The problem was: I didn't know what the heck I could have possibly done. So, once Ann told me hers were still there...I knew it was definately something I did, so I started grazing my mouse over every inch of the screen and when I ran over the little minus symbol...presto!
It was a simple fix. The ones I hate are when you click something and blue screen...yikes...lol.
The fun one was with my current snackage the other night: made a piece of a sunflower seed shell fall into the keys and my period key stopped working...had to pry off the key with my fingers crossed. Now I'm extra careful with my snackage binges.