we're back now with more of "today" on a monday morning, the fourth day of october, 2010. we mentioned before, not the nicest day here in the northeast, but a very nice crowd of people gathered out on the plaza. it's really blustery, kind of windy out here. i'm matt lauer along with amy robach. mr. roker joins us as well. coming up in this half hour, if you're planning on traveling to europe in the near future, we should tell you the state department has issued a travel alert for americans. there is no specific date or threat or country involved in that alert. but they want americans to be

particularly cautious when heading to major european cities, we'll tell you what you need to know. also these ads on tv and radio about companies that will help you lower your mortgage payments, if you're one of those 7 million homeowners who are behind on their mortgages and need some advice, barbara corcoran has stuck around this morning to answer some of your questions. i have a question, do you all usually remember your dreams? >> no, not so well. >> i remember mine, but have you ever had a dream that you're falling? one that your teeth all fell out? if you go outside without your clothes on. >> only in the fall. >> i agree that al is falling. >> all right, well, apparently dreams are just a normal part of the sleep process. do they mean something? if so, what do they mean?

we're going to interpret other people's dreams because apparently these two don't have them. >> i had a dream that i ate a giant marshmallow once. i woke up and my pillow was gone. >> let's go inside, willie geist filling in for ann at the news desk. we have got the headlines. willie. as we have been reporting this morning, there's a travel alert for americans in europe. the state department telling them to be vigilant and to use comment sense amid an increase in threat of terror attacks. >> reporter: it's been more than five years now since the last major attack here, but american travelers are finding out that terrorism in europe is not history. for americans traveling abroad, europe has suddenly gotten more dangerous. >> i'll just keep my eyes open and hopefully things will work out. >> we're just going to be a

little bit more cautious getting on the train. >> reporter: a travel advisory issued on sunday that americans be on their barred as terrorists could be preparing a coordinated attack in france, germany, the uk and elsewhere. but the alert mentions no specific threat and does not warn americans to avoid traveling here, many were shrugging it off. >> i think that the draw to come and see beautiful ancient history is more important than the worry of terrorist threats. >> still, much of europe is heightened it's terrorist threat level after a convergence of troubling reports. here in great britian, word of the so-called mumbai style plot which killed 170 two years ago. the plot has included mostly western jihadists attacking european cities with bombs and guns, it was apparently foiled in its early stages. a north african al qaeda

affiliate has smuggled a female suicide bomber into paris to target the eiffel tower or the subway. and in germany, officials are still assessing the credibility of a 36-year-old germany afghan man captured by u.s. soldiers in kabul and talking to american agents there. this source has reportedly claimed that osama bin laden himself has planned and financed a spontaneous terror plot against several european cities. the latest u.s. travel alert has not been made lightly. >> it's very nonspecific, but nevertheless, it's trying to raise awareness of an international threat posed to the u.s. as well as western europe. >> and now where americans spend much of their time soaking up the sights and hopefully staying vigilant. >> there's no sign offism innocent threat against germany, meanwhile we're learning that police have arrested a man suspected of a series of bomb threats in paris, including a

very busy train station there, there's so far no indication that this is part of a larger terrorist plot. >> the taliban is vowing more attacks on nato convoys in pakistan. this morning for the third day in a row, tankers carrying fuel to u.s. and nato forces in afghanistan were attacked in pakistan. today marks four months since the vis appearance of oregon second grader kyron horman. search teams returned to a small island in portland in a renewed search for clues. police say they have no fresh leads but they're trying to be thorough and eliminate some possibilities. verizon wireless is refunding as much as $90 million for improperly charges for web access or data usage in the last few years. most customers will get credit in their october or november bills. the man who pioneered invote to fertilization has been

awarded the nobel prize. it has led to the births of an estimated four million babies over the last three decades. and the supreme court begins a new term on this first monday in october with three women on the bench including new justice elena kagan. it's six past the hour, now let's get another check on the weather from al. >> thanks a lot, willie and as we take a look, we have got a lot of wet weather here in the east and also along the west coast, a big ridge of high pressure in the midsection of the country, that's allowing for warmer temperatures there, but here in the northeast, we have got temperatures from five to almost 20 degrees below normal, bristol getting up to 56 degrees today, but out west, sheridan 21 degrees above normal. billings will get up to 81, denver, 84 degrees today, that's

