got it. moms kicking me off the computer and I need to go to bed. I will start over in the am. So heres a couple of questions;

in the picturebox, are there supposed to be any specially assigned settings or pics?
I noticed a visible tab, is that supposed to be true or false?

here is my whole stupid assignment codes. if you guys have the time, maybe you can find my stupid mistakes.

thank you for you patience and help.

Public Class SendAMessageToAFriendByEddieCulver16Nov09

Private Sub Button2_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button2.Click
'end the application by closing the window
Me.Close()
End Sub

Private Sub CheckBox3_CheckedChanged(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles chkFriendA.CheckedChanged
txtFriendA.Text = txtMessage.Text
chkFriendA.Enabled = False

End Sub

Private Sub CheckBox4_CheckedChanged(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles chkFriendB.CheckedChanged
txtFriendB.Text = txtMessage.Text
chkFriendB.Enabled = False

End Sub

Private Sub CheckBox5_CheckedChanged(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles chkFriendC.CheckedChanged
txtFriendC.Text = txtMessage.Text
chkFriendC.Enabled = False

End Sub

Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
'Clear the input and output text boxes
txtMessage.Text = ""

txtFriendA.Text = "" 'not necessary, see comments below
txtFriendB.Text = ""
txtFriendC.Text = ""

'Set back color to white
radwhte.Checked = True 'sets BackColor to white for all output text boxes

'Reset and enable the "send to" check boxes
chkFriendA.Checked = False
chkFriendB.Checked = False
chkFriendC.Checked = False
chkFriendA.Enabled = True
chkFriendB.Enabled = True
chkFriendC.Enabled = True

'Set focus
txtMessage.Focus() 'puts the focus on the txtMessage text box

End Sub
Private Sub RadGreen_CheckedChanged(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles RadGreen.CheckedChanged
txtFriendA.BackColor = Color.Green
txtFriendB.BackColor = Color.Green
txtFriendC.BackColor = Color.Green

End Sub

Private Sub RadRed_CheckedChanged(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles RadRed.CheckedChanged
txtFriendA.BackColor = Color.Red
txtFriendB.BackColor = Color.Red
txtFriendC.BackColor = Color.Red

End Sub

Private Sub radwhte_CheckedChanged(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles radwhte.CheckedChanged
txtFriendA.BackColor = Color.White
txtFriendB.BackColor = Color.White
txtFriendC.BackColor = Color.White

End Sub

Private Sub RadButton1_CheckedChanged(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles RadButton1.CheckedChanged
If Me.RadButton1.Checked Then PictureBox1.Image = My.Resources.happy1
End Sub

Private Sub RadioButton2_CheckedChanged(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles RadioButton2.CheckedChanged
If Me.RadioButton2.Checked Then PictureBox1.Image = My.Resources.unhappy



End Sub


End Class