My stepmother still buys me little stocking-stuffer knickknacks from the dollar store in spite of my ripe old age. They usually end up in the trash the moment I get home. I don't have the heart to tell her not to do it because they're so inexpensive and she seems genuinely amused by the sort of crap people will throw together to make a few bucks.
Last year she gave me a nightlight shielded by a creepy plastic village made to look like it was framed in a painting. It couldn't have cost more than three dollars and I was still appalled by the wastefulness of someone using resources to make such a thing, and of my stepmother spending perfectly good money on it. I stuck it in an outlet in one of the darkened halls of my apartment building until someone replaced it with one less ghastly.
Damn, I found it on the internet. It was apparently shitty merchandise from Thomas Kinkade involving his terrible paintings.
The picture doesn't quite capture the repugnant cheapness of the thing. And I really hope she didn't pay what this website is asking for it.
