Caution: stripper at work.

RRRRR.  Round three.  Or is it four?  I know I'm on my fourth container of paint stripper.  First I scraped.  Then I tried regular stripper.  Then I hit it with "heavy duty" stripper.  But I succeeded in peeling off more of my own skin than the paint on my front steps.  I don't know what someone used on them 80 or so years ago, but it's on there good.  So last night I decided to stop playin' with it and get serious.  (Yes, I have just revealed how exciting my Saturday nights usually are.)  After lots of Googling and two more trips to the hardware store (so far, it's a 4-trip, 2-day job, and it's early yet), I have settled on soy.  Yes, they have done something really unnatural with the soy bean and turned it into a non-toxic stripper.  It supposedly works well, but you have to wait.  Wait?  I suck at waiting.  I'm the definition of haste and impatience.  I can barely wait the 15 minutes for the heavy duty stripper.  So this waiting for HOURS is gonna be tough.

Stripper break.

Okay, I just did a little scrape test and the soy appears to be working.  But, like all good strippers, it only takes off one little layer at a time.  (Look, I just made a stripper joke!!!)  So I have redistributed the soy goo (it's a gel, so think really thick clear snot), and I'm going to sit down with a movie.  Maybe a movie outside with some champagne.  Because life is short. 

Give me patience.

Update:

Well, it's been about 30 minutes since I posted, and, of course, I could not just go sit with a movie.  I immediately went out and scrubbed the soy stripper with a brass brush.  And I think it's working!!!!  And working better than the toxic heavy duty stuff.  Or maybe it's just the wire brush and my greasy elbows.  Either way, I'm thinking I may get this job done in a week or so.  (I love that my original naive estimation was that this could be done in one weekend!  Snort!) 

Plus I didn't have any champagne in the fridge.