Newbie question about using my glucose meter

I was diagnosed last week and the doc gave me a OneTouch Verio and a nurse showed me how to use it. I was told to be sure I wipe the first bit of blood away before applying to the strip.

So, starting Saturday morning, my pre-meal glucose levels started dropping by a lot. So much that I've been paranoid that I could be screwing up the test. I started to dismiss it as coinciding with starting metformin, but I didn't take my first dose till after that first normal reading.

Today, during my pre-dinner reading, I went to wipe the first drop of blood away--with the prep pad--and noticed how wet it was. So I wipe it away again with my finger. This time, my level was lower than Friday night, but much higher than my reading this morning (like, this morning it was near too low, which seemed like nonsense).

I'm now near convinced that there's been moisture from the prep pad getting into the reading and throwing it off. So I guess what I'm wondering is, what's the right way to wipe away the first drop of blood? Just with my finger seems like it could be okay if I wipe it with the pad too, but now I'm all paranoid.