Ever since the difficulty increased I should be getting exactly half of that right? Why does it seem like I'm getting NOTHING now? I check my account page and my confirmed reward increases by hardly anything.
I think you're confusing the reward halving with the difficulty increase. Difficulty increases occur every ~ 14 days. The higher the Difficulty, the less you are paid for each share, on average. The reward halving has just halved the reward.
All the same, the mining difficulty in November was approximately the same now, so I don't think difficulty changes would be the answer.