I'm sitting here typing this while watching a reborn silicone baby box opening on the IPad with the TV in the background and wondering what to say.  Thursday I said goodbye to my little Sexy Lexy,  my 13 year old dog.  His name was actually Lex Luther, and along with his brother Kal El were my terror twins.  Born in 2007, they were the puppies of our "house-elf" deer headed Chihuahua Sassy and Deanna's furry little boy, Damien.  Damien was only 9 months old when Sassy got pregnant; we always said she raped him, since from that moment, he never turned his back on her.....he was obviously not "into it".  LOL.   

Damien was Min PIn, Chihuahua and terrier of some sort, so the boys were just mutts. 

At any rate, Sassy had three puppies, the two boys and a female, who passed away within a week.  ALl three puppies were brindle colored and there was just something not right with any of them.  Once the female passed away, the two boys became the Terror Twins...and boy were they!  

Kal was the smarter of the two...Lex was one of the sweetest, most polite dogs you'd ever meet...but he was obviously NOT a rocket science.  Kal was the leader and Lex just followed along, sweet and happy if not very bright.  They were never seperated; even when I took them in to be neutered, they weighed the exact same thing, 12.2lbs.  THe vet's office thought that was hilarious.  

When the boys were young, they had this stuffed elephant.  THe boys LOVED that Elephant....in the most BIBLICAL sense......that elephant was GROSS.  They literally "LOVED" it to death....  they would take turns with it, no fighting between them.  Eventually I had to get rid of the elephant...so the boys stole Paul's pink poodle Deanna got him for valentines day!  I'm not sure what happened to that poodle.....

Kal developed diabetes in about 2014/5 and passed away, and you have never seen a dog look so lost.  Lex just had NO idea what to do without his brother.  He tried to latch onto Scruffy, but Scruffy got very aggressive wtih him; at one point Scruffy grabbed Lex by the head and ear and tried to drag him under the bed where I couldn't save him.  I thought Lex was a gonner, but despite developing an absess from a tooth buried in his HEAD.  

WHen mom moved in with me, she discovered how polite Lex was.  Not used to having anyone else around teh house, Lex headed into the bathroom to go outside and interrupted her using the toilet.  Lex froze, shifted a little from one foot to another and she swears he looked at her like "OH!  So Sorry.....I'll just wait my turn over here.....".

When we moved in here with Daniel and Deanna, I was living in one small room with Scruffy, Lex, Annie, Taco and Oscar.  For whatever reason, Oscar grew angry at Lex and attacked him, twice.  I was trying so hard to get him off Lex.  Oscar is a hound dog and about 60lbs.  He grabbed Lex around the chest, picked him up and shook him.  I was trying to get a hold of Oscar, but everytime  he'd release LEx, Lex would try to rush past him and Oscar would grab him again.  It was terrifying,  and it happened twice.  I ended up having to give Oscar to Deanna....there were just too many of us in too small a room.      

Lex had a bad last few months, about 9 months ago he developed some kind of psoriasis, most likely some kind of auto immune or skin disease.  His skin became leathery and he scratched himself raw, leading to secondary infections.  HE lost all his fur, and itched horribly, so he had to wear a cone of shame.  His skin was so bad...once I got the secondary infections clear up, it was a matter of changing his Tee shirt every night and looking over him carefully, applying Triple ANtibiotic ointment to any place that looked suspect.   HE was miserable, but he was still my sweet, loving little Lex.  

Then Thursday, he woke up and went outside, he pooped and wandered around the yard a little in the sunshine, then came back inside for breakfast.   He ate well, warm water over his dry food to soften it, he loved it soft.  He went back outside and wondered a little more, then came back inside went to his den and napped, came out to sleep in teh doggie bed he adored, and spent the afternoon relaxing.  Later that evening, I pulled his cone off so he could have a little break from it, and he went into his den to take a nap before dinner....I found him when i went to feed them, he took a nap and woke up in time for dinner at the Rainbow Bridge with his brother, sister, Mommy and Daddy and all the furbabies we've lost.  There must have been a HUGE meal there...I can almost hear them barking.   

Maybe in the future I'll share some other stories of Lex  I know this is an odd post, but I'm just getting used to the new normal once more.    Someday I'll tell you'all some other stories, the Terror Twins more than earned their names! lOL.  

But for now, Rest IN Piece Little Sexxy Lexxy....until we meet again.  

Changes...ebb and flow of life.

