The Orange Puzzle Piece

I cannot believe it has been soooo long since I have posted a blog update! So I am going to give you a small review.
August: I want back to Texas for 2 1/2 days. The whole purpose was to help my big sister drive back to Utah after being in Texas for almost a month. It was completely worth it! I ended up getting a sewing machine out of the deal and a load of other stuff because my parents loooove and spoil me! It was so nice to see my family too! I love them so much! While in Texas my nephew was diagnosed with being on the autism spectrum. And shortly after we got back home we had a plan in place.

September: My older sister called me with an idea of how I could help. If you know me at all you know it was killing me being so far away and not being able to help my sister with this huge challenge. She came up with the idea of opening a etsy store and donating the proceeds to James. Of course I instantly jumped on the wagon and supported the idea and was ready to help in anyway I could. So I worked all month long making items for the store. At the end of the month I took a trip to Utah for a fundraiser. Toting all my creations with me. While there a friend of the family Dawn Jones hosted Pampered Chef party donating all the proceeds to James' therapy costs. It was a huge success. By the time I left Ginger and her family we had a plan to open the store as soon as possible.

October: Opening the store. Huge deal. Well it took us about two weeks to finish up some projects and to take pictures and get bank accounts cleared up. We opened our store at noon on October 20th and had our first sale that night. We had another 2 later that week. It has been very satisfying knowing that I am using all my free time to help James.

To give a little bit more of a background the state of Utah doesn't help families when it comes to paying for treatment for autism. Which is just horrible so now my sister has the challenge of coming up with about $6,000 dollars a month to pay for James' therapies. Which are working amazingly well. If you'd like more information check out my sister's blog: http://blog.heuerfam.com. You can donate on this site or you can hop onto our etsy site and check out what we have there. You might find something on there to give to a certain little baby you have in your life for the holidays: http://www.etsy.com/shop/TheOrangePuzzlePiece.

So thus far this has been my life. Helping my hubby get ready for work... He now works for Sony and LOVES his job! He started at the very beginning of October. I love having a happy husband. We are working very hard to get ourselves out of debt. I still work for the bakery and I love it. One hour a day most days a couple hours on the other days. But mostly I spend my time making hand crafted items to sell to help little Jimmer James!

I hope you have enjoyed the update into the life of a very very poor wife of a college student.

Hannah

A Year Ago Yesterday

We were married a year ago yesterday. The best decision ever! I know there are some really important people in my life that had doubts about that decision but let me tell you... Nick and I are very happy. We have moments together that I want to last forever. He is amazing, he always knows how to get me to smile. His laugh is so contagious that I can't help but laugh every time he is laughing. I love him to the end of the world and then more. Now that I have given you a sneak peak of me and Nick. I wanted to document what happened on our wedding day. Mostly because I haven't yet and it is important.

So a year ago yesterday. I woke up after only 3 hours of sleep next to my best friend, Racheal Robinson. My head was full of curlers that my big sister had put in the night before. After getting clothed my mom, my sister Tina, and Racheal piled into my dad's car and headed to my house in Spring 45 minutes away. We got there and Nick's little sisters got to work on my hair. Soon my family headed to the temple. I sat there and watched as the time got closer and closer to the time of the wedding. I asked Nick over and over to get the car ready for us to leave to the temple. We were late. So late in fact that I cried the entire way to the temple. In the end it was fine because the temple was running late. At the temple my mom helped me into my wedding dress. And I met up with Nick in the whitest room you can ever imagine. We sat together while our family gathered in the sealing room. We enter sat next to each with our mom's on either side of us. Soon we were sealed for time and all eternity. 
We exited the temple where our friends and family were waiting to cheer us on. I could not of been happier.

Now this is were it gets hot literally. It was mid August in Houston Texas. It was hot. We spent about an hour at the temple taking pictures. It was so fun and there was a little bit of kiss and a lot of smiling. Soon we were on our way back to my parents ranch to take more photos. Racheal rode with me and Nick in our jeep. We stopped at Sonic and got something to drink. Nick's parents picked up subway and we all met up. We ate and the boys changed into jeans and the girls into jean skirts. We took loads and loads and loads of pictures and it was HOT!!!!

