New electrical woes

Last weekend we blew the light bulb in our bedroom closet for the second time since we moved in. No big deal, you might say? This is an 8" compact fluorescent bulb, with a service life rated at over 10 thousand hours, at a price of about $7 each. We shouldn't be blowing 2 a year when we only use it for a total of maybe 30 minutes a day.

I bought 2 bulbs Tuesday morning so that we'll always have one on hand, and discovered that even a new bulb won't fix my problem. There's something wrong in the fixture. Most likely it's the ballast, which I now need to find a replacement for. Depending on the price of that, I may just replace the whole fixture with something more reliable which I can put a dimmer switch on.

A dimmer switch in a closet, you say? Yep. The baby's changing table is in this closet and being able to turn the light way down will make it a lot easier on the eyes for those 3 AM changings.