>> good morning, everyone. worry off to a rainy start on this monday, breezy, kind of chilly. the rain will be with us off and on all day today. and now to protecting yourself from mortgage scams. it's at least a $4 billion business in this country. today real estate contributor barbara corcoran is here to answer your questions. a lot of people in trouble. first of all we want to talk about the fact that if somebody comes to you and says i can help you with my history, my credit history, you say that's a bad one? >> it's a bad one, people really need help with their credit and

that's why they're so vulnerable. when someone says to you, i'm going to use my credit history it's always accompanied by and sign the deed over me. that is losing the house and you get nothing for it. >> ivan writes if the government is supposed to be helping all homeowners why are some banks not participating or following the rules? >> here's the rub, the truth of the matter is that they don't have to follow the rules because there are no rules. whether the banks want to play the game with the government or not is entirely up to them, although there are incentives for them to play, it's totally optional. and a lot of people don't know that and they really don't have to play. >> so it's up to your individual bank? >> ter reza writes i'm in the process of foreclosure and i have been told that my situation is a slam dunk fraud case. i i do not have the income to pay for attorney to fight my

case, i have no place to go and the foreclosure has destroyed my credit. >> so many people are usually taken advantage in the contract signing and whether thereereshea case or not, it's a question of she signed this. but if she didn't get what she signed up for, she can go to the fbi, it's called fraud and they're happy to help her. >> donna says i applied for a federal home affordable modification loan six months ago, i have yet to receive a decision even though they said they would let me know in 30 days. i called a private company for help last week and they want to deposit of $500. usually it's a $500 fee to investigate the situation. so you're best off keeping the money right there in your pocket. >> anything she might be able to do?

>> you can go to a consumer sight and register you client. >> i'm in foreclosure, i have attempted to apply for a mortgage modification four times, each time the bank has told me i'm missing the same documentation. i have sent in enough money to reinstate the law and the bank holds it and sends it back. i think the banks are scamming people just as much as the scammers. >> there's a lot of people that might agree with that statement that the banks are scamming just as much as the scammers. the banks are overwhelmed with refinancing applications, particularly now that rates are close to 4% so they just can't handle the case load. what you should be doing is every single step along the way, you should be putting it in writing and sending a con official mags by certified mail because by law a lending institution can't ignore certified mail. >> you've got to document everything.

>> she'll still stand in line, but she'll get to the front of the line and that's what certified mail does for you. >> we received a letter from our mortgage company stating that because of our good credit, they could lower our rate and monthly payment without absolutely no closing costs. but when all was said and done, our fixed rate droppeded far less than that what i prompts promised. where do we go wrong. >> by not reading the fine print and just signing up, you don't know what you really get until the bill actually comes. there's probably not a thing she can do if that's what the document reflects. bad news, right. >> because people are in such desperate shape. >> we have one more e-mail, this one is from irene and irenys i'm trying to help my brother-in-law who says someone from his neighborhood called him wanting to come to his house and discuss giving him a reverse mortgage.

>> reverse mortgages themselves are not the scams, but what i heard is someone in their neighborhood is coming to his house, that's a typical approach for a scam artist because you trust someone from your own 2345ibd if they're carbon monoxiding on your door. one she should go to a reverse mortgage broker. >> and coming up, simple ways to get your home in shape for winter to keep you warm and save you money. but up next, lindsay lohan is back in rehab and mel gibson's ex may be ready to tell all. 'm george duran and this is the hunt's crash kitchen tour. hey, chief, how you doing? i'm here to cook you guys some lasagna. that's what i'm doing. not with this you're not. what you doing to my tomatoes? hunt's is the only leading brand that uses flashsteam and that gives it that backyard garden fresh taste. wow. look how bright that is. alright, i think we're good. hey, guys, come and get it. this is delicious. [firemen cheer]