 

After the picture taking was over almost every one headed to the church for the reception. Nick and I stayed at my parents house. It gave me a chance to get out of my dress for a few hours. We took a nap. We also washed Nick's shirt because it was soaked in sweat. Soon it was time to head to the reception but first we checked out the condo we were staying in for our honeymoon. Very nice!

When we got to the church I changed back into my dress and helped out with the finishing steps. Kyle O'Leary had come down the week before the wedding to help with all the preparations. I can't thank him enough for all he did. He MC'd our wedding. He introduced us as we walked into the reception hand and hand. We went table to table and thanked people for coming. And shortly after my dad preformed the ring ceremony where Nick and I exchanged rings.Then Nick Sr gave a prayer and we ate dinner.  It was so freaking good! My friend's dad Ram Gonzales a awarding winning Pit Master did the meat for us. It was amazing. We also had rolls, beans and mac n' cheese all from Sam's Club. I could go for a plate of that right now. During the dinner Racheal gave a little speech and so did Tom, Nick's best man.



Afterward Nick and I had our first dance. We danced to You Had me From Hello by Bon Jovi... Nick picked the song. Was awesome and kinda of like a Jr High dance. Nick doesn't dance. It was so cute and totally awesome. The next song came on and we were joined by our nieces and nephew and a few of my siblings. I guess not very many were in a dancing mood that night. After a little bit of dancing it was cake time! There was a little bit of a cake fight. Nick being Nick I knew I was getting cake in my face. We had a cup cake, cake. It was awesome if you ask me and very Delicious. We got it from Sam's Club so of course we had some yesterday! It was wonderful.

 

Next thing you know nick was removing my guarder and I was throwing my bouquet. I decided to change out of my dress before I left. We walked out of the church toward our car through a crowd of family and friends blowing bubbles. We got to our car that was filled with balloons and covered in lots of love by our family. We left the reception and went straight to the car wash. We headed to a week on the lake. We watched a lot of movies and ate Dominos Pizza a lot too. It was a great honey moon.



So there is my wedding day story.

So we made it a year and only have eternity left. I cannot believe how fast it went. When we got married last year I don’t think we knew what was going to happen next. Well we went on our honey moon. We spent a week at a resort on Lake Conroe in Conroe Texas. When the vacation was over we leapt directly in to the grown up life of responsibility. We both worked long nights until we left for Idaho in the end of December. We celebrated Christmas with my family in Texas, packed our little Honda Civic and hit the road. As we drove both of us didn’t utter a word to each other about the weather. To our amazement as we drove further and further North there was NO snow. There was no snow in Rexburg Idaho on December 29^th; where just a year before there were mounds so high the city was taking snow in truck loads out of the city.  Craziness. We had paid a moving truck to move all our things because we weren’t comfortable driving a U-Haul through the snow. Oh well… better safe than sorry!

Soon after we arrived to Idaho Nick started school and I found a job working at Home Depot as a cashier. Nick worked very hard passed all of his classes, most of which were science classes where the class average is a C. I am so very proud of him for working hard and making it through. I recently found a job in Rexburg working for a bread company as a merchandiser, or in other words put the bread on the shelves at the local grocery stores. I love my new job. I left Home Depot running. Nick was planning on doing an internship with Idaho National Laboratory this fall but do to finical reasons we’ve decided to wait till the Spring. So until January Nick will be working. He will then begin his final semester of school. We plan on him graduating in April 2013. 

So that's the story from a wife of a poor college student,

Love ya!
Hannah

Good Bye Home Depot

I am soooo happy to say that I am no longer employed by Home Depot. Last night was my last night. Monday could of been my last day had they informed me that they got all my shifts covered. Whateves just another reason I left the Home Depot. I WILL miss my friends I made. But this is my promise I will keep in contact with them. It just wouldn't be right to stop talking to them altogether. I will say I have learned a lot from Home Depot. That place is jammed packed with wonderful crafting adventures. I will return to get my crafting supplies in the near future.




Now I get to start my new job. It is wonderful not having to wake up so early that I am afraid I might crash the car on my 45 minute drive to work because I am so tired from closing the night before. Literally I now work a 5 minute drive from my house... and that is with traffic! I can ride my bike and fully plan on it! I get to eat bagels again and my I say they are some darn good bagels! I haven't been working there more than a day and I can't wait to go back.
So bring on the loaves!

