Oh, thanks honey!

Our kitchen spigot sprung a leak. Not the faucet, not the sprayer, but the curvy metal tube where the water comes out. I couldn't believe it- tiny little arcs of water were sparking in the sun, squirting out of tiny pinholes formed at the corroded spot.
I pointed them out to my husband, and penciled in a trip to iMenards, ghetto styler's paradise, to pick out a new fixture. Not to worry. When I got home today it was all fixed up.

When something breaks...

I wear my watch at night.  Two weeks ago, I woke up and noticed the extra part of the strap was flopping around.  I went to slide it under the strap holder and realized it wasn't there.  I found it broken under my pillow.  As you can see from my photos, I fixed it with your run of the mill twist tie.  Problem solved.  Except for the fact that the twist tie often sticks out and snags on things.  Oh, and the strap falls out.  A side effect of ghetto stylin'.

McDonald's Coffee- nothing ghetto about it!

Today I found myself in a town without a Starbucks or a Caribou, but you know what? My need for a super strong, smooth and milky latte was perfectly met. MacDonald's makes s fine latte, even though they really, really have a hard time not putting flavor in it.
When it was empty, I rinsed it out. The plasticky styrofoam cup got nice and clean. I drank cold tap water from that coffee cup all day long.
Now THAT'S ghetto stylin'!

Blog Photos

I was preparing the photos for the blog about the pizza and my older son, Jake, asked what they were for.  I told him they were for the blog.  He then replied "Is that the blog from you and Kristin showing gross stuff in the house?"  I have to teach him the proper term, Ghetto Stylin'!

Yum!! Pizza!

This is a desk in our living room.  We have several framed photos on it.

It also seems to be a leftover pizza holder.  My son, Trevor, was standing by the desk yesterday, chomping on this leftover piece.  He said "Hmm, this is pretty hard!"  When I took it from him, I tried to check to see how hard it really was.  Let's just say I couldn't break it in half or pierce it with a fork.  In fact, I don't remember when we last had DiGiorno pizza.  Yuk.

It's June 10th.  Ghetto Stylin'!

Still works

This is my sister's basketball hoop. Not at all in keeping with the tone of her lovely home, as you can see. But it still works. So it's ghetto stylin' all the way.

My "delicious" salad

My husband AJ is notoriously kind and loving. He makes me a healthy lunch every day. Except when he's ghetto stylin.'
Yesterday was Sunday- we were out all day, and had a tiring, but fantastic time. We decided to order in from Big Louie's, the best burger in the neighborhood. I got an avocado bacon burger, which came with the cold ingredients packed separately. A half an avocado. Yum. I put it on my burger. Some shredded iceberg. Yuck. Not worth eating. Gives me a tummy ache. 2 pale tomato slices. Red Spanish onion. Too strong for me. Will have bad breath tomorrow. No matter. I repacked the yucky veggies and put them back in the bag. It was the avocado I really wanted. It really was a delicious burger.
Today I unpacked my lunch. Guess what was inside? You guessed it. Rusty shredded lettuce, pale tomatoes, Spanish onions topped by a stack of salami, a chunk of cheese, and a big squirt of ranch dressing. Oh geez. I ate the cheese and salami, but this time transported the recycled ingredients all the way to the compost bin. There's ghetto stylin' and there's just plain nasty.
Oh- thanks honey.

I Spy the Family Bills

Can you find the family finances in the first photo?  Look below to see our ghetto stylin' method of bill organization.  Hmm, J Crew.  Stylish.  Not really when it holds all the bills that need to be paid.  This is one ghetto style that has to go.

Ice Loves Coco

My Spring Break discovery. No comment necessary.
But it is really, really sweet.

The Auger

You've heard about the auger that broke the shower.  You know about the toilet that didn't work and we had to use the auger once a week until we replaced it.  This is the famed auger.  We're thinking about selling it on Craigslist.  Ghetto stylin'?  Probably just plain tacky.

As seen on TV and on my front door

A few years ago we bit the bullet and replaced the sliding door that leads to our living room. It wouldn't close or open. We thought that a French door would be beautiful.
Well, our builder was ghetto stylin' and not in a good way. He hired our youngest son to put on the door. That should have been our first clue. If Tom knew how to put in a door, he would have done it for free.
Anyway, after we had the second new door put in, it was never quite right, and even a new door doesn't solve the problem of two dogs always scratching and pushing on the screen.
So we're doing what we do best- ghetto stylin' as seen on TV!
Genius!

