If you put commas on fingers on both hands, and then you could make air quotes with style.

Hee! I love this idea.

You could have the dot on one finger and the comma on the next, giving you the ability to render the appropriate punctuation for the situation at hand.

One of the pitchers for the A's, Dallas Braden, has a moustahe tattooed on one finger so he can hold it under his nose for an instant 'stache.

Thinking negatively can boost your memory, study finds

SYDNEY (Reuters Life!) – Bad moods can actually be good for you, with an Australian study finding that being sad makes people less gullible, improves their ability to judge others and also boosts memory.

The study, authored by psychology professor Joseph Forgas at the University of New South Wales, showed that people in a negative mood were more critical of, and paid more attention to, their surroundings than happier people, who were more likely to believe anything they were told.

"Whereas positive mood seems to promote creativity, flexibility, cooperation, and reliance on mental shortcuts, negative moods trigger more attentive, careful thinking paying greater attention to the external world," Forgas wrote.

"Our research suggests that sadness ... promotes information processing strategies best suited to dealing with more demanding situations."

Aha! My pathological inability to discard videotapes saves the day! Since I woke up wide awake at 6am, I decided to finally trade out my DVD recorder from the bedroom so I could play DVDs on my bigscreen living room TV. My wide assortment of tape storage shelving includes two that are the perfect height to hold up the recorder despite the mere 3 inches of slack on the incoming cable. I'm now able to screen movies and other recordings for people I don't want to sleep with.

My children have adapted to the new bedtime but refuse to stay in bed past 6:30. It's making me very cranky.

At least they didn't land on your head?

At least they didn't land on your head?

Technically true but Liv does tend to kick me in the head from time to time if she managed to crawl into our bed when I'm too tired to take her back to her own.

My children have adapted to the new bedtime but refuse to stay in bed past 6:30. It's making me very cranky.

Pfft. I wish I had a root and could sleep into the gloriously late hour of 6:30.

Last night I slept from 9:30 to 2am and that was the longest uninterrupted stretch I've had this week.

Matilda is killing us.

Would it be possible to cut out her naps, Hec? Or would that be MORE impossible? Both my instantly stopped napping when they turned 2, but at least there were 10 hours of sleep at night.

Sorry about lack of sleep, Hec. That sounds rough.