Posting this in case it helps someone with the same problem I had. I installed several sets of LED puck lights under my kitchen cabinets and they worked fine for about a month before they began to flicker and even fade. This happened independently (and not at the same time) to all 4 sets and had me puzzled for a while. These were sets purchased from Home Depot that had a switch (on the DC side of the transformer) and their own transformer which I had put into a junction box. I just left the switch on because I was using the wall switch to turn them on and off. It turns out that the switches that come with these lights are awful. When I opened up the junction boxes I discovered that when I held the switch hard in the on position the lights would be brighter and not flicker. So I merely cut out the switches and spliced the 12V wires together. Problem solved and a lot less stuff in the junction boxes!

You don't have to mix bulbs. You can solve the flickering issue by removing the limiter from your ceiling fan. It's not that complicated and it's not the big of a hazard. A limiter is there just to shut the power off if the wattage goes over capacity. The ones i just removed from my new ceiling fans were 300 watt capacity, but some are 190 watt. They are all different. It doesn't matter because if you are using CFL bulbs they only pull like 13-14 watts a piece. If you have 4 that's only 52-56 watts. The fan will operate fine. Just make sure you DON'T remove the capacitor. To help distinguish the two take a look at this sight. Remove these: Limiters(Harbor Breeze) Scroll to the bottom of the page. http://www.eceilingfans.com/pc_boards_-_ceiling_fans.html DO NOT REMOVE THIS: Capacitor (Harbor Breeze) http://www.eceilingfans.com/capacitors_-_ceiling_fans.html So to remove the limiter, cut the 4 wires off the limiter and strip the ends and twist them together and put a wire nut on the end. Don't just tape it, go to the hardware store and get a 14-18 awg wire nuts, install it then tape it. Fires get started by people who try to half-way a job. Connect the whites together, then the black and blue. And you are done once you put everything back together. No more flickering, and you'll notice the Cfl's will come on faster because the electricity doesn't have to travel through the limiter anymore. It might seem like a really complicated job, but it's actually very easy. I'm sure your husband can do it. As far as dimmable CFLs go, They do make them now. BUT, you have to buy a special CFL dimmable switch, AND CFL dimmable bulbs(They will be marked on the package). Lowes carries these. Hoped I helped. Here is a link that might be useful: What limiters Look like( Bottom of the Page)

I cannot offer much technical help, but can say that we experienced something like what you describe when we lived in western MA. During the summer, lightening hit our house, breaking a few light bulbs but apparently not causing other damage -- everything seemed to be working fine, once the light bulbs were replaced. Roughly 4 or 5 months later, in mid-December, a major snowstorm hit, during which the lights, etc. in half of our house started flickering on and off. Fortunately, a wonderful electrician lived just a few houses up the road from us (rural area) and came down during the storm, assessed what was going on, and immediately did repairs (he considered it an emergency). It involved half the circuit board of our house and, according to the electrician, stemmed from the lightening hit during the summer.

Not to scare you, but weird things happen. Last August, my friend started having problems with lights flickering in different areas of his house. It didn't make sense to him, and was getting worse, so he called the power company to see if there was a problem with the lines. A guy from the power company came out and said there was a problem at his circuit box and that my friend should call an electrician. He didn't act like it was urgent, but suggested not waiting too long. Luckily, I had another friend who was able to recommend an electrician -- called him and he said he'd come out and check it the next day. The electrician showed up and apparently told my friend he couldn't believe that the power company didn't cut the power IMMEDIATELY! He said it was terribly dangerous... there was a water leak to the fuse box and a voltage imbalance on sides of the house and at least one of the breakers had fused, so no matter what happened, the breaker(s) couldn't trigger. The electrician called to have the power cut immediately (what an operation that is!) and then proceeded to replace the entire circuit box.