I know, a lot of folks are going to “quit smoking” or “lose weight” again. This time, why not give it a rest and plan some DIY New Year’s resolutions? I won’t have any problem making that list since I’ve always got home improvements on my plate. And then there’s the honey-do’s.

I’m willing to bet I’m not the only one. How about you? Hopefully, Santa will bring you some cool new Christmas present tools. I don’t think that’s on my horizon but who knows? Here’s a few DIY projects I’ve been brainstorming:

• Build a wood walkway to my front door. Something like a short boardwalk. See; there’s a concrete sidewalk next to my attached garage that leads to the front door, but it’s a bit low and catches standing water when it rains hard. It’s not so bad that I need to install a French drain, but it certainly is an irritation.
• Install a laminate floor in the entry way closet. That’s all that’s left of my whole home reflooring project and I’ve kind of put it on the back burner.
• Finish my walk-in pantry. There’s a door from the kitchen to the garage/woodworking shop and I stole a bit of space there last year and built a pantry for more storage space. It’s part of my perpetual remodeling syndrome. What’s left? Installing a prehung door and finishing the floor.

Plenty of time to do all that; I just have to expense it. That’s the joy and grief of being a freelance writer - I get to schedule my own time, but the cash flow is not as consistent to a 9 to 5 gig. Some days chicken; some days feathers.

So what’s on your list? Add your comment to this post and we’ll see what’s popular.

Well, Thanksgiving is over, December has arrived, and Christmas in right there in the headlights. This has really been a super-fast year, and I don’t even know what happened to November. Zoom, whoosh, it’s outa here.

So we’ve had a bit of a cold, rainy spell here in South Texas this week. I’ve had to fire up the central heat for the first time. It made me think about when I was stationed up in Maine. Northern Aroostook County, it was. Since I grew up in Panama (South or Central America, your choice), the cold was a bit perplexing to me.

The heat in the barracks was delivered by radiators, supplied with heat from a hot water boiler system. I don’t know if it was gas or oil-fired.

We used to put pans of water on top of the radiators to humidify the room. I never did get used to the whole no-humidity thing. Every metal thing you touched delivered a static electricity shock. Kind of like that glaucoma test air-puff contraption — you know it’s coming but it makes you jump anyhow.

At home here, we still have plenty of humidity, so that’s not an issue. And it’s just as well, because we have a central forced air furnace, thus, no radiators on which to place pans. And praise God, no static electricity. Now if I could just do something about that glaucoma machine.

But back to the festive season that is upon us; have you decided what Christmas gifts you’re going to send me ;-?

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We’re now running down the checklist of fall and winter holidays. Halloween? Check. Veteran’s Day? Check. Thanksgiving? Coming up! Christmas? Can’t wait!

Thanksgiving is all about giving thanks to God for the Pilgrim’s survival and their friendship with the Indians who helped them out in the New World. Sadly, of late, liberal revisionist politically correct historians in the public school system have been pushing pioneer guilt down the throats of our children.

How pathetic. They teach how our forefathers were actually blood-thirsty barbarians bent on wresting this land from the native inhabitants by sword and blunderbuss. Guess what, Mr. Academic? It was a harsh world that called for harsh actions at times. The world then was not what it is now. Your lily-liver predecessors did not survive and we have been the better for it.

But let’s forget them; they’re rapidly making themselves irrelevant. What got us through those times was a sense of independence and self-reliability. Inventiveness and perseverance. So what does that have to do with this post?

Just this - this same spirit has stayed with us with the inventors, visionaries, and most of all, we DIY types. DIY skills rarely come simply from natural ability. Oh, that’s an element of it, but it goes much deeper. It’s a desire to discover, to rely on ourselves, and to say no to the nanny state. Let us not go in the direction of Europe; that same Europe that we abandoned to get out from under the heavy foot of tyranny.

So yes, Thanksgiving is the time to give thanks that we still celebrate that “Don’t tread on me” spirit. I can do it myself, or with the help of my neighbors and friends. So I say to the current administration, take your nanny state socialism, your ACORN crooks, and your arrogance back to Chicago.

We can take care of ourselves. We’re Pilgrims, OK?

