I’d like to say that I participated in “Buy Nothing Day,” but that wasn’t the case.

I wanted to repair my mother-in-law’s toilet in her guest bathroom so that it would stop cycling every fifteen or so minutes, so I went out this morning to the hardware store to buy a replacement flapper.

And as a strange, little side-note to transnational capitalism: the arrival of a Kia plant not too far from my mother-in-law’s home town has resulted in an abundance of good, authentic Korean restaurants in an otherwise decidedly southern small town. So for lunch, as we often do when visiting, I took my middle child out for bibimbap.

And tonight, the kids decided it would be fun if everyone, grandmother included, went out to the movies. So we did.

See, here’s the thing: I don’t think I’m ever going to cut loose of consuming. It’s the mindless consumption that causes me concern–be that consumption of store-bought products, or food, or media, or whatever.

So today, for as much as possible, I tried to be mindful of what and why I was consuming. Yes, one can be mindful at the hardware store, even when buying toilet repair gear. It’s good practice–and hopefully one that I can tend to on more than one day a year!