Progress?

So I made an attempt at stripping the bench today. I put both little ones (my own and the one I babysit) down for naps with full tummies, clean diapers and sleepy eyes. Gruby clothes on, I took the bench and headed outside. An hour later my little one woke up and I had discovered -paint stripping is no easy task. Here's what I learned - for those who haven't done it before (like me!)

• It is never thick enough. Even when you think you have put enough stripper on, it still is probably not enough.
• If you accidentally get some on you, go wash it off quickly. (Not "after I finish this side"). That stuff burns!
  
• When the bottle tells you to "wait till it is dry", um do it. Don't think it is dry enough and try to scrape it off. You just scrape off all the stripper, leaving the paint as is.
• It doesn't dry fast enough (does anything?)
• The jury is still out on whether it is faster/easier than sanding.
• No matter what you are doing, round dowels and small corners will always be a pain.
• Even on "simple" paint jobs (just one coat), you will probably need more than one series applying, drying and scraping.
  
• Instead of focusing on all your screw ups while you are working, think about how you can write a blog post about all you learned.
  

So, I didn't get as much done during naps today as I had hoped, but anything is better than nothing, right?