 Life is like the ocean. It ebbs and flows, rises and falls; nothing stays in the same place, everytime a wave comes in, sand is pulled out, and other sand is deposited in it's place.  Just when I thought things were smooth sailing, another storm rolls in.  

When mom and I moved in with Deanna and Daniel, I thought it was going to be the beginning of a new era.  We were going to buy a house, live together...oh I knew there were going to be fights, arguments, head butting...but I thought that at least we were all on the same page regarding the future.  THen the thing came up between Deanna and mom.  Those two are like oil and water...they just can't get along.   I'm not going to get back into that, but it was a huge blow up.  But even through that, I thought at least the rest of us were solid.  

Of course I also knew that Daniel and I were like oil and water.  But I thought that we couldn't at least tolerate each other since we both love Deanna.  Goddess help me, I have tried to get along....I've bitten my tongue until it's hamburger (a great job since I have no teeth!).  I'm given in on everything...rules that make no sense, dealing with hurt feelings on my own, trying to stay away from them as much as possible.  I've given up things I loved, given up doing things I love...  I've dealt with being treated like I'm 100% the problem and through it all I've tried like hell to keep my mouth shut and not fight back.  That is not easy on me, believe that!  

ONe of the hardest things is feeling completely not respected, nor having everything I've done for this "family" appreciated.  It seems like nothing I do is appreciated; and I feel like I do a lot.  I feel like I ask for little to nothing, do everything possible to get along and show appreciate for what IS done for me, and try not to let the lack of actions hurt me.  

And yet; nothing seems to be enough.  I'm not appreciative enough, I don't give enough, I ask for too much...  I'm not saying I'm perfect, nor that I have no fault, I do.  Part of my problem is that my expectations were not in anyway matching Deanna and Daniel's expectations.    I thought we were a family of three, not a couple and me.   But like the waves, new changes are flowing in...  and like no one can stand against the ocean, no one can stand against change.

Deanna thinks she and I are too co-dependant on each other and we need to work to living apart.  Don't get me wrong, I've lived alone and I'm fine going back to that.  But further information, Deanna thinks her worrying about me is unhealthy, and so is talking to her everyday when we live separate.  I had no idea that she considered worrying about someone you love is a bad thing.  Did we talk a lot on the phone when I lived alone?  Yes.  But I thought it was because she wanted to; that it was because she enjoyed talking to me.  Not that she felt it was because she felt she HAD too talk to me, or that she thought I was in danger.  

So.  Now what?  Well, first of all, I have to get over it, deal with the new normal.  I'm going to start making myself a priority FOR MYSELF.  If I am no one elses priority, I need to make myself a priority.  I want to move to Washington State still, which has been a thought for a while.  Originally, we were going to go in together and buy a house with a mother in law area. However, now i'm looking at other places.  Maybe a mobile home in a 55+ or low income park;  A little one bedroom, or even a two bedroom mobile home in a park.  Or maybe just a low income apartment.  ANywhere I can have a pet, at least.  

So anyway...life's ebb and flow, waves of change like water, plans old and new....changes.  

Trying a new type of snack...#GoMacro #MomsMeet #ProteinsDecadence #proteinpleasure

 I've recently found companies that offer legitimate (means real!) product testing and I have to say, I've gotten some REALLY cool look out of it.  Some of the companies require a non-disclosure agreement, so I can't talk about those.  But others are far more concerned with showcasing their products.  One such company is "Mom's Meet" located at   https://momsmeet.com/ .  After signing up and filling out my profile, I waited "patiently" (Hey!  I did!  but only because I had no idea I was expecting anything!

So...what I received were products with which to hold a "virtual sampling party".  They give you a link to instructions on how to handle this,  which I can share the link too. 

Ok, now that the "how to"s are out of the way, let's talk about the items that were sent for me to send out.  The company name is GoMacro and the main product is a high protein Macrobar  in peanut butter and chocolate chip.  I was a little leery, especially after reading the company/product sheet.  

GoMacro was started by a mother/daughter team who created a sustainable, plant based diet to help the mom, Amelia, recover from breast cancer.   Amelia's daughter, Jola, adopted the diet to support her mother, initially, but found it helped her own vitality and health.  So GoMacro was formed to share the secret with the world.