Swangin

When my boys were growing up, if they took an idea from someone else they called it "swangin'" or "swangin' off," as in "Andy was swangin' off Ted's plan to build his own helicopter."
(They were ghetto stylin', but also nerds.)

So today, AJ was soaking two cookie sheets under some hot dish cloths because he had melted some waxy paper on them by accident. Our cookie sheets are NOT ghetto stylin' - they are more like "high fallutin"; they are "airbakes" and cost a lot, (well, in our world it's a lot.)
So I said, " I bet you could get that off with a Brillo pad," and AJ said,
"Oh, I'm ghetto stylin'."
Which means he was also swangin'.

The Ghetto Stylin' Christmas Gift

I like to buy gifts for family members at Christmas time.  My husband is always hard to buy for.  He either wants something like another guitar (we already have too many) or he will return what I buy for him.  This year, I bought him something special... a toilet.  Our old toilet would clog at least once a week.  It has never worked since we built our house.  It was usually his job to get out the auger (more than just a tool to unclog showers) and get rid of the blockage.  My mom mentioned a toilet with a hole so big you could flush a bucket of golf balls down.  I was in!  At Christmas, my mom and I gave him a bucket of golf balls and a toilet brush and he couldn't figure out what was going on.  The last part of the gift was to go outside and look in the back of my mom's Highlander.  He thought it might have been a puppy.  Nope.  Just a toilet.  Needless to say he doesn't talk about his gift with many people.

Doggy gate

Our two dogs, Charlie and Margaret, pee on the floor when we leave them alone, so we gate them into the kitchen. A visiting dog ate one of the gates. We can't face replacing it (because my husband AJ thinks he can fix it) so we have it closed with a lanyard and two cat-eaten man crocks.

Permanent Christmas Tree

See the beautiful sunrise over the lake at our lovely suburban home? See the Frazier fir that seems to be growing right on the deck? That's our 2011 Christmas Tree. We had to move it outside, 'cause one of our family members developed a kind of an allergy. It blew over so many times ww nailed it to the deck, stand and all. Ghetto stylin' for real.

Burping

The following is a conversation in the car on the way home from school.

"Mom, I learned how to burp at school today."

"What else did you learn today?"

"Nothing."

I hope he's not picking up the ghetto stylin' from me.

Garage Chair

We went to Ikea to fulfill my dream of having twelve matching chairs around the dining room table. The deal was four chairs and a table for 59 dollars. I gave two tables away. Not surprisingly, the chairs are kinda cheap, and one got too dangerous to sit on. But I don't want to give up my 12 matching chairs. So I have one ghetto stylin' out by the garage.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Last night, February 13th, I fell asleep before getting the valentine presents ready for my children.  My husband took care of it.  When my son opened his card, there was a $10 bill wrapped in a note.  Sounds like ghetto stylin' to me. 

After watching my children open their cards this morning, I was told to look in my valentine box.  My son made valentine boxes for the four of us.  In my box there was a card and a three pack of gum.  The card was sweet.  The three pack of gum was off of my dresser.  Thanks, honey!  Ghetto stylin' for sure.

When will the bathroom be fixed?

About three years ago, our master bathroom had a clogged shower.  We tried using Liquid Plumber or some off brand to get rid of the clog.  No such luck.  So, in ghetto style, we used our toilet auger to unclog it.  It worked but the consequence was severe.  We noticed a stain in our basement ceiling below the shower not long after the auger incident.  We started to suspect a leak in the shower plumbing.  Shortly after the brown spot appeared, our hardwired smoke detectors started to beep unexpectedly.  After unhooking the system, we stopped using the shower.  That was three years ago.  Ghetto stylin'!

Five Couches

We are sporting new red velvet couches in the living room that we bought from our niece and nephew, only slightly used. That's ghetto stylin' right there. We kept the old furniture too, lined up right behind the new stuff, just like in those classy media rooms you see on TV! We have a hide-a-bed in the basement, too. That's five couches, baby. Ghetto stylin. Also hoarding.

Welcome to Ghetto Stylin'

Have you ever had moment when you looked at something around your house and wondered why you hadn't fixed it?  For years?  Like why there is no ceiling in the bathroom.  We are Kristin and Dawn, two women living your average life in the suburbs.  We are secretly (or not so secretly) ghetto stylin'.  We decided 2012 would be the year to be proud of our ghetto stylin' lifestyle.  So here we are rockin' it!  We welcome all ghetto stylin' comments!  Come out to your friends and coworkers.  Rock it with us and celebrate your ghetto style!