Good Things Come in Small Packages?

So a little while ago, I succumbed to a moment of weakness and dialed the 800 number for one of the shopping networks.  Truly, I don't make a habit of this.  It's only the third time ever.

My virgin foray into TV shopping land was to buy a leopard print Snuggie for my daughter who was trying to survive the winter in St. Petersburg, Russia.  Two things to understand about Russia...it's VERY cold there and the Russian people seem to love all-things-animal-print.  So, when I saw the shopping network offering a blanket in an animal print, I couldn't resist!

Of course, mailing the Snuggie to Elizabeth meant that she had risk her life to claim it from some hostile postal workers in the post office in St Petersburg, but that's a story for another time, and for her blog.

My second experience with ordering from a TV shopping network involved a set of queen size sheets.  It sure sounded like a good deal to begin with, but after all the taxes, and shipping and handling were added on, I could have run over to Target and gotten it for nearly the same price.  And I wouldn't have had a cardboard box to dispose of.

Actually, a cardboard box is the reason for this post. My most recent purchase from TV land arrived a few days after I had placed my order.  The box was delivered while I was at work and my husband had brought it into the house for me. There it sat, in the hallway, waiting for me to open it.  So I did.

However, as I cut through the tape on the box, I was slightly puzzled.  What all had they put inside?  When I opened the flaps on the box, I found this:

Well, that's a lovely envelope.  All cushy and colorful...and rather large. Although not nearly as large as the box that it came in. And as I tore open the flap on the envelope I couldn't help but recognize the ridiculousness of this situation.  Because, you see, the item that I had ordered was...

an eyebrow pencil.  Go ahead, scroll back up there and look at the size of that first box.  Really?  Whatever happened to the "go green" thing.  I think that half of an entire tree must have been sacrificed just to send me a little make up.

The make up is okay, so I guess that good things do come in small packages.  It's just that the small packages come in bigger packages, that come in BIG packages!  I guess it's just the American way.  Sad.