The Zoo

We've got a lot of stuffed animals. Being the packrat I am, some of them are even ones from when I was a kid. Like all the other toys, they tend to get left around and not picked up. Some have gotten banished to the garage. Part of the problem is we never had a good place to store them.

Recently Maura found a cool piece of organizational furniture called "The Zoo" that looked like a great solution. She sent me the link, and my first reaction was "I could totally make that". Maura's next chat was "you could totally make that", and with that the next weekend's activity was decided.

The kids and I got the materials on Saturday morning (poplar, PVC, clamps, screws), and things were going swimmingly until I reached the point where I needed my pocket hole drill. I think the last time I used it was in Northampton. I spent about two hours searching through everything twice, with no luck.

Eventually Maura came in to lend a fresh pair of eyes, and within 15 minutes she had found the one toolbox I hadn't opened (because it was clearly labelled "Dremel") that had not just my drill but several other things I'd been missing. So, go Maura. Finding the pocket hole jig was definitely worth the aggravation, by the way, it's a great tool and I highly recommend it.

The delay meant I couldn't finish it that weekend, but I was able to wrap it up today. It came out great, and holds every stuffed animal we could find.