I actually received two 12 packs of the PB and Chocolate Chip and a separate 4 pack box of PB and chocolate chip "protein pleasure".  In addition, they sent me a 4 pack retail box of "protein decadence", dark chocolate and almond.  I have to say, my initial reaction was...shall we say less than positive?  According to the information I received with the bars, the protein pleasure contains 11 grams of plant based protein.  IN addition, they are certified Organic, vegan, gluten free, kosher, non-GMO, C.L.E.A.N, R.A.W. and soy-free.  But in my opinion, they are certainly NOT taste free!  I was a bit surprised, actually, but these are really, really good!  Now I havn't eaten the dark chocolate and almond (hey, I'm a member off the Toothless Coalition...almond enjoying days are WAY behind me) but my daughter assures me they are most certainly good!  I think she enjoyed the DC&A more than the PB&CC.  And that's fine, more for me.  

One other very important issue...GoMacro also prides itself on using 100% renewable energy, including solar and wind energy.  So, good for the environment, good for you, good taste, good for small business, good for women owned business....what more can you ask? 

Interested in trying these?  You can get them on Amazon, Walmart or other retailers. They run about $8.99 for 4 bars.  A little expensive, but these can be meal replacement bars as well as a healthy snack.  If you're on the go, especially if you've got kids, dogs, or a busy schedule, these are really handy.  And did I mention GOOOD?  Yea?  I guess I did..

Im going to give some links down here to not only the product page, but the Mom's Meet page.   If anyone is interested in links to other Best Testing/Product Testing sites, let me know in the comments and I'll write a post specifically about these programs.                                                                                                                              

Oh....Hai....How long have you been waiting?

Did you ever close your eyes for "just a minute" and open them hours later going "what the F**K happened?".  Yeah.  That.  Times YEARS. 

So much has changed, I don't even remember what was happening the last time I blogged....nor can I think of a reason that anyone will care what I write about in my blog.  BUT, I WANT TO BLOG DAGNABBIT!

So....let me catch you up...  No, it's too much, maybe I'll catch you up later.  Right now, let me update as to standing. 

I live with my daughter Deanna and her husband Daniel.  Daniel is my caregiver since Deanna's medical condition  has changed.  Deanna has finally gotten a diagnosis for her collections of symptoms and has begun to adjust to living with a permanent condition that will most likely will NOT improve...the best she can hope for, according to the doctors, is not to get a lot worse.  The condition is no fatal, but can be very dangerous.  She has been diagnosed with Glaucoma which is actually a SYMPTOM of the real disease; Increased Intercranial Hypertension .  Basically, there is too much CSF (Cranial Spinal Fluid) around her brain and through her intrathecal space and that makes the pressure in her head climb to highly dangerous.  She can have a stroke, aneurysm....basically she could die if the pressure climbs any higher.  The IIH has caused her optic nerve to be compressed to the point that it is paper thin and nearly invisible.  That raises the pressure in her eyes  which has caused her to begin going blind, starting with the loss of her peripheral vision.

More on that and other updates medical later. 

More positive updates...Animal Crossing New Horizon!  Feel free to send me an ema4526nd we'll arrange to meet up somewhere.  Or check out my  Dream Address DA-5685-6067-1169.  My Island is Shadow Isle.   I have Pierce, Cheri, Tex, Dizzy, Simon, Diana, Diva, Ed, Spike and Skye.  (shoot me a friends request!)

The Express....still active.  Right now, I've stepped back from the STBs and found homes for the racers,  I'm concentrating on my Non-US Arabs (French, Polish, UK), American Arabs and my Stock horses.  The goal is to keep a small, successful string of each breed racing and breed enough keep replacing my retiring racers and selling some to keep the bloodlines active. 

eBay:  This is new.  Since moving in with Deanna and Daniel, it's become clear that I have to streamline my stuff.  So, I started with my model horses.  I've gotten it down to about 50 Classic to Traditionals.  I have another 100-200 SM models, that I'm keeping thus far).  So I started selling them on Ebay.  Now I've started picking items up at situations such as thrift stores, Walmart Clearance, etc. and selling them on my eBay store Bowen Towne Treasures.  

Pokemon Go:  Still playing, just not as much

Writing: Started writing a new ...err...book? ...story?  It's an original character story with a fresh plot.  A ghost story, if you will.  Every decision you make creates a new life line,  so what happens if a choice you once made comes back to you in a different life?  More later ? Maybe. 

Ok...so anyway, I'm going to kick back and relax for a while.  I want to work on my Animal Crossing....

I'll be back....soon.  Or not.  Maybe...  LOL.

