With the generous help of Dave Peterson I created a small applet in
excel 2003, really it is a simple calculator used for a specific job,
nothing is saved or carried forward anywhere, and when I have the
numbers I need, I simply close the app until I need it the next time.

What I would like to know is if there is a way that I can show my user
form without excel showing on the screen in the background, maybe open
excel in a minimized state? To open excel in a minimized state ONLY when
I use this app, where would I put that code? I am going to create a
desktop shortcut to the app - would the code to open minimized go at the
end of the path in the properties of the shortcut? or do I need some
sort of autoexec.bat file somewhere to do this?
As you can tell, I am pretty new to Excel VBA, but I sure find it kind
of an interesting thing to puzzle out.
Thanks for your help
Joanne