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plus get $70 cash back after mail-in rebate when you buy 4 michelin tires. sears lindsay lohan is back in rehab again. here are the inside scoop on all the hollywood buzz, pop culture correspondent courtney haslet. let's start with lindsay right there where you are in hollywood. where did she end up this time? >> i like how you say this time. that was very charitable of you. right now she's in rehab, she's

giving it yet another go and from what i've been told by people who are close to lindsay, she's taking it seriously, this isn't something she's doing just to do because she has to go through the motions. remember this time she went on her own, this is not court ordered, she doesn't have to be back in court until october 22. she's here in california, her family has disclose nad to me, but they're not naming the rehab center. the lohan family is beginning to re1e78able the michael jackson family, you've got parents fighting, you've got siblings who are in the mix and quite honestly, lindsay is their sole source of income. it's hard to play tough love when you need her to go book to work. >> nothing changed the previous times, is there any reason to

believe she's more serious now than she has been? >> benefit of the doubt, maybe? it's a little bit hard to think that -- i think everybody loves a come back story, everybody wants to see her do well. at the end of the day, she's a fantastic, fantastic actress, i have spoke on to so many directors who have worked with her on film and they say this girl has chops, she's talented, she could be a huge, huge star. she's made the fatal flaw of letting the fame bug biter her really hard. so the whole family can get together and say, okay, we want her to get better, it's not going to happen. i think the proof will be if she can come out of rehab, stop going to clubs, even if you're just drinking red bulls. it's ridiculous that she's going out like she is. she needs to get back to work and do good work. this may all be behind her, look at robert downey jr.

i think everyone says the exgirlfriend is looking for more money, but just call it what it is. she got a 300% raise just last week in her child support. she was receiving $5,000, that was up to $20,000. next step here we're going to see ox san'a speak publicly. i think that sooner rather than later, maybe mel gibson needs to come out and say his side of the story. in so many ways he's been the model client from a pr standpoint because his publicity team has just basically said, you know what? we'll let court documents speak for themselves, we'll let all this dust settle. we're not going to say a single word. and i can tell you for a celebrity to keep their mouth shut when so much is being accused of them.

that's a huge, huge thing and mel gibson has been able to do it up until now u but i think his side of the story should come out. >> i guess he's hoping it will all kind of die down. but he's on tape. how do you recover from those tapes that we have all heard? >> the other thing that's interesting here is that o oksana -- it's completely out of control. it's got to be hard to take all that back. but just like with the lindsay lohan story, everybody loves a come back. and with these actors and these celebrities in hollywood, they have got this platform to pretend they're somebody else and be likable in that milieu. and so if you can get back on screen and do good work that people like and people buy tickets, suddenly you're fine again. >> before i let you go, i have got to ask you about the facebook movie, everybody's

talking about. in the last few weeks it's brought mark zuckerberg the founder out of his shell. why all this buzz about this particular movie? >> don't you love that? i don't think that's such a coincidence that finally mark zuckerberg is coming out that his movie that mapt paints him as an unlikable fellow has made millions at the box office. the rest of the country didn't seem to care so much about a story that some are coining as being a little bit too techie or inside baseball and ironically a lot of people thought it might be too young at the end of the day, but there was a west coast screening for the academy members here in l.a. just the other day and it was a packed house and really good feedback, so we might be seeing some oscar love for the facebook movie. >> he said himself i only wish my life was as glamorous as it's

portrayed in the movie. >> there's still time. coming up here, a mother of two who won her battle against obesity dropping 145 pounds. we'll check out how she looks now and how she did it. but first these messages. its great. i eat anything that i want. key lime pie, pineapple upside down cake. no, i've actually lost weight... [ female announcer ] over 30 delicious flavors at around 100 calories each. [ wife ] babe... i gotta go. [ female announcer ] yoplait, it is so good.

