If you give a mouse a cookie...

Have you read, "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie"?  It's a classic!  A boy befriends a mouse and gives him a cookie, but you have to have a glass of milk with it.  And if you have a glass of milk you need... and it goes on and on and leads from one humorous thing after the next.  Well, I swear I had a "If you give a mouse a cookie" kind of day.
I have this old chair that I had painted for school years ago.  The legs were looked like stockings with different colored stripes.  The seat was purple with yellow and red stars and swirls.  It was fun to look at and kids liked sitting in it.  With anything that is used a lot, it had received some damage.  So my husband made the repairs but now there were areas that had the paint chipped.  I thought it would be fun to fix the chipped areas and take it up to school.  That was my first mistake.
To fix the chips, I had to sand down the areas.  Sounds straight forward and it wasn't humid so I figured I could paint it afterward.  I went to find some sandpaper and my husband hands me the power sander. I've never worked it before but it made the work easy.  It worked well - too well.  I went from just sanding the chips to sanding down any area that wasn't smooth to the touch.  Which, of course, lead me to sand more and more.  I think I got carried away. 
My husband walked by and asked if I am going to strip it.  Well, I wasn't but I guess I am now.
So time to get out the stripper, brush and putty knife.  I've never striped anything before - that stuff burns the skin but looks cool when it is removing the paint.  It gets all bubbly.  Then it was time to take the putty knife and remove all the paint. It would have been great if all the paint came off the first swipe across, but no.  After 3 applications of the stripper, I still have some paint holding on for dear life.  How many layers of paint did this chair have on it?  I uncovered white, dark green, fern green, turquoise and brown under the purple top layer.  It looks a mess right now - nothing that another coat of stripper won't help with.  Then I get to paint it. 
My hand hurts today from holding the power sander but I feel great that I learned something new and I'm creating a new look for the chair. How did I go from a simple touch up to a full blown project?  That mouse gets me every time.
Have you ever had that happen to you?