Apparently, birthday cakes are not my specialty

  We FINALLY have internet again. After four days of no blogging, Netflix, emailing, or mindless internet surfing it's baaaaack. I don't even want to think about how much time I wasted on the phone trying to get it fixed or reflect on how much I now despise our internet provider. But, its back now thanks to a very nice repairman and lots of prayer and we are so thankful. I don't think either of us realized how much we used the internet until it's absence hit us. It also reminded us how blessed we are. Here we are whining and complaining (it was about 80% me doing this to be completely honest) about not being able to watch TV and surf the web while we're in our apartment snug, warm, dry, and well fed. Thinking about that definitely made me grow up and stop being such an unappreciative baby :o)
  Another thing we are so thankful for is Brandon's birthday yesterday. He's now the ripe old age of 26. We had a really wonderful day together celebrating. It included Krispy Kreme, Target, presents, taking a nap, sunshine, Life (the DVD), presents, The Mellow Mushroom, and cake.

   Now, as for the cake. Brandon's wish was for a Funfetti cake. I believe that birthdays are way to special to use a boxed cake mix so I decided to make a scratch-made Funfetti cake. In my head, it was a beautiful masterpiece.
   I began by following a very long set of directions to a T. I'm a bit of a rebel and hate following directions, but not this time. This cake was going to be perfect.

I creamed, beat, combined, measured...the whole kit and caboodle.

Then I held my breath as I removed it from the pan, let cool, placed it on a wire rack. Not what I had envisioned. Crumbly and each layer was about an inch and a half thick.

   After talking to my mom, it seems that my few-year-old baking powder may have been the culprit. My mom suggested I make another layer of a different flavor so when I assembled the cake it'd be more than three inches tall.  I used a mix.

   When icing time came, I made two recipes of really delicious buttercream frosting. I frosted the, now crooked, cake, but ran out before I finished. By now I was out of powdered sugar and patience. 

   Before Brandon saw it, I apologized for making him such an ugly birthday cake. After his initial surprise at the sight of it, he assured me it wasn't so ugly and was sure it'd taste great.

  When the final test came, It was really, really yummy.

  My cake certainly won't be compared to any by Martha Stewart but it was really delicious, it was made with lots of love, and it definitely was a learning experience.