Here's from your Poor Wife of a College Student,

Hannah

Oh PS My plan to make extra cash is open up my etsy shop and hit the town selling my crafts!

Isn't it about time...

So again life has gotten away from me. Ready for my update?

Sorry I don't have pictures... I am lame like that this time.

In the past couple of weeks I have quit Home Depot; obtained another job; found out I am severely anemic and have a stomach ulcer; had an interview for a position in a hospital; and taken our car to the shop for an oil leak. Now for those of you who want the short update that was it...

For those of you who don't mind hearing the whole long drawn out story here it is:
A few months ago I started getting really bad leg cramps during the night... well pretty much every time I fell asleep. So me being the daughter of a doctor tried to combat the issue at home. I became religious about taking my daily multivitamin, I started taking calcium and eating large amounts of bananas and broccoli in hopes to bring up my potassium intake. NOTHING worked, in fact it was getting worse. So I decided I would pay attention to my daily activity during the day and see if that made a difference. Sure enough on the days that I worked at Home Depot I had more intense cramps and they occurred more often. So I started stretching before going to bed. Still no change. Finally it peaked and I had 17 leg cramps in one 8 hour span of sleeping... if you can even call it sleeping. Enough was enough and I made a doctors appointment. I had to wait till the Tuesday (6/3) of the next week because of Home Depot. I went to the doctor and he drew some blood and I had to come back in a week to get the results.

In the meantime I find out through the grapevine about a job in Rexburg, Home Depot is a 45min drive from me now, that pays more but has less hours. I promptly applied and that day got an interview, which I nail by the way. Within a week I find out that was I hired. Then Nick and I were faced with the decision of me quitting Home Depot. After crunching the numbers and deciding that it is the same amount of pay and that Home Depot has way more cons than pros; we decide it is time for me to quit. So on July 6, I gave my 2 week notice. And almost instantly I got a stomach ache. I think oh great here comes my post stress tummy ache. Just like the one I got after my wedding, and after we moved to Idaho, and after Racheal's wedding. I figure if it isn't gone by the time I go to the doctor then I will say something.

Well Tuesday (6/10) comes around and it is time for my second doctors appointment. First things first, I get answers about my legs. It turns out the issue with my legs is the lack of ferritin in my blood or in laymen's terms iron. I am severely anemic. My ferritin levels are 2, the normal range is 10-154. My doctor adds the cherry by saying, "That's the lowest I have ever seen, no wonder you feel so sickly." Thanks doc! So he sets me up with a ferritin push or as I like to call it my fuel up! I tell him about my stomach pain as we are trying to figure out what is causing this huge drop in ferritin levels. He says my stomach no longer has the ability to absorb iron seeing as I have been taking a multivitamin that has iron for the last 6 months daily and my levels are still this low. So guess what every 3-6 months the rest of my bodily existence I get to get ferritin injections. But as far as the stomach pain goes, it is an ulcer so now I take a daily antacid pill. And it works great no more tummy pain!
So Tuesday I get home and I feverishly cleaning my house because I have a very old friend come over for dinner and I want my house to look oh so pretty, and I get a phone call from the hospital. I figure they are calling  to schedule my ferritin injection... NOPE! I get call for an application I put in a month and a half ago. I say sure and get an interview schedule for the next day. Shortly after the hospital calls and I schedule my injection for Thursday.Oh yeah in the midst of all this we notice are car is leaking oil... GREAT! We take it in and find out that they have no time that day but to bring it in the next day. We figure out there is no way possible that is going to work so we plan to take it in the next week because of busy schedule.

So Wednesday (6/11) is here. I start my day at work. Six am to 10am... We had figured out the week before when I had these stupid four hours shifts at Home Depot I only get paid $21.40 for the whole shift after you take out gas and taxes. Anyway I got off work late so I hurried home to get ready for my interview. I went to my interview and an hour later I walked out knowing I had hit it out of the ball park! I asked when I would hear, they said that they should know by the end of the week.  That night I went to a girls only party and had a blast learning all sorts of new ways to help enhance my marriage.