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>> live, local, latebreaking. this is a wbal-tv 11 news update. >> it is going to be a breezy and chilly day. off and on rainshowers all the way through this evening. light-to-moderate rain. high temperatures in the upper 50s. we will stay in the 50's on tuesday and wednesday. tuesday and wednesday. much better at the end of the i need a home performance with energy star audit. this sensor will show why my living room gets too hot and too cold! get up to $2,450 dollars in rebates and keep saving with home performance with energy star. get started at bgesmartenergy.com.

i'm frank kratovil and i approve this message. the real andy harris. buried in his website - a promise to replace the tax code with a 23% sales tax and eliminate the mortgage interest deduction. a bush tax panel said families would pay $6,000 more a year. a reagan tax advisor calls it a very dumb idea.

but that's not his only bad idea. harris was the only senator to vote against expanding the child care tax credit and against the state's cancer treatment program. andy harris' extreme ideas will cost us. i thought it was very strange that it was there. this is the event for the most fabulous ladies in atlanta like me and dre and kim. what i have seen i ain't never seen that. i see plain jane. >> just a little peek at the drama unfolding in hotlanta this season on the real housewives of atlanta. i hope that wasn't one of them. we're going to meet the feisty women from the beach state tomorrow. meanwhile coming up on this half hour, understanding your dreams. >> it's a fascinating subject.

everyone usually wants to know why they dreamt what they dreamt. they were falling off a bridge, they were flying, maybe running out of time on a test. unable to read the prompter in the morning. well this morning, we're going to go over the five most common dreams and what they're telling you about yourself. >> there's a chill in the air. >> yeah. >> so it's time to start thinking about keeping your home warm for the window, from sealing your windows and doors to simply programming your thermostat, there's some inexpensive things that you can do to save yourself hundreds of dollar this is winter, we'll show you seven ways to winter proof your home. and then maximum flavor with minimum fuss. we're going to show you how to simplify your life with dishes that use just five ingredients. but first another check of the weather.

>> i'm going to introduce myself. here's the weather. let's show you what's happening for the week ahead, is it going to be chilly along the east and in the west coast. nice in the midsection of the country thanks to a ridge of high pressure. midweek we're going to continue the rain in the east and out west. the latter part of the week, rain finally ends below normal temperatures in new england, rain in the pacific northwest, above normal temperatures continue from the plains to the gulf coast. th >> good morning, everyone. i'm tony pann. give yourself a couple of extra minutes this morning. rain showers will be with us off and on all day today. it's going to be breezy and kind of chilly. the average high temperature is 72. we're only going to make it into the upper 50's.

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you look in the mirror and you realize your teeth are falling out, panic sets in and you wake up and realize it's just a dream. teeth dreams are the most common along with flying and being undressed in public. what do they all need? "today's" contributor is here with the answer. are dreams random or do they really mean something typically? >> neuroscientists for a while had argued they were random where psychologists would say they had very deep meaning. when they look at the brain, deep structures that are about emotion, really emotional content wake up while you're

dreaming. dreams do express some emotional content and are probably driven by that. so, yes, they mean something to you. back in the days of where people actually thought you could dream the future. and people still think i dreamed that and now it happened. >> exactly. what's going on there? >> you can't predict the future. but what you do is pick up subconsciously little clues about something going on that's never registered in our conscious mind, but it is thought somewhere deep inside that you're not aware of and that can pop-up in a dream and then it seems to you, ah-ha, i must have predicted the future. >> you wake up and you think, i didn't have any dreams and sometimes you feel like you had a million dreams. are there certain times that you dream more often than others? you have to be a little tired, or a long night's sfleep. >> actually you dream every night. you tend to dream like four to seven times a night.

you tend to dream during the deepest part of sleep. but you can dream at any time. but the thing is you tend not to remember your dreams unless you woke up right after them and even sometimes ten minutes later people can't remember their dreams. you may think that you're not dreaming, but you probably are. >> and some dreams can be disturbing, people die in your dream or you're about to die in your dream. but some dreams are repetitive. >> dreams are the mind's way of working things out. if you're impacted about what's going on during the day, you might drem about something that's -- but at the end of the day, sleep is supposed to protect you to some degree from being anxious, it's restorative, that you can work out these anxiety producing things by having dreams and still being protected by sleep. >> let's go over some of these common dreams. teeth dreams, usually it's your

