Follow the directions

They say that men hate directions. In fact, I have said that myself. But yesterday I fell prey to that too.
It was Father's day and I have big plans for Jon who has been a very good Father to our girls. I made a new recipe of apple and cinnamon muffins with a brown sugar streusel on top. Yummy! I was careful to double check the ingredients twice.( I am not obsessive). When I finally had it all in the pan, God reminded me that I had neglected one IMPORTANT thing. I forgot the grease the cups. UGH. Now I had to scoop the batter out, wash the pan, grease and then refill. If not, I would have had to have a chisel to get them out, no matter how great they looked.
I have a terrible sewing story that goes along that same line. If you have heard it, the way I usually tell it focuses on how ugly the finished product was and how I decided to wear it anyway and humiliated myself and my family at church on Easter Sunday( many years ago, OK?). Anyway, what I fail to tell is that I did not check to see what type of material the pattern required. After all I have made the skirt before. How complicated could it be. Just seam it up. Make a casing for the elastic and thread the elastic through and there you have it. So, no, I did not check the directions and yes,the finished product was bad all the way around. It had a short closet life- one night.
Directions are so critical that even omitting one thing, you can mess the whole thing up.
So be careful that you follow the directions of what you are doing, be it sewing, cooking, or running your life. The manufacturer knows best, whether it is Betty Crocker, Mrs. Butterick or God. Read carefully for best results.
I bet you have your own stories and I would love to hear them.