Last week, like a supportive husband, I sat with my wife and watched Mamma Mia. Effectively, I discarded the remaining shreds of my manhood, and sat painfully through the worst of all Meryl Streep movies.

Fast forward to last night, where I found myself on the couch again with the missus watching Sex and The City, The Movie. One step better, although a pretty frickin’ small step.

So now I sit and contemplate the sacrifices I have made in the name of love this week, and I want you to know that I AM keeping score. And you owe me. And you know what currency I value. Yes, I’m done being romantic. Pay up.

Oh crap…here she comes…

“Hi Honey! I know…it was great wasn’t it?! Good ol’ Carrie Bradshaw…love that gal. Aww, love you too, sweetheart. Foot rub?”

I’m fucking dying over here. Just a little at a time.

Good evening my sweet, soft, smart and WHITE HOT female friends…

I again need your help. Today, with 3 questions…so here we go.

1. In my last post I showed you my new Acer Eee pride and joy, about which my fantastic-commenting friend Beth from What I Should Have Said asked, “Does she have a name yet?” And No, she doesn’t! Will you think of a name for her?

2. My wife’s birthday is SOON. She is beautiful, girly, and I will be leaving to go out of town ON her birthday, so I REALLY need your help here…what should I get her? Please keep your suggestions out of the diamond jewelry case. And no sleeved blankets, Kristina.

3. My daughter is 4.5 years old, and has a May birthday. We have had a number of people ask us if we plan to put her into Kindergarden this year, or hold her a year more before she goes. Have any of you faced this dilemma? I was a year and a half younger than everyone else in my grade right thru college, and I believe it created an unfair challenge for me, developmentally, that other kids simply weren’t faced with. I tend to think that if I can give my daughter the advantage of being in the OLDER half of the kids in her class, wouldn’t that be putting her in a more advantaged place to succeed? Will you share your thoughts?

Thanks, smartypantses. In all seriousness, I love your comments, and value your opinions. If I didn’t, I wouldnt drop my issues in your lap like a carcass being dragged into the lion’s den.

But soft! What light through yonder Netbook breaks? It is Halftime, and the Asus Eee 1000 PC is the sun. Arise, fair sun, and kill the nosy Starbucks voyeur who is sick and pale with envy.

You thought I was stalking you good before? Wait till you see how stealthy I can be with THIS baby…

Dear Mr. President,

As my friends so eloquently pointed out, I did not vote for you. And unfortunately, many of those who did not were made out to be Obama haters, rednecks, well…republicans. I hope to set the record straight with you.

First off, let me just say how proud I was of you today, the same pride I feel when any man from any party takes on this service to his country. I’m sure you would agree that the presidency is bigger than any one man, but that being said, you again conducted yourself with the air of a leader, and focused on bringing people together, and that behavior commands the respect of all.

Now, the facts.

I did not vote for you. I voted for another man who I admire and believe in. I didn’t vote AGAINST you, I merely voted FOR someone else.

I am not a republican.

I am not a democrat.

I am not conservative.

I am not liberal.

And more than all that, I am not a racist. It’s alarming to me that I have to make this statement, but after seeing some footage of dyed-in-the-wool haters using the “N” word to describe you, I again feel the need to distance myself from some of those who would oppose you.

I do not dislike you, or hate you. In fact, I like you a great deal. You ran a groundbreaking grassroots campaign, and made people care about our electoral process who never had before. You write and speak like few others, and that brings people together. That being said, you have made a LOT of promises. Promises of programs that you made it sound like would be a no-brainer to create and execute once in office. I hope you make good on your word on many of those promises, many of us are watching to see if you will be able to get them approved by Congress…no easy challenge. Hopefully your dynamic oratorical skills can sell the American people on your ideas and make it easier to push by those in Congress who would hold out their own hand to try to collect for themselves first, or their party.

I don’t believe in everything you do, but then I didn’t believe in everything my candidate believed in either. You have big dreams for our country, and huge challenges ahead of you, and now that you are my president, I will support you wholeheartedly. I know you want the best for us, and you want to initiate many new programs to help us all…I only ask you to remember one thing.