Want to get timely but not annoyingly frequent home improvement news and tips? Brilliant! Sign up for my newsletter at subscribe@icanfixupmyhome.com. Important: If you don’t get the confirmation email in a timely fashion, check your spam and/or junk folder and add listserv@icanfixupmyhome.com to your address book.

Why? Because some email clients filter out unknown domains. Ouch. Meanwhile, visit my main site by clicking on the banner below.

In these tough economic times when the administration bails out businesses that are “too big to fail” and ignores small business, you might think entrepreneurs would just pack their bags and go. But no, as it turns out, that flame refuses to be extinguished.

One such example is the Magnogrip. Simple in concept; handy in practice. It’s basically just a Velcro-secured wrist band with magnets sewn in. The magnets are strong enough to hold nails, screws, nuts, bolts, etc until they’re needed. Then, they’re close at hand (pun intended).

While you might use your carpenter pouches for production work like hanging drywall, that would be overkill for going around the house hanging pictures, installing baseboard or door trim, or even working on the car.

And call me crazy, but I’m going to try it out for holding flies the next time I go kayak fishing.

One good thing is that the Magnogrip is available now at home improvement stores like Home Depot,  and Ace. Just in time for a Christmas stocking-stuffer gift? They say timing is everything…

Want to get timely but not annoyingly frequent home improvement news and tips? Brilliant! Sign up for my newsletter at subscribe@icanfixupmyhome.com. Important: If you don’t get the confirmation email in a timely fashion, check your spam and/or junk folder and add listserv@icanfixupmyhome.com to your address book.

Why? Because some email clients filter out unknown domains. Ouch. Meanwhile, visit my main site by clicking on the banner below.

It’s been a long time coming. I’ve been wanting to add a newsletter to ICFUMH for a long time. It’s a great compliment to the growing article base, the forum, and this blog.

I’ve also had many requests for one. A lot of folks seem to like the format better than the RSS feed. Originally, I tried going with PHPLIST. After all, it’s open source software (free), I’ve had great results from phpBB for the forum, and the developers have done a great job.

But I ended up spending an entire week trying to configure the dang thing. Me, with a background in software development! Long story short, the forum gurus didn’t want to, or couldn’t help and respond to my question. So I went with the trial version of SendBlaster and it works fine.

If you care to sign up, drop me a line at subscribe@icanfixupmyhome.com. Just be sure to include your name and your email address. Your location is optional. I just like to see where my readers are from.

Be sure to add listserv@icanfixupmyhome.com to your email white list or address list; some email clients will bounce or consider the domain spam when they don’t recognize it. So if you do not get a confirmation email in a reasonable amount of time, check your junk or spam folder.

Other than that, what’s new in my world? My marathon training for the Houston marathon next January is going well.I’m just going into week 4. The link above will take you to week 1, but I set up the weekly schedules in such a way that you can navigate from one week to the next.

And, (drum roll, please) today is my birthday! So why am I working ;-?

The town I live in (small city) just went on water rationing. It’s one of those deals where you can only water the lawn, add water to the swimming pool, or wash the car on certain days. Otherwise, face a stiff fine.

Problem is, nobody knows about it because the city isn’t putting out any publicity. I wouldn’t have known except that my wife say it on the city web page when she was looking for 4th of July tea parties and other activities.

Anyway, the problem with extended dry weather is that concrete slab foundations don’t like it. I tend to say slab on grade, but the problem applies to pier and beam foundations as well.

The dry dirt shrinks and pulls away. The result is that it doesn’t support the slab correctly. This can cause cracks, home damage (doors, windows, roofs), and expensive foundation repairs.

Sometimes this means mud jacking for smaller slabs. Bigger slabs might need piers and piles. Mucho dinero, my friends. The pro-active solution? Water the foundation regularly to prevent foundation repairs. Soaker hoses are the best way to do this evenly.

And the city did make a watering exclusion for drip watering systems…

If you’re like me, this is the day you live for. Relax, kick back, and be adored for who you are - Dad. That’s right, with a capital ‘D’. I’m very fortunate to have such a great family.

I was just presented with my gifts, shorts and a shirt. Even though I’ve written recently about tools for Father’s Day, I’ve pretty much got it all. Unless I get a bigger wood shop, that is. Don’t see that happening any time soon.

