Light Bulb Moment ~ or ~ I'm So Glad I'm Smart!

Ariana told me that the bathroom light was not working.

Strange. It was working earlier.

Maybe the darn thing blew out. In that case, I would have had to remove the fluorescent tube and bring it with me to Mahoney's Hardware so that I would be certain that I got the right one. And that meant that there was going to be a bit of a wait before there was light in the bathroom.

In the meantime, we would have had to make sure that we took our showers only during the day, when there was light coming in through the window. And if we wanted to use the bathroom, we would have to have the door open and use the light from the laundry room.

The bathroom light also served as a night light. So that meant that I was going to have to use the light above the sink as a night light.

I went to put on that light, and noticed that it, too, wasn't working.

What a coincidence that light was out too.

I had a couple of bulbs in the electrical closet. So it was going to be a simple thing to replace that bulb.

As I unscrewed the bulb, I noticed that the bulb was burned out. Also the frosted bell glass diffuser could use some cleaning.

After cleaning the glass diffuser and replacing the bulb, I went to turn on the light.

Nothing.

Nothing?

I tried 2 other light bulbs, and it was the same thing ~ no light.

Don't tell me that the light fixture blew also? That meant that I was going to have to buy a new light fixture. And while I could possibly figure out how to replace a light fixture, I had NO idea which circuit it was connected to. I would have had to start flipping switches.

Perhaps I just better leave that light fixture problem for the new home owners to deal with.

In the meantime, I figured on removing the fluorescent tube from the bathroom so that I could have it ready to bring to the hardware store.

However, when I removed the tube, I noticed that it showed absolutely NO signs of having been burned out.

Oh?

Gee, I wonder.

Could one of the circuit breakers tripped?

Oh please! Oh please!

Please let it be that the circuit break tripped.

Our electrical closet has 2 circuit boxes. The top circuit box showed all switches in the "on" positive.

Yet, after moving stuff away from the door of the bottom circuit box and opening the door, I found my culprit. It was Number 15.

All the other switches were in the "on" position except for defiant Number 15.

I flipped Number 15 into the "on" position and crossed my fingers.

Let there be light!

And there WAS light!

Eureka!

Ha ha! I did my happy dance and sang "Oh! What a smart girl I am!"

(Well, not really. But I sure felt that way.)

I was happy that the no-light problem was something very simple like a tripped circuit.

I was happy for my "light bulb moment."

My inner geek revelled in its hubristic moment.