Everyone please take a moment to go to http://fitzgeraldforsheriff.com and tell us what you think.

We were members of Parkwood United Methodist Church years and years ago and it has recently merged with several other United Methodist Churches to form a larger Church called Mosaic United Methodist Church.  I haven’t enjoyed going to Church in a long time… I really enjoyed this Church.

Tomorrow I start a new job… with new people… it’s intimidating I must say, but it’s time to start a new chapter in my life.  I am so blessed to be able to leave one job for another… when there are not enough jobs out there.  I hope that my old job will be a blessing to someone else who needs it.  I hate leaving because the people there were like family… I will miss them, but do not plan on being a stranger for too long, I will pop in and see them from time to time.

I am so blessed, I have a home, I have a wonderful mom, I have a job, and I thank God for everything.

Last year on my birthday I weighed nearly 360 pounds… I went to the family reunion and felt awful… I shared a hotel room with my mother and had trouble breathing.  I did not want to go out.  I did not have my C-PAP machine  to sleep with.  That night I snored terribly… when we woke up mom said she thought I sounded like I was going to die.  Truth is I was on that path… I really believe that if I did not do something I would have died soon thereafter.  I believe when this picture was taken I was around 368-370 pounds.

I look at my picture and feel bad.  I still have that shirt and it hangs on me now… The pants I was wearing I can’t wear anymore… they are way to big.  I am watching little muscles that I did not even know I had dance on my forearm as I type this in.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not by any means skinny now…  I weigh in at 223 ponds right now… that’s a weight loss of 137 pounds.  I still have a ways to go.  But it felt good to try on a pair of pants that were a size 38 in the waist.  Even Murphy and his laws are messing with me right now.  When I was a size 46 all I could ever find was size 38… in everything I liked.  Now I can’t find 38’s but can find 46’s at more than $10 the cost of the 38’s.  I guess I should be happy that others have lost too… (hope that’s the case).

I’m not done yet… this was taken at last years family reunion… this year I will have many pictures taken… I want a picture with everyone I love… my distant cousins and my Aunts, Uncles… EVERYONE.  I also hear that many of my family will look different this year.  Can’t wait to blog on it… but tomorrow I’m going to rock those new jeans… and have the best birthday ever.

My Dear Aunt Ruby passed away today, I will miss her terribly.  This came unexpectedly before the family reunion.  Please keep our family in your thoughts and prayers as they travel to pay their respects to this beautiful person.

For everyone that has a treasured elderly person in your life, take a moment to visit them… call them.  Share their memories, and listen to their stories.  Make sure that they have all they need to be comfortable.  Share a meal with them from time to time.  Treasure each moment as if you will never have another, for you never know when it may be the last.

If I should go tomorrow
It would never be goodbye,
For I have left my heart with you,
So don’t you ever cry.
The love that’s deep within me,
Shall reach you from the stars,
You’ll feel it from the heavens,
And it will heal the scars.

It is almost that time again… and this year I am really looking forward to our family reunion.  As I write this, we are just a little more than one month away from the reunion.

I also can’t wait to see my 2nd Cousin Elizabeth (the pretty one holding the green checked box in the picture to the left).  She’s won a scholarship for photography and I am very proud of her… she is a very special young lady who graduated from high school this year.

I have lost a little more than 100 pounds since the last family reunion.  I still have a little in the middle, but I am no where near what I was last year.  Yes… this is Me… in 2009.  I am ashamed to say I weighed in at 369 pounds.  Today I weigh 241… that’s a weight loss of 118 pounds… and I hope to continue to drop weight.  I never want to be that large again.  I was embarrassed to wear shorts… and I felt bad… really bad.  even my face looks different now.

Yes… I am very much looking forward to Family Reunion 2010!  Last year I just wanted to hide in a corner… I did not feel well, that’s not the case this year.

The pylon sticking out of the water is usually where the steamboat pulls up and takes passengers.  I’ve never seen it this high or muddy.

The water is also making a strange sucking noise… and it’s moving fast.

Farnsley Moreman landing is as beautiful as ever now that the sun has came out.  No more stormclouds are in sight for a while.  I am off for three more days and will try to get some rest and recover from my surgery.

I will have to figure out how I am going to get my yard mowed… with all the rain the grass has sprouted up considerably after all the rain.  I cut it the day before my surgery thinking I would not have to deal with this and the stuff grew like three inches in 4 days.

Anyhow at least it’s Sunny and warm.  Count your blessings while you can!  I could be under water right now.

At least DERBY is OVER!!!

This may not seem like much for those who do not live in the Louisville, Kentucky metropolitan area, but for us residents it’s either the best of times or the worst of times.

Personally I can understand the horse race, it’s historical, it is a part of our culture, but Thunder Over Louisville always saddens me.  Yeah the fireworks are awesome, they are pretty, they are loud.  But I have to wonder what the social and environmental impacts of this event are?

I have witnessed the trash left behind after this event on the waterfront.  It usually measures in TONS… yes TONS.  And it takes days to clean up.  Then there’s the social aspect, how many people could be fed by the millions of dollars of fireworks that go up in smoke?  How much human suffering can be abated by the money spent on fireworks?

Well… that’s my opinion and I’m sticking to it.  — Allen

I have experienced this type of bullying in the past from co-workers, family, and sadly even some friends.  This was produced in the U.K. but it really speaks volumes about the truth.  Watch it and let me know what you think.

Need I say more!