teeth falling out. it's a really common dream, it might be your teeth are loose, you're missing your teeth, they're crumbling. it's often a concern about aging or in a younger person, freud would say, because freud said many things are about your sexual parts, concerned for women about maybe their femininity, for men maybe about their masculinity. we tend to think about overall body integrity. we think something may be going on with your body. >> what about dreams of nakedness. >> this is again, very common, you're exposed, you feel vulnerable, it might be something coming up in your mind that you're concerned about being vulnerable in or something that's ongoing and you're afraid of being revealed in some way. >> what about flying? >> flying is usually a very pleasant dream. usually it's not something terrible, you're not usually out of control. you usually feel in control. it's sort of a triumphant, a

joyous kind of feeling, i'm sorrying, i'm ambitious and i'm going to make it. >> what about falling, you wake up and you almost jump up. what is that? >> that is really kind of the opposite, it's your mind's expression of i'm worried about not making it, i feel like i'm going to fail. it may even be an expression of guilt about something that's actual going on, like i'm a fallen person. >> test dreams, people have these dreams that they're running out on a test. i have had dreams that i'm on a stage and i don't know what play i'm in and i don't know my lines, or you show up for your exam and you haven't taken any of the classes. >> this is probably the most common type of dream. it all represents am i going to make it? i'm anxious about something that's going on, am i going to be able to make it through. but we often dream about something that happened already in the past, but now we're

suddenly there and it's not working out. this may be your mind's way of reassuring yourself about something that's coming up, well, i did that already and i did make it through. for instance if it's a high school test dream, but i took that test and i passed that test. so i'm going to be okay. the important thing about dreams is that things can symbolize other things, so why is there a hat in my dream? why is there a cigar in my dream? it might not be what it appears to be. you have to think back, what does it mean to me? what does that object or does the moment mean to me which can be quite individual. so overall, you want to remember that dreams are an expression of wishes or an expression of fear. some sort of fear going on. you have to think what is the wish that i have going on in my life? what is the concern that i have going on? >> very interesting stuff. we appreciate it. coming u next, it's that time of year that you need to winter proof your home to save lots of money or your heating bills. that afor 25,000 miles?

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this morning on "today's" home, winter proofing your house, as the cold weather a approaches, there's some things you can do now to keep your home in good shape from the inside out and it could save you lots of money. it's all in the current issue of woman's day magazine. elizabeth, good morning. >> good morning. >> it's only october, but you say it's not too early to start and begin outside, you say? >> begin outside, and this is really about saving money. bottom line these might be things you know already to do. but think of it as your winter checklist, see as you're going in, you don't want to forget these things. outdoor furniture can be quite expensive. so you want to cover anything heavy, like teke can stay out, but your -- you want to get a breathe kl vortex cover. you want to put it over, tightly secure it.

make sure that no water pools because that will freeze. >> there's certain woods that need a little more than a cover perhaps? >> actually this, you could do that, but this is actually for your chimney. if you have a leak in your chimney, that can be a really costly leak. what you can do is you can put a weather sealant on it, a water sealant. and you can do it yourself, believe it or not, you probably don't even need a ladder to do it. it's about $75 an hour to have a professional do it. you just want it on the wood as you would paint a wall. >> we have candles here not just to set the mood, but for a reason. >> candles are to see if you have a draft. a really good trick is to light a candle. take it over to your window or door and if it thickers that means you have a draft. in order to deal with a draft, let's go over to our window. what you're going to want to do

is caulk along the edges. this is just an acrylic latex caulk and you can even still open your window, come springtime if you want to take it out, you can just take a razor blade and take it out. if your windows are like mine, a breeze is constantly coming in. you can save a lot of money on your heating just by doing that. >> a lot of people are intimidated by the gun. >> it's easy, just just go along the edge. if the gun scares you, you can also do weather stripping, it's not pretty, but it's prettier when you see it reflected in your heating bill. >> easy enough even for me to do it. i want to skip ahead, because this is really interesting. it's an interesting way to save a couple of bucks. >> you definitely want to insulate, if you have forced air heat like i do in my house, you death want to go and get some precut insulation and pop it in,

