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 ;-?

I usually write about home improvement, but at times I get off on a tangent. Which happened this week. Growing up in Panama, I ate empanadas all the time. That is some good eating.

Now I live in South Texas, or is it Mexico? It’s hard to tell, with all the “guest workers” roaming around. Anyway, it’s a good thing I speak Spanish. I wish I could say that Obama is going to do something about the border but he probably won’t do any better than President Bush in that regard.

But I digress. The point is that when I get a hankering for empanadas, the only ones I can buy are the Mexican variety, which are stuffed with fruits. So I make my own from my Panamanian-style empanada recipe.

They’re not hard to make at all. The only thing I change from the original is that I make my own crust using a whole wheat pie crust recipe that I invented. I just like whole wheat as opposed to wimpy overprocessed wheat products.

Speaking of  food, I recently recieved two batches of frozen meat, both buffalo and deer. Delicious. Honestly, I tried the vegetarian thing years ago and it didn’t work for me. I know it’s the way for some people, and more power to you if you fall in that camp.

Not to say that I don’t enjoy vegetables as well. I’ve got my vegetable garden all set up and I’m just waiting for the weather to warm up a bit so I can plant.

OK, back to the work. Ready for more free home improvement articles?