I found out what one daughter is wearing for Halloween because I read about it in Glamour magazine.

What happened was, she was in Boston one day last summer and Glamour employees were asking every college-age kid they saw what their Halloween costume was going to be. Amazingly, my daughter  already knew the answer to this question (it was July) and provided it. She told them she was twenty (false) and they took her picture.

There she was, along with a few other victims, in the magazine, a couple of months later, costume plans publicly revealed. (She’s going to be a robot.) Historically she has kept those plans flexible until October 30th, making  costume assembly somewhat frantic. While I admire my daughter’s new ability for advance planning and independent costume shopping, I have found I miss being a part of the process, the discussion, the weighing of options, the purchase of wigs and capes and bloody appendages.

But I got a little boost later when my other daughter, who is at college, called to ask if I could help her find a Jasmine costume. She had made exactly the same request when she was in second grade (see photo). Jasmine (yes, that’s Aladdin’s Jasmine) was in her heyday then; the costume’s not so easy to find nowadays. (Everybody wants to be Sarah Palin.) But I searched online, found one and sent it.

I felt restored, like an excellent mom and a valued Halloween participant.

If you are feeling marginalized this Halloween and would like to purchase a Jasmine costume to improve your spirits, click here.

Although you read the polls and wonder
Why the chick is smilin’,
You really must admit, one VP
Candidate is stylin’.
So, ‘though I sort of hate her guts,
And her campaign is failin’,
When I go trick-or-treating,
I might dress as Sarah Palin.
The only trouble is, she wears
Balenciaga suits,
And quite expensive lingerie, I’m told,
And Cole Haan boots.
The costume would be fabulous,
But fabulous ain’t cheap.
I’d have to learn her accent, too,
And I ain’t Meryl Streep.

So, I’ll just be a skeleton, I guess…..
Maybe a ghost….
I’ve got it! I’ll be Bush! (I’ll dress up
Like a piece of toast.)

The Fox Movie Channel has a series running on Friday nights called “Fox Legacy,” hosted by Tom Rothman…he does a commentary before and after the movie Fox is showing that night, and again during the weekend.

On Halloween night, Friday the 31st, the movie will be “Phantom Of the Paradise,” and I’ll be co-hosting with TR…..So go trick-or-treating early, then curl up with your bag of loot and watch….or have your own “Phantom” sing-along…..

It seems that in West Virginia, anyone can be a write-in candidate for president. You don’t even have to live in the state. So guess who just wrote in to compete with the two front-runners? A guy called Santa Claus.

Contrary to what you might expect, he does not hail from the North Pole, he lives in Lake Tahoe, and he used to go by the name of O’Connor until he traded up. It’s a good thing for Obama that six-year-olds can’t vote.

And some guy phoned in to the radio show I was listening to the other day and asked if it was okay to bring beer into the voting booth. He said he favors a brand called “Independence,” and he was concerned he might get busted for promoting a political position at a polling place.

Apparently, back in the late 19th century, bars were polling places, so VUI (voting under the influence) was common. (This is how guys like Santa Claus get elected.)

Speaking of VUI , my friend S,’s house is a polling place this year. She is an expert cook and a party animal, so my guess is hers will be the hottest spot in town for voters. She happens to be a rabid Obama fan, too, and may or may not be handing out extra special martinis to those Republicans who look persuadable…