Gaming periphs suggestions?

I've never owned or purchased any mouse that wasn't designed by a humanoid from a completely different planet (or cost more than $5). As such, all my mice have been pretty awful. I've been doing a lot of reading lately, but I think it'd be good to hear what you guys will have to say about my specific situation.

I'm a hardcore gamer (I play both MMOs and FPSs) and I just recently built my second dream computer, so I want some periphs that'll vibe with that. Here's the catch: I'm tiny for the average female and my grip is a variant of the claw/palm grip (my hand lays flat on the mouse with my thumb and pinky on the sides/index, middle, and ring finger on leftclick, middle, right click, respectively, but I claw my fingers a bit and click with my tips).
My hand is no larger than the average ballpoint pen. I have a crappy small mouse right now and though it fits me better than, say, a DeathAdder (which, to me, is HUGE--otherwise pretty comfortable, though), I want something that doesn't leave my palm awkwardly touching the mat. I'm so desperate to get a nice mouse that I might even shamelessly shell out $75 or something on one. But I've been painstakingly saving that just for a mouse, so I don't know how much more I'd allow myself to spend.

Any suggestions?

PS I also have a shitty keyboard. Any advice on that?

take a look at your standard microsoft and logitech mice. any led (or laser if it suits your fancy) mouse will work fine for gaming.

do not be fooled by all the gaming propoganda that is thrown at you. i've used a mouse and keyboard set bought for $5 total and completely decimated people running keyboards and mice which were over $50 each. comfort is paramount to everything.

what would be best for you is to take a few trips out to some computer stores such as bestbuy, microcenter, staples, officemax, etcetera and to physically place your hands on some mice and find one that fits your hand/grip style. once you've done that then just dial-in your mouse settings in windows and in game to fit your desired cursor speeds.

in general i highly recommend logitech products as i've had great luck with them thus far. razer isnt exactly a high end brand but the deathadder i own works well enough. i know they make a smaller mouse in case you're interested in that.