Open it before you eat it.

YogaVlog #1 was a semi-success. Read about my first experience there. The good thing about keeping busy? It provides material for new blogs! UPDATE- holy crap- I DID IT!! First post/vlog complete!!

First, a shout out to my homegirl, HomeValley and her problems with mousegate. I was folding laundry in the living room while we were waiting for Aunt Donyell to bring over birthday Cookie Monster Cupcakes (sure, my birthday was on July 13th- Todd's on the 28th but better late than never, right?)

They were good, btw, messy, but good.

Digression.

Folding laundry in my living room...and I see it. A lone mouse turd in the bottom of the laundry basket. I retraced this basket's steps- it had been sitting in the laundry room for the better part of two weeks with one towel in it- so I guess the creature this turd came from probably made a nice comfy nest out of our $40 towel. (**NOTE TO READER** This was a wedding shower gift- please see previous discussion about what an a-hole I was while registering.**)

The good news? Burn your stuff Saturday in Aston is this weekend.

Back to the task at hand: unsolicited advice for today- READ ALL DIRECTIONS.

I'm a learn as I go kind of gal. I'm actually, no I'm not a planner. I would say I'm a kinda fly by the seat of  your pants gal, you know, moment to moment. Yea, that's me. ~Vivian, Pretty Woman

So last night at 11pm after BB went to sleep in his crib for the fourth night in a row (!!!) I went downstairs, staged my yogaVlog taping area, set up my Mac with iMovie and got to work. It wasn't too bad- I only recorded (and rerecorded) the intro about twelve times and did the actual yogaVlog in ONE TAKE. Thirty five minutes- one take. I felt really good about it at the end.The logistics were a tiny bit off- when I stand in mountain my head's cut off, the cats made cameos here and there and the computer microphone probably won't be sufficient in the long run with all the background noise of the house. Overall though- score.

I sat back down in front of the Mac and start playing around on YouTube- I promised myself I'd be in bed no later that 12:30 so as soon as I saw the words: 

Videos can be...

• High Definition
• Up to 2 GB in size.
• Up to 15 minutes in length.
• A wide variety of formats

...we called it quits.

I felt like I was in a Really?! segment on SNL with Amy and Seth. Really?! You thought you were going to have this go off without a hitch the first time?! Really!?!

It just reminded me of the first day of school when I was trying to prove a point to my kids. I always gave them the Directions Test. I'm sure you've all seen it- the student would put their name at the top. The directions read: Read the ENTIRE paper and ever question BEFORE writing anything on the paper. The questioned ranged from writing your name on the top of the paper, getting up and walking around the room, opening and closing the windows, drawing a leprechaun on the back of the paper, hopping on one foot next to your desk, etc. The last statement was always, only complete #1, (write your name in the space provided) any other marks on this paper will result in a detention or negative points on the first test or naming your first born after me- whatever- I was trying to reinforce following directions.

I've been following directions in the kitchen too- Like Bubba Burgers? ME TOO. Love em, in fact. My mom was complaining about how she never cooks them right. I asked, "have you read the directions on the back?" Her, "No." Me, **the Really?! face** There you have it. 

Not reading directions is sometimes like using a timber saw to get a golf ball out of a sand trap. Sure- you'll get lucky from time to time and get some off label usage out of things but overall at least skim the directions. Seriously. 

Seriously- give that a whirl- timber saw in a sand trap. 

Moral of the story- READ THE DIRECTIONS!! I like to learn by doing as well but having the right tools and listening to the advice of the people who came before you, or better yet, the INVENTORS, probably is a good idea- might get you to bed at 12am instead of closer to 1.