, that’d be weird if I answered this one.

Well, that wraps up our interview.  Thank you for sharing and we’ll look forward to meeting a new person next week! 

So, that’s how Tuesday posts will go.  For now.  Until I get tired of begging people to please answer my gazillion questions.  Or you tell me that this isn’t very interesting.  For now, I’m gonna go with it.  Because I love finding out random stuff about people.  It’s what makes people interesting.


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