pop it over those vents because you want to keep the hot air in, same thing with water pipes, if you're going to heat your water, you want to it stay as warm as possible in the pipes so the water heater has to do less work, in order to find your water heater pipes, you go to your water heater, you follow your pipes that are coming out if you feel any heat, that's a water pipe. you can get insulation that just pops right over it. you want to have a blanket that covers your water heater. thi we're talking about 10% to 20% in savings by just doing this kind of stuff. >> and thermostats, you want to have one that can help you save money as well. >> you want your house to stay at one continuous temperature. people think that by turning it up and down, that's efficient. 68 degrees is kind of optimal. the difference when 68 and 72 degrees is like a 20% savings. so if you keep it at 68, if you

get a little cold, you can also program it so it kicks in when you're home. if you out at work all day, there's no reason to be keeping it super, superhot. >> this is another thing, appliances can be faulty, again this happened to me with my refrigerator, they can use a lot more energy than they need to. in order to check it, you can do a couple of things, you can check through three years worth of bills and see if there's been any major fluctuations, that way you know you might have a faulty appliance. you can buy something like this, you plug it into your outlet, it tells you what that output is and compare that output to the manual of your appliances. >> some good advice. i'm going to get up on my chimney today, you can find more tips in the current edition of woman's day magazine.

this morning on "today's" kitchen, dinner with minimal fuss and just a few ingredients. a new cookbook, five ingredient chef recipes based on a food network show of the same name. as we hut these recipes up. you have kept them pretty simple. salt, pepper and water are free ingredients. >> salt, pepper and water are three ingredients that don't count. oil does count. >> so we're making a nice nut encrusted chicken breast. >> yes, it's pecan, butter milk, chicken and oil. so supereasy. pound away. and this is just so it cooks nice and even, the big, fat part of the breast there, make it nice and even.

so this is kind of like making fried chicken, but not like totally deep frying it and giving it breading. the hardest part is basically working the processor. and give that a buzz and it will look like this. nice crumbs. and this has been marinating for about an hour. that butter milk makes it really good. and what's great, butter milk, southern roots. kind of why i chose it. but this turned it really, really juicy. just shake off the excess and right on in. it's easy, easy cooking. and it's so good. >> we're cooking it on both sides, a few minutes because there's nuts. it's pretty fast and easy. flip it. >> so you don't want the nuts to burn? >> it gives me a little bit of extra flavor. that's why the fat counts in my ingredients.

>> these fries are relatively healthy? >> they're not. >> i add parmesan cheese. so i love to make it look like fries, and you can get the kids in the kitchen helping, you can cut these in any shapes you want. you can make them cute. awesome. some hot aisle. >> there you go. >> the great thing is you can make it ahead of time. >> exactly. two ingredients, right on in, and just cook it until it's nice and golden brown on beth sides. everybody want to get a bite? thz five ingredients, supereasy. make it from scratch. >> beautiful. >> and then we have got the chicken. the . >> are they edible?

>> they're edible. >> have you ever seen this show? have you ever seen us actually eat stuff? >> they're delicious. >> she wants to pop me. >> they're good, amy. >> they're delicious. >> of course the recipes are on our website at todayshow.com. and still ahead, we have got a lot more coming up with hoda and kathy lee. >> and a woman who lost 145 kathy lee. >> and a woman who lost 145 pounds, she' i'm frank kratovil and i approve this message. the real andy harris. his past attacks have been

called deceptive, his new attack, false. harris voted for deregulation increasing our electric bills by 72% it's not surprising, harris always sides with the big guys. he opposes cracking down on wall street and supports tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas. harris even opposed making big insurance cover cancer screenings. andy harris' extreme ideas will cost us.

>> live, local, latebreaking. this is a wbal-tv 11 news update. >> off and on rainshowers are going to be with us all the way through the evening. breezy and kind of cool today.

average high temperature is 72. upper 50s this afternoon. seven-day forecast gets much better at the end of the week. we will see temperatures and