Whelp...another year, another lack of blogs....I was doing ok the first part, but then things got busy with my mom's estranged husband, finding her a lawyer, etc. etc ec.  Since he lied so much on the papers he filed with the court that he may have a nice vacation in the County Hotel in his future.  And when I say lied.....WOWZA!  Once this whole situation is over, I'll able to talk more. For now, he's a liar and we have proof.

Moving on.........

As soon as this whole mess is over with, we (Mom, Daniel, Deanna and I) have decided to all move in together.   Deanna worries about Mom and I all by ourselves and what would happen if one or both of us got hurt.  Not to mention that she worries we aren't eating right, taking care of ourselves, being safe...etc.  Moving in will allow her to feel better about things and remove that particular stress from her life. We're looking for a large enough house that we can each have a room, with enough room for offices/game room/etc.  We looked at one that would work, it's got three bedroom, 2 bath upstairs, then a walk out basement with four more bedrooms and a bathroom, kitchen and utility.  We'd live upstairs, have an office upstairs for crafting, office work, etc and a game room downstairs with places to hold game (we have a pen and paper gaming group).    This isn't a sudden decision, we've been kicking it around for years. But we really think that this is the right time.

Those who know me, know my daughter Deanna, if not in person then at least by my tales.  She's going through a tough time right now.  I'm not going to expound on it, but happy, loving and healing thoughts are welcome for her and her husband, Daniel.

The fur kids are still my babies...though I swear if Oscar doesn't learn to chill out when someone drives on the ROAD  outside my house, I'm going to braid his vocal cords!  I had surgery in August, I had a bone spur on my arm and inflamed bursa.  At first it looked like a torn rotator cuff or bicept tendon.  Lucky for me, it wasn't.  They sanded down the spur as it was rubbing on my muscles and tendons and making it hurt to move my arm.  And he removed some inflamed Bursa.  My thanks go to Dr. Sadani of Harrison, Arkansas for the exceptional job he did...and some eye candy on top.

After my surgery I spent three days with Deanna to be "watched", lol.  Taco went with me and the first thing he did was walk OFF the sofa bed and bloody his nose.  He was more shocked than hurt, but I nearly passed out.   I HOLLARED for Deanna and Daniel who came running because of the panic in my voice; they thought *I* had been hurt...  Taco is ok, now.  But I wish it would teach him to pay attention to where he's going. But I doubt it.

Scruffy has a tumor on his side, and it's getting larger.  The vet says it's a benign tumor that we can have removed, but at Scruffy's age (he was born in 2005), we're not going to do it unless it REALLY bothers him.  The risk of anesthesia/surgery/etc is just SO hard on them.  He has started scratching at it, and I'm giving him some mild pain reliever occasionally; if it gets worse, a decision might have to be made.  With Damian, Sassy and Kal gone, Scruffy and Lex are all that's left.

Lex...ahh, my little (!) Piniped........ He got hurt a while back, Scruffy got into it with him and was dragging him under the bed where I couldn't get to them...  I got Lex away from Scruffy, but I guess Scruffy lost a part of a tooth. I THOUGHT it was over...I cleaned it out, it seemed to heal, but it had this hard center....eventually, that popped.....and we found the tooth fragment.  Got him cleaned out and treated and he's fine now...still a little head-shy.  I thought he might have had some sort of TIA or something because pre-pop his entire head was swollen and he seemed blind, or close to it.  The vet xrayed but didn't see anything.  We were going to take him into lance it the next day, but Lex beat us to it, lol

Annie is my little Chain Ganger.  She escapes from any place and thus has to go out on a cable.  She HATES it, but I'll do what I have got to do what ever it takes to keep her safe.She lost a lot of her hair this summer due to a flea infestation...NOTHING killed them!  I swear we used orals, shampoo, dips, powder (organic and chemical) and NOTHING got rid of them.  Even the immediate death pill (Capstar) didn't curtail them.  I'm praying by next flea season we're OUT of here.

The cats are well...KoKo (mom's cat) has settled in perfectly.  Toothless is in LOVE with him...but unfortunately for Toothless, KoKo doesn't swing that way.  One odd thing is that since KoKo moved in, Toothless has decided he "hates" Archangel!  I've got a bottle of water with a little vinegar in it that I use to persuade Toothless to be nice, but Archangel has NO idea why Toothless has turned from the loving brother who brought Archangel.  David is holding his own...his tummy problems and the damage to his rectal muscles mean he has accidents sometimes...but what's a little poop around friends; right?

