Re the ring problem I've found the following tip, given to me by an ex-nurse, to be pretty good but your ring needs to be not so tight that you can't even get some knitting wool under it between your finger and ring. Threading it through a blunt eg tapestry needle/bodkin first and then working that under the ring does it for most people unless the finger is really swollen and the ring is digging in deep.
Once you've got the wool (or fine string will do just as well) under the ring, have a small tail of wool on the side of the ring facing up your arm and then right up against the ring, tightly wind the long end down towards your fingertip for about half an inch, this will compress the flesh on your finger. Then by pulling on the short tail of wool back towards your finger tip, the ring will rotate round your finger and travel down over the part of the finger covered by the wool wound round it. You can keep repeating this process until as you gradually work the ring down your finger until it's past the knuckle and onto the thinner part of your finger.
She said that when she worked in A&E they always tried this first before getting a ring cut off and that it always worked unless the ring was really embedded into a very swollen finger and I can believe her. My fingers sometimes swell up a lot in the heat and I don't always notice and take my rings off before they get too tight to easily slip off but this trick has always worked for me. It sounds more complicated than it actually is - once you actually try it the above instructions will make more sense - honestly! :-)
SM