How to use the Format Painter

Microsoft writing and data programs have a nifty little function that makes it easy to copy custom text formatting such as font type, color, and size, paragraph spacing, and others from one section to another. It is called the Format Painter. If you use lots of custom adjustments like me, this little button will save you lots of time!
Here is what the Format Painter looks like:

How to use the Format Painter in Microsoft and Open Office:

1. Highlight a section of the text that has the formatting you want to copy.


2. Click the Format Painter button*


3. Highlight the whole section of text to which you want to copy the formatting.

That's all there is to it!

Note: The Format Painter is mouse-click sensitive. The first click-and-release you make after you click the Format Painter button uses the copied formatting and empties the Format Painter's memory. If you clicked in the wrong place and released the mouse button, then you need to start over at step one and do the whole processes again.

*Format Painter button location:

• Microsoft 2007: on the Home Ribbon in the Clipboard box (left hand side)
  
  
  
  
• Microsoft 93-2000



• Open Office

Snow Queen

I love reading Folding Trees because there are some marvelous images and neat projects there. I saw a post on shadow decorations and really wanted to try it out, but we didn't decorate much for Halloween. I put out a cute little pumpkin from Apple Hill, but otherwise I've been focused on school. I signed up to decorate a car for Trunk or Treat at church, so that I'd get to at least give candy to cute little kids (since we don't get trick-or-treaters). After some pondering and plotting, I finally decided that I would see if I could still fit into my wedding dress. I did fit, so I decided to dress up as a Snow Queen (a good one, not the one from Narnia) and use the shadow decoration concept to create my castle.

I didn't have a lot of time to put things together so Lost Boy stepped in to make my dream come true. He arranged my lighting (a flood lamp plugged into an inverter which was attached to a spare car battery in the trunk) and called me from work to tell me that there was a castle sitting on the table at Mother's for me. I had been planning to cut up a box between errands, but he knew I didn't really have time. When I walked into Mother's house I found a very sturdy, beautifully cut wooden castle cut out bolted to a piece of plywood (so it would stand up). It was lovely!

Nobody guessed I was a Snow Queen, but that was okay. People thought I was a Princess, a Bride, or an Angel and I like all those too. One little girl looked at my trunk and said "This isn't scary at all!" Well, good.

I had some cheap plastic rings left over from Girls Camp, so I took those and put several on my fingers (like the wicked Prince John from Robin Hood). Whenever a little girl in a princess (or bride, or fairy) costume came up, I would give her a piece of candy and then tell her that she looked like a princess (or bride, or fairy) and that she needed a ring. I would hold out my hands and let her pick which one she wanted. That was my favorite part.

I really like the shadow concept for Trunk or Treat; my car was well lit and it was easy to see my decorations. I'm thinking about developing a flat screen to go on the car (maybe a frame with muslin stretched across it. Then we could do something new each year!

Imagine if

Sometimes I wish things could be accomplished by just thinking about them; by imagining the process of completing them. Driving home from school or work would be so much more worth my time! On the way home from work tonight (~30 minute drive) I was attempting to prioritize what I needed to do when I got home. If imagining could make things happen, this is what I would have accomplished:

• picked up the livingroom
• sorted some papers
• brushed and flossed my teeth (I've been chewing gum and sucking on cough drops all day and my teeth are grody!!!)
  
• looked up my new Bishop's address and phone number
• fixed the address on an envelope
• packed the couch pillows
• emailed my boss
• maybe emailed one of my professors
• gotten at least half way done with my cramming for my midterm in Climate tomorrow
• cleaned out the humidifier
• wipe the marker off my dry erase map
• written this blog.

So far, I've done four of those things and it's been 90 minutes since I got home. Obviously, the imagination could be three times as effective as having to go through the motions!