As you pointed out in your inauguration speech, much of our future lay on our shoulders, and Americans who want the best for our families need to work hard and create their own success. I am a capable man, with a family to support. I am willing to work, and save, and spend, and pay taxes. So please consider those of us who try with all our might to create our own success before you try to hand us all programs we don’t ALL need, and charge us ALL for them. Please just try to give us the FRAMEWORK to allow for personal achievement, and we will work hard to do just that…achieve.

So today, your first full day on the job, I wish you all the best of luck. I admire your energy and determination, and I am excited to see what you can come up with in the years ahead. And I, with many, will be working with you, and not against you.

I absolutely HOPE…for you.

Jay @ halftimeLessons

PS – And good luck with Congress. You have my permission to slap ‘em silly.

Hi Luv.

I have a few things to say to you, and I know that you may not ever read this, but I’m throwing this out into the universe all the same.

The thing is, you’re probably gonna have a bad year. To position it any other way would belittle what you are going to go through, and I won’t do that. Physically, mentally, emotionally, you’ve been here before, you know. So I’m gonna make this about me for just one minute, and then we’re gonna talk about you.

Since you told me, I have had some time to reflect on this, and think about how I’m feeling compared to four years ago. And the thing is, the more I reflect on what happened, the more I feel shamefully guilty about how much more I made it about my feelings than yours. I was frightened, sure, but more so I was in denial about what you would be going through. Plus, never having been through all those new feelings about watching someone you love struggle with their health, the more I emotionally hid from the whole thing. The more I pushed it back in my mind, the more I physically backed away from your pain, your fatigue, your physical changes, your shame.

I made it more about me. I know that now. It took watching your bravery to understand how little I was being, how selfish.

How unbelievably selfish.

And how understandable that you want to now spend all your energy worried about how your kids are going to cope with it this time. That’s the flip side to raising kids who care so intensely about their family…at some point those kids are going to point that emotion at you. But that is who you are, and that is the family you have created. The proof of the amazing woman that you are is in the eyes of your grandchildren…they are here because of you. We watch their faces absolutely light up when you are around. You are bringing into their lives the same love and caring you tried to instill in us, and they will be remarkable human beings because of it.

So it’s time for you to focus on yourself. We will be fine, because we know you will be. And this time, it won’t be about me. This time, my only hope is that you don’t worry about anything but yourself. I know you will be fine. You were a survivor of the first bout, and you still are. There will be new emotions, new challenges, new pain, I know. But in the end, you will continue to beat this thing, of that I am sure.

Please try not to be scared, and please try not to think about us. Instead, lean on your husband, lean on me, lean on us all. You always hold us up, Mom, this time it’s our turn.

Yet Another Jay and Deb Production.

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To participate in Tuesday’s Tribute, Fill out a Mr. Linky below with your name and URL address to your Tribute. Need a details, or a button? Go Here.

First, having some camera fun this morning. I just cant seem to get in the middle of the picture. Don’t get excited, I am not doing MeMes still, I’m just throwing up a pic of my ugly mug to help others feel better about themselves.

Note the crow’s feet, the 80’s ear piercing that would never quite heal over, the unshaven rebellion signifying a day off, and the “I’m supposed to be cleaning the house” smirk that will soon be slapped off.

Here’s today’s topic of conversation:

How many of you are making money from your blog, and know a little something about doing it?

Do any of you make $10 per month?

$100 per month?

More?

Do you use Blogher? Adsense, other?

I joined Blogher (pay per impression) almost 2 months ago, and have made a whopping $12. And my traffic is pretty damn good. One of my fav bloggers jumps on Adsense this weekend, encourages her readers to click for her, and is up to $78 in 3 days.

So if you will, lets spend some time spitballing all of this, and figure out how all of us can make some money from our soul-sharing, if that is what interests you.

Tell me if you have had any success at this, and what has worked.

Also, just want to thank Young Momma, Jenners, and Tena for nice linky mentions of me recently, hop over and see what they are up to as well.

And finally, you know what tomorrow is…Tuesday’s Tribute. We will be throwing up Mr. Linky tonight, we are excited to see who (or what!) you are honoring this week. Remember, you don’t HAVE to Tribute President-Elect Obama. I mean, one or two might be nice, but if I find 40 tributes to the man, I’m gonna call for a recount in Pennsylvania.

Happy MLK Day.