Handy Manny Is Ready To Fix

I've often wondered why is it I'm helpless around my Dad's toolshed.  The guy knows how to build anything from scratch.  


Sure, I know the names of the tools--the wrenches, the C-clamp, the vise grip, the rivet gun, the crowbar (or bareta), the plane (or katam), but dislodging a nail and straightening it out are about all the things I can do.  I often think with my eye for details I'd make a good carpenter, but then again the last time I made a screen lid for the compost bin, the thing collapsed after a few days of being lifted.


True, in Baguio me and Edge were able to make a tiny Japanese table out of bamboo, scrap plywood, nails and sturdy string, but I call it a miracle.  In the end, our lopsided table had one leg shorter than the rest, but still it served us well for a good many dinners.

* * *

Anyway, here's a guy who doesn't have to sweat out anything at all: Handy Manny!  His animated tools do all the job for him.


I saw an episode once on TV, where Handy Manny made a door for a butterfly conservatory, and I remember thinking, it's no fair: he's got tools that automatically help.  (If you'll notice in the pic below, Handy Manny's just using a pencil.  The saw does the sawing.)

Enter Fisher Price's Fix-It-Right Manny Repair Shop ($63 at Amazon)


It's the carpentry kit and workbench with an actual blueprint for creating various projects.  There are 20 projects to create, and some 40 parts to tinker with.  Nails, screws, saw, drill, boards--Handy Manny has got them all for your budding carpenter.


Exclusively for boys?  Nah.  Who ever said only boys can be carpenters?