Thursday (6/12) my day started with work once again but it was a 6 hour shift. I got a lovely potted flower at work. It was originally $60 but I got it for $10 such a good deal I couldn't let it go to waste. Nick and I got in a fight over it but it was sooo worth it... Don't you think? Anyway I got home from work and went straight to the hospital for my ferritin injection. Something that should of taken 30 minutes ended up taking well over an hour... my veins suck! The  rest of the day was pretty relaxing. I had a few side effects, I got really light headed and have had a headache since then. And this really weird thing with my back.

Friday (6/13).... Friday the 13th, pretty darn normal to me. I went to work. It was pain stakingly slow! It was only 4 hours so all is good. I came home and cleaned then took a well deserved nap. Then I had a good friend come over. I had spent some of my day playing on pinterest and decided that chicken enchiladas sounded good for dinner. Katie and I went to the temple and came home and made dinner. We watched some Monk and I was out for the night.

Saturday (6/14) Another day at work. It was slow as well surprise surprise! Luckily I had a friend on the other side of the store that I texted the entire time. I came home and took another nap. I love my naps. I have been so tired lately. Turns out that is a side effect of the anemia. Well I decided I wanted to figure out how to make my Grandma Jodi's potato salad. All I can say is that I can't handle other potato salad cause it is nothing like my Grandma's. I have many summer memories of helping peel potatoes and de-shelling eggs. Oh yummmy! I called my dad and came up with a list and winged it from there. So to my family members that read this if you want the recipe ask and I will send it your way.

Yesterday was a good day. I went to church ALL OF IT! Wawhoo the first time in months! I am so excited to be able to go to church again. It really is weird how much I missed all 3 hours of it.

Today we took the car and are still waiting to hear how much it is going to cost to get it fixed. Also I called the hospital about the job. She said that there should be a final answer by tomorrow afternoon. So pray for me people pray! And Nick has all his finals so pray for him too! My last day at Home Depot is Friday. I can't wait for that to be over!

So there is the update.
Sincerely Your Wife of a Poor College Student,

Hannah

And now for an Update!!!!

Okay! Okay! I know! I know! I have been seriously slacking on keeping up on the blog posts. So I will do a mini review.

March:
 March 22nd I got a new nephew. Boyd or Bodie as he is called was born. He is named after my dad and born on his birthday. And he is so fetching adorable!

April:
 Denali came back to Idaho to start a new semester. So for the first couple weeks of the month we kept busy getting her settled and preparing for a new semester. Not to mention Ki and Tina with Raeanna and Beatrice and my Mom came up to Rexburg for a short visit. Nick got his new toy: the IPod 3. Which he loves and protects with his life. Then we went down to Utah so we could be there while my baby brother Sam got married. He married such a sweet little woman. We are so glad to add Rebecca to the Grawe clan. Oh I almost forgot I got my Kindle... one word. LOVE!


May:
 Wedding preparations were in full swing for Racheal's wedding the beginning of June. I spent the month cutting out 72 giant paper roses (which didn't end up using as roses); making 180 place settings; 24 table numbers; 200+ name cards; and doing varies other little tasks that I will post glimpses of. They turned out great if you ask me. Denali's birthday was in the beginning of the month so I made her Mountain Dew Cupcakes, which she seemed to love. Ginger & Chris with James & Lily came up for a visit. It was so fun to see them. Then the day before I left for Minnesota. We celebrated Nick's birthday. And that was because it was his birthday. He turned 25. He choose to get a grill for his birthday. It's huge and he loves it. Oh and I sfeehas... yummy little meat in a roll things. Oh and I was offered a permanent position at Home Depot which I gladly accepted.

June:
 For the more recent stuff I'll give more details....

Racheal's Wedding: I left for Racheal's wedding really really early in the morning on the first. I got to Minnesota in the early evening. There was running and jumping and screaming of course when I saw my bestie! We spent the next 10 days preparing for the wedding. I got to see so many friends from Minnesota. I am so glad I was able to go and help with the wedding. I will say that planning a wedding from another state proves to be really stressful. With a lot of help from Racheal's family (which I now consider to be my family) we pulled it off. Of course there were the funny stories like no A/C in the church during the ceremony and me spilling a plate of BBQ on Racheal's dress. Oh and the fact the venue management was a joke and decided yelling at a Mormon about alcohol made sense. IN THE END... it was fabulous and I can't wait till the next wedding I get to help plan. Oh and I was so busy I got like no pictures so those will come when I get them and I am sure you will be pleased!

