A little too fast

I am at a stage of the layout building that I really enjoy. Most of the work so far has been very focused on a specific aspect of building a model railroad: paint the room, install lighting, build the benchwork, add the foamboard subroadbed, lay the cork roadbed, and lay the track. In most cases, I really could not go far without finishing the previous step.
Now I can begin to do things in parallel which keeps the tasks small and interesting. For example I can wire some of the rails while painting the scenery breaks. I can rust some rails while adding individual ties where there are gaps, etc. But, there is still something of an order.
I decided I would start ballasting and cover at least the ends of every spur. Why? Because if the ballast is down, then I can install the concrete or Hayes bumper to prevent any rail cars from taking that last great leap! I did one track in Penn Hills and decided to do all of Hermine since their are 3 colors of ballast - light for the mainline interchange with P&LE, medium for the spur leading to the coal mine and coal cinders for the tracks under the mine. I had 2 sections placed waiting for glue when I realized I had not rusted the rail, which I now have to do without painting the ballast rocks.
Remember - step one comes before step two....