Seriously – we had 10 burned out light bulbs in our house.  We have this chandelier in our entry that is just a tad too high for B or me to reach to replace the bulbs (I’m 5’7, he’s 5’8) – and we didn’t have a stable enough ladder to get to them.  Our step stool is not tall enough because the light is mounted on a vaulted ceiling.  We would con my dad into replacing a bulb or two whenever he’d be in town (he is tall enough to use the step-ladder).  The bulbs that came with the house were total and complete crap, so they were burning out left and right.  We would just get done having my dad replace a couple, and then another one or two would burn out.  It was driving us nuts – but not nuts enough to go buy an expensive extension ladder to replace them ourselves.  This morning, there were 5 bulbs burned out in that thing – and only 4 remained lit!

Then there are the recessed canned lights in the kitchen.  Over a year ago, I decided to replace a bulb while B was out of town.  We have one of those super long extension rods with special light bulb attachments.  I used the nifty spring-loaded one and when doing it, I ripped the can right out of the ceiling.  Our ceiling is 16 feet high, so you can imagine how easy that was to fix.  We didn’t even try to con anyone to come over to fix that for us.  We were going to have a handy man come out to fix it, but never got around to it.  Of course, every time my dad was in town, he’d mention it and tell us to fix it.  (Why do dads always feel compelled to tell us what we need to do, according to them?) Another canned light burned out in the kitchen last week – so we had two to replace and one can to fix.

Then there is the light at the bottom of the stairs in the basement that burned out last week, that B didn’t even know existed!

And finally, there are a couple canned lights in the basement that were burned out that neither of us noticed.  I only noticed them when the previously mentioned light burned out.  Neither of us spends too much time in the basement (cat-related) so they truly went unnoticed by us both.

Today, we bought that super fancy, expensive extension/step ladder.  You know the one – it’s like the Little Giant but cheaper.  What’s really stupid about this story is that the ladder isn’t that expensive – it was just expensive enough that we’d rather spend the money on a new suit, or clothes for Matthew, or eating out.

In a matter of 60 minutes, the ceiling canned light was FIXED, all bulbs were replaced with CFL’s (so they should last longer but we’ll see – they also advertise that they’ll each save us $44 a year in energy bills – yeah right!), and my mood was completely elevated.  I HATE burned out light bulbs.  I cannot stand them.  I am one of those people who will get depressed when it’s dreary outside, so you can only imagine what I’m like when my house is dimly lit ALL THE TIME.

I walk around the house in complete awe of how beautifully bright it is.  I am so happy!  I honestly think that the bulbs being burned out can explain about 90% of my rotten mood when I’m irritable.

There are still 3 bulbs to replace in the bedroom, but we got the wrong size.  We didn’t even know that there were 3 lights in that fixture until the last one burned out this past week.  I wonder if the two bulbs have been burned out since we bought the house.  I can’t wait to see how bright the room is tomorrow when I get those replaced!