If You Identify With This Blog Post... You Just Might Be Ghetto/Country...

Okay folks, so I was having lunch with a friend today, and during the lunch the conversation took a turn to ghetto type scenarios with regards to family members.

It got me thinking about my childhood and how I either observed, or myself actually did some of those ghetto/country things. I say country because given that I grew up in a small town in Mississippi, my situations may not always have applied to actually being ghetto. So if you have ever wondered if you are, or have had these tendencies, here are some of mine that I observed growing up.

Ghetto/Country Things I Did:

1. Re-used the Chicken Grease Over and Over Again - I know I'm not the only one whose family did this. Either it was a big coffee can where you stored the grease, or in our case, a green pot on the right back burner of the stove. Then had the nerve to wonder why your fried fish tasted like fried chicken.
2. Wore a Stocking aka "Wave Cap" To Bed - Hey if you wanted those fresh waves, sacrifices had to be made. You were even more ghetto if you had the wave cap band/imprint on your forehead the next day at school even after it had been off for a few hours. You get extra ghetto points if you wore it to school or out in public in general.
3. Had an "S-Curl" - Not quite a Jheri Curl, but if you sat down against a cheap couch and leaned back, you may or may not have left a curl spot. 
4. Barber Shop (It Wasn't Just a Movie) - This one is two-fold, but if you ever went to your barber and told him or her to cut your hair based on the pictures on the wall. Or if you would go to the Barber shop just to listen to people tell stories.
5. Ghetto Slip-N-Slide - You didn't have a slip in slide, but your family bought one of those tiny plastic wrap kiddie pools. Unwrap the pool and turn the hose on and you have an instant Slip-N-Slide. And you didn't have the special nozzle on the hose to change the water pressure, you had to put your thumb over it. (My mother reminded me of this one)
6. Nintendo Cheat Code - If you knew the code to unlimited lives on any Nintendo game was  Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, B, A, Start. 
7. Kool-Aid - I could go so many directions with this one, but if you made that Kool-Aid snack in a ziploc bag with sugar and/or salt. Or if you would use an entire batch of sugar on one pitcher of Kool-Aid.
8. Ghetto Snack - If you know what a "Zip" is/was... If you ever flipped the zip upside down in the cup and ate it with a spoon from the bottom (in a styrofoam cup).
9. Ghetto House - You have a ghetto household/family if you or your relatives did any of the following:
• Plastic cover on furniture so it would last forever
• Have a big picture of Jesus on the wall
• Have two tv's in the family room one of which didn't work, but served the purpose of propping up the smaller tv that did work
• Your mother wouldn't let you or your friends drink water from inside of her kitchen after you got through playing. You either drank from the garden hose or you were de-hydrated
• In the winter time, if turning up the heat meant turning on an extra burner or in extreme cases turning on the oven and leaving the door open
10. Cereal & Sugar - You put sugar on Frosted Flakes, Corn Flakes, and/or Rice Krispies.

*Bonus: SWV Song: You never learned the words to this SWV Song. All you ever did was hum the chorus and get "Weak in the Knees" when you heard it.

Ghetto/Country Things I Observed (either by friends or relatives):

1. Bath Water - When you were little, you didn't drain the bath water after you took a bath, because you knew your brother had to use it to take a bath.
2. Embarrassed at School - Your mother or father gave you a whippin aka "spanking" at school in front of your friends and/or classmates because you were acting bad and the teacher didn't know what else to do, so she called your mother or father at work and told them to come down to the school.
3. Hair Salon: You spent at  least the equivalent of an 8-10 workday at the beauty salon on a Saturday with your mother while she got her hair "did." 
4. Telephone Number: If the house you were born in still has the same telephone # it did when you were a kid. Meanwhile, you are now 36 years old.
5. Lotion vs Vaseline: If you didn't use lotion, and instead used Vaseline on your skin. There was always a tub of it lying around somewhere.
6. Ghetto Family Tree: If you were a teenager (16 and above) and your grandmother was under the age of 45. (Not saying any names, but yep)
7. Don't Step on My Shoes: If you ever were involved in an altercation (Verbal or Physical) because someone stepped on your new shoes. (I may have been guilty of this one)
8. Broke Automobile: If you or your mechanic (you may be both) are the only ones who can start your car properly.
9. Tupac and or Biggie's Death: If you remember what you were doing at the exact moment you learned of Tupac and/or Biggie's death. (I was at a football game when Marcus Carr told me Tupac died from Gunshot wounds, and at first I didn't believe him).
10. Ghetto Church: There were numerous people at your church who could not sing, but yet were invited back week after week and handed the microphone.

*Bonus: Telephone Technology: If you thought or still think that Caller ID and *69 were the greatest technology advancements of our time.

**Extra Bonus: Ice Cream Man: If your ice cream man sold drugs in addition to frozen tasty treats out of his ice cream truck.

For those of you that are wondering, not one of these is made up. Real life experiences folks! I remember all of this like it was yesterday, and wouldn't change one thing about it! Makes you appreciate what you have now. I know it does for me. What ghetto/country moments do you remember from your childhood?