Feeling Nostalgic About the Homeland

While I love Des Moines and Iowa, as thats what this blog is about, I'm from Illinois and do still love my home state. So with that in mind I found this and it made me all sentimental and nostalgic.

YOU KNOW YOU'RE FROM CHICAGO IF..

• The "Living Room" is called the "front room" (pronounced fronchroom)
• You don't pronounce the "s" at the end of Illinois. You become irate at people who do
• You measure distance in minutes (especially "from the city"). And you swear everything is pretty much 15 minutes away
• You have no problem spelling or pronouncing "Des Plaines"
• Your school classes were canceled because of cold
• Your school classes were canceled because of heat
• You've ever had to switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day
• Stores don't have sacks, they have bags
• You end your sentences with an unnecessary preposition. Example:"Where's my coat at?" or "If you go to the mall I wanna go with."
• Your idea of a great tenderloin is when the meat is twice as big as the bun, "everything" is on it and a slice of dill pickle is on the side
• You carry jumper cables in your car
• You drink "pop."
• You understand that I-290, I-90, I-94, and I-294 are all different roads
• You know the names of the interstates: Stevenson, Kennedy, Eisenhower,Dan Ryan, and the Edens
• But you call the interstates "expressways"
• You refer to anything South of I-80 as "Southern Illinois"
• You refer to Lake Michigan as "The Lake"
• You refer to Chicago as "The City"
• "The Super Bowl" refers to one specific game in a series of 35 played in January of 1986
• No matter where you are, when you hear the term "Downtown" you immediately assume they're talking about Downtown Chicago
• You have two favorite football teams: The Bears, and anyone who beats the Packers!
• You buy "The Trib"
• You think 35 degrees is great weather to wash your car!
• You know what goes on a Chicago Style Hot Dog
• You know what Chicago Style Pizza REALLY is
• You know why they call Chicago "The Windy City"
• You understand what "lake-effect" means
• You know the difference between Amtrak and Metra, and know which station they end up at. You have ridden the "L"
• You can distinguish between the following area codes: 847,630,773,708, 312, & 815
• You have at some time in your life, used your furniture to guard your parking spot in winter. (CHICAGO CLASSIC!!)
• You respond to the question "Where are you from" with a side" example:"WEST SIDE", "SOUTH SIDE" or "NORTHSIDE."
• You know what the phone number is to Empire Carpet!

Oh and if you're curious, the number is 800-588-2300 EMPIRE!!!!!!! Also I can correctly pronounce both Des Moines and Des Plaines. D & I are off to Home Depot today to price out some basement things. Let me know if you'd like to go with. ;)

P.S. I drink soda, not pop. I'm the best of both worlds :)

(my other fair city)**

**image from google.