Here I... recline

I've been sick for a few days now and as I reclined here in my bed with my new laptop, something occurred to me. After four years as an English major, including one very intense semester in Advanced Grammar, I still, STILL, don't remember how to conjugate the verbs "to lie" and "to lay". Am I lying in bed, or laying in bed? Did I lie down or lay down last night?  I have no idea.  I used to know.  In fact, we had to correctly conjugate one of those two words to be admitted to an exam once.  But now?  Gone.

For almost every other tricky grammar thing, I have a mnemonic device.  I love sharing them with my class.  But when it comes to this one, my memory fails.  I guess this is where being a writer comes in handy.  Why use a word I don't know when there are so many lovely synonyms out there?

And so I will set my computer down, curl up in my bed, and peruse my thesaurus.  And if anyone out there has a handy mnemonic device for me, please share!