Revisiting That To Do List

So two weeks ago I posted my "around the house" to do list here. It looked something like this:

1. Frame several maps/posters and pieces of art.
2. Hang up framed items.
3. Pick up professionally framed maps/posters and hang them up.
4. Hang a sconce that has been sitting in our front room closet for months.
5. Convert my daughter's crib into a toddler bed.
6. Figure out how to refinish a piece of wooden furniture.
7. Refinish the chair that will go with the desk in the front room.

As of today items one through five are totally done. I love how the house looks with the walls finally occupied by all of our wonderful geeky art. It is fantastic. The random sconce isn't too bad either. 

As far as my daughter's switch to sleeping in a big-girl bed, it has been mostly a smooth transition. She usually is pretty good about going to bed or down for her nap. I believe that at least part of this is because her dad is such an avid napper, and she sees from his example that sleeping is an okay thing to do. We have established a little bit of a routine that involves her unplugging her night light after about five or ten minutes and then walking over to the door and running said night light back and forth across the door until I go in to plug it back into the outlet, at which time she will get back into bed and say "night, night." Sometimes this only happens once, sometimes it happens several times. Usually after about an hour or so she falls asleep. Every once in a while I will hear her playing in there, and I am staying away unless the noises I hear suggest things are being used in a really improper way. Earlier this week she kept trying to get into her dresser and I finally asked if she wanted to change her clothes. After a hearty "yeah!" We put her in new jammies and she was out like a light. Once or twice I have gone in after nap time to find that she had pulled a pair of shoes out of her closet and put them on her feet before conking out. But more or less she's got the whole thing figured out, and she seems to like the new configuration in her room.

Now, item six on the list, well, I have more or less accomplished that. In theory, I know exactly what needs to be done. Which leads us to item seven...

...yeah, that's still definitely a work in progress. Last weekend I went out back during nap time and got all set up, and I did manage to get the first layer of the current finish removed. Yay, me! But it was hot as all get out (we've been over a hundred degrees most days for a while now), and I may have gotten dosed with some of the stripper fumes even though I did take precautions. Because the rest of that night? Ooh, I was not feeling good, y'all. So when nap time Sunday rolled around, I really didn't have it in me to go back out there and work on the chair again. Then Sunday evening I felt the beginnings of a sore throat, and our AC went out (again). This led to a rather miserable Monday. We got the AC fixed back up Monday afternoon thankfully, but in between that and whatever I had come down with and my bad experience on Saturday, well...that poor chair just sat neglected on my back porch all week. I do still want to try to get it done before my daughter's birthday party though, which gives me a little over a week. Gonna try a new tack--I got up early this morning and took another layer of the finish off (and was extra careful about the fumes). I think I've gone as far as the chemical stripper can take me though, so tomorrow and Sunday I'm gonna sand that sucker down for all I am worth and see where to go from there. Wish me luck!

Hey, I did get the cushion re-padded and recovered at least. That's a start, right?

Then I just have to work on cleaning the living room carpet (and the rest of the house) before that birthday party...