Uncle Jim's Funeral: My Dad's uncle passed away a few days after I got home from Minnesota and I immediately started making plans to get down to Utah to be there for my dad. My dad grew up very close with his mother's side of the family, seeing that his father passed away when he was 4 months old makes that a little more understanding. Just to clarify Uncle Jim had cancer and had suffered from strokes so we know as a family that he is much happier in Heaven. It was wonderful to be able to see my dad. Nick and I stayed with him at his hotel. So I really got to get some quality time in with him. And we got to spend Father's Day with him. He taught us hearts in the hotel room after running to the gas station next door to get snacks and a deck of cards. Denali drove down with me and Nick on Friday and they went back together on Sunday. I came home on Tuesday with my mom-in-law. I was so so happy to be able not only to get to see my dad but I got to go to James & Lily's grandma birthday (They were born a week before Christmas. So their birthday party is held on their half birthday to make things a little bit easier; plus who doesn't want to birthday parties?). It was priceless spending the day at the farm and watching all those little ones feed the animals and have a blast. It helped that I always a some sort of child in my hands at all times.

Christa & James' Open House: Just yesterday I got to go to Christa and James' open house. If you don't know who they are I'll give you and update. I met Christa when I started working at the library in security. We ended up having our Spanish class together and took the remainder of our Spanish classes together. It was awesome to have someone to study with. Christa is also the person I spent a lot of time with while me and Nick were apart. She helped me stay sane. And James came into the picture not to long after Christa and I met. They dated off and on.... They finally tied the knot about a month ago in the St George temple. They had their open house yesterday night at the Budge's home. It was so wonderful to be there and catch up. Congrats Christa and James!!!

    As a side note to this, the Budge's, Brother Budge was my boss, mentor, therapist and most of all friend while I was at BYU-Idaho. He gave me a job after I came back to school in 2009. He was there from the beginning. He passed away in February my last semester at school. I still have a very difficult time talking about Brother Budge. He was very suddenly and swiftly taken from this earth in a motorbike accident. It was very much a shock to me and everyone else for that matter. I miss him terribly. I miss the man I would go to because my own was in a hospital bed half a country away. I miss the man that always had the right words to make me smile. I miss the man that helped me strive to be a better person. I miss the man that told me to go to the gym not because he thought I was fat (which I accused him of) but because he wanted me to be healthy. I miss the man that would arrange a meeting with me just to show me funny emails and talk about the boys I had crushes on. I miss my "Budge". As I sat in his kitchen last night and could see him standing in the doorway cracking a joke, it pulled at my heart. As his sweet wife sat there and asked me questions about his love for me, I knew he was there apart of the conversation, listening and knowing that he is loved and missed. I am so glad that I could be there.
                 

So now we are caught up today....

I have decided to look into finding a job closer to home. I don't think I will leave The Home Depot. I think that I really need to work with children. I miss them! So pray for me folks that I can find something in Rexburg and working with kids. And will pay the bills. Besides that I have been keeping busy. Nick's family is in town through the end of the month. I am so glad that we get to party with the Angiuli's. I guess that's it from me for now.

Hannah Angiuli... the extremely poor wife of a college student.

Life and its twists and turns

Alrighty. Again it has been forever since I blogged. I have been so busy. I have been putting in 40 hour work weeks and then on top of it spending a lot of time with family. It has been very enjoyable. My mother in law and I made a curtain for above the kitchen sink in their house that they recently moved into it matches the kitchen hutch that we are still working on. Besides that I haven't done a whole lot of crafty things until yesterday. I redid my kitchen chairs! 

                 

 

They look wonderful. I can't believe I forgot to take a before picture but here is the after. Before they were wood with a cream seat. I wasn't the biggest fan of the color. Plus my kitchen is black, red, tan and a sage green so I made it so they would fit better. I love the end product. Of course my silly husband doesn't understand it but he's a boy he doesn't have to. I also made a table runner out of a small peice of fabric I bought from walmart forever ago. I used steam-a-seam (I LOVE THAT STUFF). You can kind of see the chairs in this picture of what they used to look like.

