22nd annual installment of "Treehouse of Horror."

This special episode of THE SIMPSONS airs Sunday, 10/30, 8 - 8:30 PM on FOX

I just watched the preview of this episode and I was laughing out loud! It has four different stories - the first is when Homer falls into a crevasse on a mountain with his bag of Halloween candy. It was meant for poor children, but Homer wasn't about to do that. When he falls, one arm is caught under a boulder like in the movie "127 Hours." So he calls for help on his cell and talks to Aron Ralston who was the real-life hero in the movie. So Homer chews his arm off and opens the bag, but there's no candy - just veggies! He, of course screams, and that's the end of that story.

There are three more stories and they are all hilarious! I loved the writing in all of them. I don't know how they come up with their crazy show year after year. And the people who do the voices are terrific. One of the stories has Homer paralyzed from a spider bite and unable to speak. The only way he can communicate is by farting which Lisa discovers after hearing him fart. She asks if he can fart once for yes and twice for no and he can do that. So he farts his way through that episode which I loved!

All the Simpson characters have parts in the four stories and I laughed all the way through. I hope everyone watches Sunday night - it's worth it!

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

October is breast cancer awareness month. I don't need any reminders of that month as that is when I became aware of my own breast cancer in 2004. I had always examined myself as we are taught to do. I had discovered a little lump in the summer of that year and went to the doctor who told me it was nothing and we'd just wait and see what happened. Well, we waited to see and it turned out to be something and showed up in my mammogram that I had every October. It also had shown up in the mammogram from the year before! So, I had a lumpectomy and 6 weeks of radiation thereafter. Everything went smoothly and I'm doing fine.

However, every October I begin to get edgy just thinking about going again for the mammogram. I don't know what I'd do if I had to go through all that again. My first thought is just shooting myself or the equivalent of that. I doubt I would ever have the guts to do anything like that, but you never know what you are capable of doing in times like that.

This October has had some happenings that I've found very amusing, far from the cancer theme. It seems all the republican candidates for president are falling all over themselves trying to become the most attractive candidate for the christian evangelicals who seem to be running the show. Some of them started out pro-choice but then realized the evangelicals didn't go for that, so now they are pro-life. They are also battling each other with different plans to get more money out of the middle class by more taxes, sales taxes, cutting medicare, and I think there are some that would even like to get rid of social security. No one can decide what is the best way to go. It scares me to think of having any one of them being leader of this country - someone who changes his views at the drop of a hat.

So, October is almost over. My mammogram is on Halloween. Good day for it! I think I'll go out and celebrate by scheduling an abortion . . . I actually won't do that as I don't need one, but it's nice to know that so far it's still legal. Who knows what will happen if the evangelicals have anything to do with it. But mammograms are still legal, so I hope women get them. Having a mammogram probably saved my life.

Occupy Portland camp

In the paper recently I read about the takeover of two city parks that has been going on for two weeks here in Portland. The same thing is going on all over the country and all over the world! Just what do they hope to gain from all of that? No one is going to hand them jobs and the economy isn't going to get better over night. In the meantime, the parks will be partially destroyed and the people will probably eventually be arrested. I don't understand their purpose - I believe in what they're saying, but is that the way to go about it? They have a community kitchen, temporary library, information booth, first aid center, a community garden (can they grow vegetables in two weeks at this time of the year?) and a recycling area. That sounds better than my condo area, and they aren't paying rent! There's another block in town where the owner has agreed to let homeless people - Portland has a lot of those - take up residence in their tents. This was organized by a group called Right2Dream Too. Occupy Portland protesters collected tents for the group and are in support of their movement.

Our mayor is leaving town Thursday on a 10-day trade mission to China and Japan so he will be out of the city for a while. Interesting time to leave town! He hasn't said when he might put an end to the illegal camps. Maybe he can come up with another trade mission before he has to return to the mess here. What these people should be doing is reading up on all the candidates running for anything and find the ones who believe in the ideals they have. That's where it really counts - electing the persons with the right beliefs as far as you're concerned. But unless congress settles down, I don't think anything will change very quickly.

I found this picture of Cindy taken a few years ago. I think she was getting ready for an "occupy something" with her cave-like tent she made over our dining room table. I thought she was just having fun, but I'll bet she knew that "Occupy Portland" was coming. However, she doesn't live here anymore so she won't be participating. Too bad because she would have fit right in and even added a little color.

Summertime with Family and Friends

Teri, Mark and Harry came out for a few days this summer. It was wonderful to have them here, and I made the obligatory chicken divan and chocolate cookies and whipped cream. Also, I fixed spam for Harry to whom I introduced it years ago much to the delight of his parents.

One night we went to dinner in Oregon City with Rita and her family. The picture above shows us all looking quite good, I think. Reggie's eyes are not nearly as red as they look in the picture. Rita is an old friend of Teri's - I don't mean she's old - they just go back a long way. In the picture her son, Hayden, is on the left, Harry next to him with Teri behind him with a strangle hold on him, Rita in back and Steve (husband) next to her and then Mark. In front I am in the middle with Reggie with the red eyes beside me. Teri and Rita were buddies in high school and had many experiences together, some that took place in our house that I'm just finding out about now.

