My boyfriend was a stay-at-home dad because it turned out to be cheaper for him to quit his job. He did all the cooking and cleaning, got the kids off to school, etc. Now that he and his wife are separated, he struggles financially, has no health insurance, and has found it very difficult to get back into the workplace.

With the divorce rate as high as it is, I have a hard time imagining why anyone would want to stay out of the workforce for any length of time. Let's face it--you may one day need that job you were so happy to discard.

Here's the other thing--and I know this is going to be unpopular. When I was a teenager, I spent part of a summer caring for a child whose mother had just gone back to work. I also did light cleaning--essentially, I was the "housewife". I have to say that I had plenty of time to watch the soaps, read, whatever. I even did cleaning that I hadn't been ASKED to do, I got so bored. Yes, it was only one kid, and he was fairly young--but he didn't NEED my constant and undivided attention.

I think, to some extent, many of these stay-at-home moms are so obsessed with their kids that the kids aren't learning to entertain themselves. My mom used to plop me at the kitchen table with a crayon and some paper. I also learned to read pretty early (4 years old or so). And I also played with neighborhood kids of all ages (and NOT organized play--we just ran around the neighborhood in a pack inventing things to do). Interestingly, I see some of this in the working-class-ish, fairly mixed neighborhood I live in (kids expected to entertain themselves)--and I DON'T tend to see it in the more pricey neighborhoods.

No, SERIOUSLY. Men have for ages gotten all worked up about the idea of two women making out (I personally do not know a man who doesn't find that exciting), so why can't I enjoy the sight of two beautiful actors making out?

I'm looking forward to it in a way I am NOT looking forward to the Narnia movie. Yeah, I loved the books as a kid, but there's been so much hype I am completely turned off.

Can I get a package with NO religious channels and no country music channels? And no Fox News? How dare they discriminate against those of us WITHOUT families?! (or those of us whose family values could conceivably INCLUDE Jon Stewart.)

Once I called my cable company (Comcast, as a matter of fact) and offered to trade them some of the channels I didn't want for Ovation, Trio and something else. They laughed, and gave me the channels I wanted as a package for a year for free.

So I don't know if this has already been suggested, but here's something you CAN do. Buy either "piddle pants" or a panty that is usually used during a dog's heat. You put a maxi pad in it and put it on the dog, and essentially the dog is wearing a diaper. Yeah, it has to be changed, but your husband probably won't mind, and it WOULD get rid of the problem of pee on floor, plus give the old dog more freedom of movement around the house.

Personally, I believe that if we choose to enter into a relationship with someone who has pets or children, we have also chosen to enter into a relationship with those pets or children. I am NOT equating the two--what I am saying is that this is a relationship that predates your relationship with this person, and it should be respected. If you cannot love the dog, you should at LEAST respect that your HUSBAND loves the dog, and allow him to care for her as she needs and he sees fit until her death. It is truly callous to disregard the depth and sincerity of that relationship.

I sort of understand the writer's problem, but I wouldn't have married her. If she can't deal with a little dog pee, how would she deal if one of her children or her husband developed a serious illness? Or just needed to be cared for in old age? How you treat your animals IS a good indicator of how you will treat other people.

Things can be done (as I and other letter writers have suggested) to deal with the urine. Why DOES the LW seem to resent time spent caring for the dog? Especially since it's such a small amount of time.

Or conversely, why doesn't she throw the kids in a stroller or whatever and take walks WITH her husband and the dog?

Maybe I'll be accused of being a bitter old spinster or something, but all I can say is that my dogs have reliably outlasted my boyfriends, and have proven significantly more reliable and less expensive. Hoping the current BF will prove me wrong about this, but I have been perfectly frank with him about it--the dogs predated him, they MAY outlast him, and so being asked to "get rid" of them will not happen. It would be like me telling him he could never see his kids because I resented the time spent with them.