I made a wreath from a bunch of empty toilet paper rolls that we had been saving up. Again my husband doesn't get it in the slightest. But I love the end product. First I measured the toilet paper rolls into 1 inch pieces, cut them and started gluing. I got creative. I spray painted it while I was doing my chairs and now it looks awesome hanging in my bathroom. I got my inspiration from pinterest.
 
Then my bestie is getting married in June and I lucked out and was asked to be the maid of honor!!! So exciting. So I have been doing my best to do my duties from Idaho. I found this awesome giant flower pattern on pinterest and naturally Racheal loved it. So I got the supplies and decided we better give it a try before we plan on doing it. I am not the happiest with how it turned out so someday in the very near future I will be doing a second one. I think we will end up using them. I love the idea I just need practice. I want to try them smaller too!

In other news not on the crafty side. I got a timed large crockpot. Boy do I love it! I have made a roast, chili, and corned beef in it so far. I am so so glad we got it. It is so nice to come home from an 8 hour shift and serve up a plate of warm already cooked food. Usually we have leftovers which rocks because then I get some for lunch the next day too! We also upgraded our internet and man is it amazing. We can get on the internet and actually do what we intended to do. I love it. It only takes me 10 minutes to pay the bills where as before it took up to 2 hours... no joke!
 
Lastly, I have decided to go back to school! Wawhoo! Hannah is getting her masters! I have looked into and decided on Capella University. It is totally online and I can be done in 2 years with 2 classes a semester. We are not exactly sure when I will be starting but by the fall is our goal for me. I will be studying Psychology with an emphasis in child and adolescence studies. We shall see how it all goes. I am nervous. I am not sure how it is going to go but I am sure going to try.
And well that's been my life as the wife of a poor college student....
Hannah

Life at Home Depot

I love my new job!

 I never thought I could be so content being a cashier when I have a college degree. At work the people I work with are kind and we all get along. When I worked at the hospital there was a lot of bickering and back biting which is totally lame if you ask me. At Home Depot when I ask my manager a question he answers and honestly and if he doesn't know the answer he finds out, that day! That never happened at the hospital.
The biggest battle for me when I first started working at Home Depot was the fact that credit card sales where huge!  As in getting people to apply for one and then use it. I was a little sketchy on the whole thing. I didn't like being so pushy. But a co-worker had told me the way to get noticed and to move up is in credit card sells. So the next thing I know I get a credit sale. Then another and another. Last week I had the most sales for the store. I even out sold the top credit sales guy in the district. The best part of credit sales is the extra dollar on my pay check. Home Depot gives me a dollar for every credit I get. It is cool because they make it so that it is a dollar after taxes. So really they give my two dollars but I lose one to taxes. It is really awesome.
The coolest thing happened yesterday. I was in the store manager's office and I nearly jumped out of my skin when he said my name. My response was how do you know m name. ( I hadn't met him yet.) He had told me that he had heard wonderful things about me and was glad that I was on my team. Then it got better later in the day when a district manager was in the store and she knew my name too. So needless to say work is going very well! And my manager told me that it is looking pretty good that I will become a permanent employee. Which was a sigh of relief. I will have a better idea of that next week too.
Nick is adjusting to life with me working. The laundry doesn't get folded as fast and the house isn't always spotless but he is helping out more and more. A lot of times when I get home from work he has gone out of his way to make sure I have something to eat and the dishes are done. Both of things help so much I could cry some days because I am so tired. I love my poor college student of a husband.

In case you forgot this is a yak.

Oo I have a cool experience to tell you about. I ate yak... as in the animal the other day. It was amazingly delicious. I know it sounds not so good. But it tastes just like beef but it is sooo much better for you. It is super high in protein which I don't get enough of and very low in fat which I get too much of. So in the end it is a win, win. I bought a bunch and it is taking up my freezing. I plan that later this week we will be having a yak roast for dinner and I can hardly wait.
I also spent my days off last week with my mother in law upcycling a old china-like cabinet. It turned out pretty cool. We are half way done. When we have finished I will be sure to up load the pictures we took of the process and maybe you'll become inspired to upcycle something old in your house or storage unit.

Anyway that's been my life as of late. It has become very busy but enjoyable at the same time.
Love,
The Wife of a Poor College Student.