They all went up to Timberline Lodge for a couple of days. They had a good time but not as good as when I was there with Harry and his parents recently. I was babysitting Harry in a room next to Mark and Teri so that they could have some alone time. At bedtime, Harry needed some warm milk for his sippy cup, so he and I went down the hall to the bar in our bed clothes consisting of shorts and t-shirts. I sat at the bar while the bartender went into a back room to get some milk. Harry sat at a table - I wouldn't let him sit at the bar with me. That was a fun time, and I'm sure the other customers were having fun watching us! But now that I'm thinking about it, I don't think it was that recently. Harry is almost 16 years old and doesn't use a sippy cup anymore as far as I know. Time goes so fast, doesn't it?

Mark and Harry left here a couple of days before Teri, so she and I had time to ourselves which was fun. I love it when I can spend time alone with my daughters. We even went to a movie. We sat out on my deck at night and had some wine and talked mother and daughter stuff whatever that is. We were sitting among all the bird poop on the deck and on the ledges. I had cleaned it up before the family arrived, but it doesn't take long for birds to poop all over everything. Teri didn't seem to mind. I think she expects that sort of thing when she visits her mother. At least it wasn't my poop which may happen in the future!

All in all, I think everyone had a good time.

"American Horror Story" - on FX Wednesdays at 10PM

I've been a fan of FX for quite some time. My all-time favorite show was "Rescue Me" which had its stunning finale recently. The writing was so good - especially when the fire fighters were in the lunch room talking. Sometimes it was hilarious and other times it got physical. I also like "Justified" which was based on Elmore Leonard's novels. And then there was "Nip/Tuck." That was a show about a couple of plastic surgeons who had many patients and lots of sex. They operated and then had sex, sometimes in an operating room or their office . . . anywhere there was enough room for two people. It was created by Ryan Murphy who created "Glee." It was hard for me to think of Ryan writing a little high school story and then rushing over to do "Nip/Tuck" where one of the doctors was doing a vagina restructure and immediately thereafter having wild sex in the doctor's lounge - not, of course, with the vagina patient. Too soon for her.

So now there is "American Horror Story." What in the hell is this one about? This is the kind of show I usually avoid because of the creepiness, but I decided to give it a try because of Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk who created it. It's the creepiest thing I've ever seen! Dylan McDermott (the father) and Connie Britton (the mother) move from Boston to Los Angeles for a fresh start. Dylan had had an affair and Connie a miscarriage. They also brought along their daughter who seems a little strange. They buy a house that is huge, old, dark and very ugly. There have been murders in it and there will be more. But they want a fresh start and apparently will take anything. There's a neighbor, Jessica Lange who also is very strange with a mongoloid daughter as she calls her. Dylan is a shrink who has two teen-age patients so far who are also strange. . . bordering on crazy! Connie won't have sex with Dylan as she's still punishing him for his affair, but finally does one afternoon. And that night she has sex again with someone in a medieval type costume with just his eyes exposed. She seems to enjoy it and thinks it's her husband coming for seconds. But I don't think it is. Shortly after, she says she's pregnant but thinks there's something wrong with the baby. In last night's show, Dylan goes back to Boston to take his old girlfriend for an abortion. But while he's gone, there are murders in his new house and all hell breaks loose!

This is a very strange show! Everyone in it is crazy. Connie may be the sanest one, but I think she is on the edge. Dylan sees the maid as a seductive, beautiful young woman whereas she is actually not young, beautiful or seductive. So I think even Dylan is crazy. I'll probably keep watching . . .

TERRA NOVA - Fox show Monday, 10/10/11, 8PM - 9PM

This episode has to do with a mysterious virus outbreak at Terra Nova. It causes bad things such as memory loss, paranoia and even death. So Commander Taylor must save the people one way or another. We haven't learned that much about Taylor yet. Apparently he was supposed to be a bad guy, but he's changed all that. He has nothing but good intentions for his followers even though he has pain in his past. He's an interesting character.

I imagine the scientist, Malcolm, will be helping him. I was leery of Malcolm when they first introduced his character. It turns out he was responsible for bringing the doctor and her family over to Terra Nova because they needed a doctor. Actually, Malcolm had known Elizabeth, the doctor, in times past and I think they had a thing then before her marriage to Jim. But he's bringing her over in the hopes they will have kinky jungle sex when she arrives. He's astounded when he meets her husband as he didn't know she was married, so the jungle sex goes out the door! But maybe he can at least help with the virus.

This should be a good episode so hope you'll all be watching.

TERRA NOVA and NEW GIRL

Tonight's episode of "Terra Nova" is exciting in that a pack of killer Pterosaurs - I think I spelled it right but it doesn't really matter as no one knows what they are - dive-bomb the colony. Taylor and Shannon must fight to save their home from destruction and mayhem. Taylor had to shoot a scene that took three full nights when he was fighting a pair of dinosaurs who were mating! They mate for three days? Can you imagine if that happened now in our country? Maybe it does and I just don't know about it. This all sounds exciting and I'll be watching. Hope you do too.

"New Girl" has a funny episode Tuesday, 10/4. Jess and her guy roommates are going to a wedding and Nick wants Jess to pose as his girlfriend. She doesn't know what to wear, so the guys say for her to look slutty. So she does. I don't think she looks slutty, but the guys give her the "ok." The wedding turns into a big mess but, Jess and her guys end up friends and have a good time. It's really funny These are crazy guys and Zooey is cute and she sings a lot which I like. Hope you'll watch.