Friday Randomness 8-21-15

This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my advertiser disclosure for more details.  

• After several false starts, I’m finally getting the hang of couponing!  In fact, for the first time ever, I made a “special trip” to the store (outside of my normal shopping day) to stock up on some sales.  I think I might be hooked.  Right now, my favorite app is Favado to find out what nearby stores have good stock-up prices.  And I officially have two Sunday newspaper subscriptions delivered so I can have extra coupons!  

• A few weeks ago Ken and I made a trip to Pittsburgh to see my family.  We took my 9 year old nephew to Kennywood, a local Pittsburgh amusement park.  Going to Kennywood always makes me feel so nostalgic!  We’d go there every year for “school picnic” day.  Although I will say that I am becoming more of a wimp on the bigger rides!  While we were there, my nephew got stung by a bee!  Ken and I felt terrible because at first we didn’t believe him.  He got stung on the front of his ankle, right through his sock!  Then he pulled his sock down, and sure enough, we saw a tiny little hole right on his ankle.  He was such a trooper!  He hobbled all the way to the first aid station, where the workers were fantastic in giving him medicine to take the sting away and ice to reduce the swelling.  Luckily (well, luckily is a strange way to describe it!) he’s been stung by a bee before, so we weren’t panicked about an unknown allergic reaction or anything.  

• If you recall, back in November, I was experiencing some pretty dramatic heart palpitations probably close to 100 times per day.  I went to a cardiologist (after my primary care doctor dismissed the palpitations it as “not serious” and frankly, not believing her), and got a full workup.  EKG, EEG (an ultrasound of the heart), and had to wear a Holter Monitor for 24 hours (which monitors heart activity).  The cardiologist diagnosed me with PVCs, which is when your heart’s lower chamber has an extra beat, but assured me that they are not serious, even though they feel “unsettling.”  She said they weren’t bad enough to warrant medication.  After a few weeks, they finally diminished and went away, and the assumption was I got them because I was taking so much cold medicine after being terribly sick the previous month.  Well, just a few weeks ago, my heart palpitations started in full force again.  They’re driving me crazy and they really make it hard to focus on stuff, because I’m constantly panicking that I’m having a heart attack.  And this time, there was no definite “cause” of the palpitations like the cold medicine.  They just kinda started out of the blue. I’m trying to avoid going back to the cardiologist because I’m sure she’ll tell me again that they’re not serious, but they FEEL serious.  UGH.  

• I work from home fairly regularly these days, and because I’m frequently on the phone for teleconferences, I started going over my cell minutes (we didn’t have a home phone!)  I even finally blew through a huge stash of rollover minutes.  Well, I decided I didn’t want to have to worry about minutes anymore, so we bought an Ooma, which is a VOIP “land” line.  You buy the box, and then the monthly phone service is free (well, you have to pay about $3/month in taxes).  We’ve had it for about three weeks now, and I LOVE it!  I was worried about voice clarity, and I’ve specifically asked my family and coworkers to tell me if they hear something wonky on my end, but there’s been no complaints!  So happy with that purchase.  

• We finished Season 3 of Game of Thrones this weekend!  I had previously heard mentions of “The Red Wedding,” but I had no idea when it occurred or what exactly happened at the Red Wedding, just that it was crazy.  And, well, it was totally crazy.  

• Speaking of TV shows, I started watching Prison Break on Netflix last month.  (Ken had watched the series when it originally aired).  I pretty much binge watched the first two seasons, and then season 3 was just getting completely ridiculous.  I’ve been having a hard time having the motivation to watch it now!  Ha, needing motivation to watch a TV show.  What a sad concept!