Surprise! I am back! I’m sure many of you are wondering what in the world happened to the Anutta Poodle family. I arrived back in TX last night after over 3 months staying in Arkansas. It would take a book to explain it all, so I will condense it to the bare facts. My Step dad was admitted to the hospital mid April with pneumonia. While in the hospital, he suffered a heart attack, where they discovered 9 blockages. A few days later he had a 5 vessel bypass. There were multiple complications, infections, more pneumonia, etc. Long story short, he is STILL in the hospital, but we think he will pull through. His rehab is progressing, but it will be a year or more before he is fully functional.

Back in April I headed into Arkansas to help mom with the dogs, housework, etc while she lived at the hospital. At the same time, I also gathered everything together on their construction business and tried to tie up any loose ends. My Dad was in such bad shape we were not sure he would pull though, he couldn’t speak for two months, and was mostly unconscious. I spent a few weeks just gaining access to all his subcontractors and catching up on his bills.

Keith and I buy homes that we either flip or keep as rental property. My Dad is our main contractor. We purchased a house that needed a LOT of work. Most of the plumbing and major electrical was done, as well as some structural repairs to the foundation (jacked the entire center up). However, it still needed insulation, walls, ceiling work, painting everything, new outlets and switches, some stairs installed, lighting, and 3 bathrooms installed from nothing. The only person in the family with the knowledge to oversee or do the work was me. So, I’ve been helping my mom around her house, taking care of her 3 dogs while she lived at the hospital, cooking, cleaning, and remodeling a house. In short, I was working 16 hours a day with few days off for about 3 months.

Here is the video of the house. A few things were subcontracted out, I had my brother and brother-in-law helping change out switches and plugs, my sister put in a few weekends work as well, and Keith drove in on some of his day’s off to help me on things I could not do alone easily (hanging doors, etc). However, the vast majority of the work was done by me. I have to say I have two of the best kids. They spent their summer in a nasty dirty house watching DVDs or netflix on my phone, playing with the hose outside, or just pretending to be contractors. They were amazing. To keep this Poodle related, the dogs did fine. Jazz and Flash stayed with my sister most of the time. River lived with me at my Mom’s because he is amazing good with her 3 little dogs. I had to have at least one with me and River is very much a momma’s baby. Jazz and Flash are much more “Whatever!”

For those who have emailed and I have no responded, I hope to respond to your queries soon. Watch for an email this week. If you do not get a response from me and you still need me to help you find a puppy or have a question, please email me again. I’m not intentionally ignoring you, but I have to say I have probably 40 emails to reply to and missing a few is inevitable. especially if I read it on my phone but didn’t have the energy to respond and forgot to keep it as new (this happens a LOT).  This blog will be busy.  I have a lot to update and say over the next few weeks.

~Becky