One change this year is I'm playing Star Wars The Old Republic.  It's a time dump, I guess...but some of the stories are great.  Of course Deanna and Daniel are far more into it than I am.  They've become a vital part of their Guild (a group of people who work with each other for the social aspect).

Mom and I, after looking around a little, have decided to begin playing an online MMRPG together.  I'm going to suggest the SIMS too, but we will see what happens.  So far we're both more frustrated than having fun, but once we learn how to do things, I'm hoping we enjoy it.   If anyone has any suggestion for an online game simple enough our old brains to learn, let me know.

Ok...I've decided to begin asking a question at the end of my blogs.  If you're moved to share your answer, go for it...that's what Comments are for.

Do you believe in the supernatural such as ghosts, portals, ley lines, telepathy, past lives etc?

Annnnnnnnnnndddddddddd GO!

Well....hell.

Long time no write....no excuse, really, just time and desire never seemed to get together.  I'm in a horrible flare thanks to my CRPS (what is that? See my previous post in Feb about it) and on top of the two other "owies" that have developed, my pain level is no longer a 3.  More like a 5; which is far better than before the Pain Pump.


Speaking of Pain Pump, it's closing in on a year since I got mine.  August 3rd 2017 is sorta like a second birthday for me.  It's the day I got my life BACK. So I'm hoping to do something to celebrate that this year.  The ability to have my pain controlled is one of the best gifts I've ever received, second only to the birth of my daughter.  I've hit the "maintence" part of the pump now...we're pretty much where we want to be, though some adjustment is still needed.  The more I'm able to move around, stay out of bed, do things, the more my body hurts; in a good way, but still.  Plus I'm having some pain in my upper left arm and upper left leg, which is so far not diagnosed as we are still doing tests.  So far, after a nerve conduction test, the docs are pretty sure I have either damage to the shoulder joint, or a torn rotator cuff.  It may have been this way for a while, perhaps even years, but this pain was masked by the overwhelming CRPS pain.  The other problem is my left thigh/hip/knee; kinda hard to pin point where it starts.  I'm due to have a second nerve conduction test the 12th on the leg this time.  I can't have an MRI, which is the preferred type of test, because of my spinal cord stimulator, so we have to go old school.  If we can't get a determination from the nerve test, then probably a round of XRays and CT scans.    Reminds me of an old joke....skip if you've heard it.....


"A man brought his cat to the vet after it was hit by a car.  The cat was clearly beyond saving and the Vet put his hand on the man's shoulder and said, "Im sorry Mr Mann, Fluffy has died".  The man was beside himself, how would he tell his wife....his kids!  "Are you sure?  You didn't even do any tests!" the man demanded.   The vet sighed, went to the telephone and a minute later a beautiful black Labrador came into the room, sniffed the cat all over and then sat down and shook his head. 


Still, the man wasn't convinced..."there has to be something else!"  The vet sighed again and went back to the phone and a few second later a kitty came in, sniffed Fluffy all over, sat down and shook his head at the Vet.  Finally convinced there was nothing the man could do, he left Fluffy and went to pay his bill.  :That'll be $650", said the receptionist.  "$650", yelled the man, "How can it be that much when Fluffy was already dead?"  The vet walked in at that point and said, "Well, it would only have been $20, but you demanded LAB tests and a CAT scan"


(Told you it was old)


Anyway, such is life....please don't hit me for that joke....don't shoot the messenger!   On the good (or great) side...Mom has an attorney now.  Thank goddess for this man (I won't mention his name until I get permission).  He's already found out that all the property her ex was so careful to put into his name is marital property since it was filed after the marriage.  And the house they built is one of the few really BIG houses in that area; like 4000sq ft big.  He's already filed the divorce papers and now it's just a waiting game for her estranged husband to file a response.  Mom's attorney said the divorce would take at LEAST 4-6 months and possibly over a year or more if they have to fight for every butter knife....which knowing her ex, I'm sure they will.  After all, he decided that things she owned 40 years before she met him is his, not to mention all the gifts (like her tablet!) that she was given he considers HIS.  He'll fight.  But in the end, (knock on wood) it will all work out for the best. 