My wife was going to get me some new running shorts at Sports Authority, but not at $30 a pair. The days when they were reasonably priced are behind us, I’m afraid. I see two issues. First, running clothes have become trendy.

Yes, I know they’re made of technical fabrics, but they’re still assembled by eight year old children in third world countries for about $0.25 a day. Give me one very large break, Nike.

The second reason is that these companies sponsor professional athletes and this cost gets passed down to us, the weekend warriors. I don’t mind it when it goes to runners, because that’s how they eat, but I balk when it comes to paying for Tiger Woods.

I was doing some research on him for an article a few years ago. Did you know he has an accountant just to handle his Nike endorsements? That doesn’t count the endorsements from other sporting goods companies.

Running shoes are expensive too, but they’re a bit different. They are technical and a lot of money goes into research and development. It has to; shoes are the only thing that stand between us and sports injuries like illiotibial band syndrome and shin splints.

But I digress. Or ramble. I’m not sure which. If you’re a dad, happy Father’s Day! If you’re the family component, thanks for being supportive!

Father’s day is one of my favorite holidays to be a dad. With just the one kid, it makes it all that much more special. It’s not so much getting the gift; it’s what the gift represents. Tool gifts are really symbolic of Father’s Day. Let me explain…

In these modern times with an incredible number of single-parent families or “domestic units” with same-gender partners, society is missing the picture. By giving a wink and a nod to social equivalence and a philosophical extension to the term equality, kids are getting short-changed in their upbringing.

No, this is not a diatribe against same gender marriage. Not my call to make. But it takes a family of an opposite gender couple to raise a kid. Women provide qualities such as nurturing and care-giving while men provide the qualities of discipline and building/fixing.

Hence, Mother’s Day = flowers and perfume; Father’s Day = tools and fishing gear. Like I said, it’s symbolic.

Types of Gift Tools

So, what kind of tools are appropriate? It depends on what the old man likes to tinker with. If he’s a woodworker that has everything, a Rockler gift card can’t be beat.

Rockler Gift Card For the woodworker that has everything.Give the gift of choice with a Rockler Gift Card. Let your favorite woodworker choose from thousands of products from Rockler. Rockler Gift Card

If he’s into fixing up the exterior of the home with painting, fixing the siding, cleaning out the
rain gutters and such, the one thing that can’t be beat is a Little Giant ladder. You’ve probably seen them on TV.

They’re super versatile, have multiple accessories, and are like Transformers you played with as a kid. Free shipping too.

Let’s not leave anyone out though. If tools just aren’t in the picture, but he’s a runner or into any other type of sport, why not get him a Road ID? This is awesome; I just got one myself. See, I’m a kayaker, fly fisherman and a long-distance runner and I don’t always run with a group.

They make several models but I bought the wrist band. It’s a velcro strap with an engraved metal tag. Mine has my name, the town I live in, two phone numbers, and the fact that I take meds for high blood pressure.

If I get hit by a car on the road, or mauled by a bear during a trail run, at least there won’t be any confusion about who I am.

As I always say, “It’s so they know where to send the body.” Gallows humor? Perhaps. But I’m also an organ doner and time is of the essence, as they say…

Well, December is here and that means Christmas will soon be upon us. Since it is a new month, I figured it’s as good a time as any to bite the bullet and move the ICFUMH blog to the WordPress platform. Been meaning to do it for a while now.

Why? To automate the process. I’ve been doing it all manually forever and it’s just too time consuming. Not that I’m lazy, I’ve just got too much work to do. The old blog is still available and I might look into migrating the posts over here if I get the time and/or the inclination.

For example, I just finished up ghostwriting a batch of sports nutrition articles for a client who has a motocross site. Also, during November I posted a lot of articles over at my home renovation and repair feature page at Suite101.com.

What else? Writing about great DIY Christmas gifts. I have gotten requests from significant others for suggestions for hand tool Christmas presents for the target DIYer.

But what will happen with this holiday shopping season is pretty much a mystery at this point. I mean, the taxpayers bailed out the financial sector and they’re withholding credit and jacking up the rate on existing credit.

The coming New Year will bring a lot of changes with President-elect Obama and his new cabinet. Can’t wait.