Mom and I are looking around at houses, nothing serious, but finding what is out there and learning about neighborhoods and the like, since we are planning to get a house in town when her divorce is final.  She wants to buy a place and has invited me to go with her.  So it looks like mom and I will be living together from now on.  Unless of course, she kills me over my slobby ways.  Yes, she's a clean freak and I'm....well, not.    Anyway.  I was playing around designing houses in my Planner 5D and jokingly said, "Here is our house, Mom!".  We laughed that now we just had to find it.  The next day a new house came on the market (or at least on Zillow) and I swear to you, it is very similar (very very!) to the house I designed.....right down to the bump out windows I put my plan. 


We wanted to go see it, but not going to happen, so we'll just keep on watching the market and trying our best to learn about the neighborhoods in Harrison.  Thanks to Google Earth, we can at least see the outside of them...and most on Zillow have interior pictures.  There isn't a rush yet, though mom has a bit of a timetable at the end of the divorce in regards to her social security and insurance.  But we'll figure it out.....we always do!


Ok, enough for today....though I keep thinking there is something I meant to say and have forgotten.  Today is the day Deanna and DAniel do all the shopping and bill paying, so they are going to be bizzy bees today.  A HUGE thank you out to Daniel  and Deanna for all they do.


Until next time...hit play and don't interrupt your life by pausing!


Marta

Getting Mail...

I LOVE to get things in the mail.  It doesn't matter if it is a free sample or something I've ordered off Amazon.  I'm not sure why it's so exciting, I guess it's a hold over from my childhood.  Periodically I get into phases where I go to these "free sample" sites and get some thing ordered; not always delivered, but most of the time it is.  Then there is Rank Booster and other sites like it.  Basically people with items they are trying to sell offer them up for vastly lowered prices to people on the site.  You get a couple, order the item from Amazon and then write a review, not on Amazon since that can violate the TOS, but on a blog...facebook...Twitter...Google Plus, etc.

I've gotten some cool items for far less than the retail prices.  I just got a 10000mha Power Bank for .10cents, and since I have Amazon Prime, that was all I plaid for it.  It's due to arrive tomorrow, and I'm interested to see it and how it holds up.  I've also gotten things like a BlueTooth speaker for $3, a nice gaming mouse for $4 and screen protectors for my S8+.  They have quite a wide variety of items, from clothes to electronics to pet supplies.  It's a lot of fun to find a "deal" and even more fun to find the package in the mailbox. 

Of course there other options.  There are groups who use some not well known chat programs to offer items to people for a lot less; sometimes as little as FREE.  And not crap either: Bluetooth headphones, clothes, electronic accessories like HDMI splitters and the life.  Tons of stuff, mostly from Chinese sellers who contract with people to offer their products online.   You find the item offered on Amazon, add it to the cart and show them you've got it.  They then send you code(s) for money off the product.  Most times the items are free or under a $.  One woman I know has gotten several thousand dollars of items for less than $100.  Once you use the code, buy the object and have it shipped to you and you receive it, you leave a review on Amazon.  Yeah, I know what I said before about violating the TOS; but if you give an honest review, it doesn't.  Despite it not REALLY violating (yeah, a VERY thin line divides it), if Amazon catches on to what you're doing, they WILL "wipe" your account.  You'll still be able to buy things on Amazon, still can have Prime...but you'll never, ever be able to review again.  And apparently their decision is FINAL; no appeal, no warning.  Do not pass Go, do not ever get to share your experience again.

Amazon explains their actions as "protecting the customers" from possibly false reviews.  They feel that people who receive an item free are likely to give it Five stars, no matter how good or bad the product is.    Of course, then there is the Vine program.  This is Amazon's "secret" little group of reviewers who recieve items for free or no cost and give an "honest and complete review".  The items they receive can vary from a nose hair trimmer, to a new video game system or appliance.  How do you get onto the Vine program?  That's the rub...you can't.  Amazon, in it's infinite wisdom, sends a private, secret invitation based on criteria they haven't made public.  The ONLY way to get on the program is to be invited.  Apparently Amazon can ask for the items back after the review, but they don't, and you have to agree not to sell or make a profit on the items sent to you.   The Vine program members have a badge on their reviews to distinguish them from those "other" reviewers. 

How about you guys?  Anyone have any way to get free/cheap "stuff" off the internet?  I've heard certain sites offer sweepstakes and prizes online are real sites, and have people who leave glowing reports of how they won a Starbucks $5 card; but I've never talked to a person who has won.  But  I guess hope springs eternal...and everyone loves a deal as well as packages in the mail.