when composing a new e-mail (new or reply), the displayed message is too tiny to see

In Outlook 2003, the window showing an e-mail being created shows as a very tiny font.  It says the font is 10, which it actually is.  It just shows small in the window.  I can change the font to 26, then I can see what I am writing.  It now looks like it is about size 10.  However, it is actually size 26.  If I send the message, the recipient receives size 26.  So, my temporary workaround is to change it to 26 while I am writing the message so I can see what I have.  Then I highlite and change the whole thing back to 10.  It now looks very tiny and I again cannot see what it says.  But when I send it (even to myself), the received message is just fine (size 10).

When the text is so small I can't read it, I can copy and paste it to, say WORD or WORDPAD, and it shows correctly.

So, all in all, the font size is correct, just the display window in OUTLOOK shows way small on a message being created.  This does not happen in the "TO", "CC", "Subject", etc. lines - only the "body" area.

This does not occur on messages that I have received and am looking at.  They display fine.  It just happens on a message being created ("NEW" or "REPLY").  

It just started happening all of a sudden - I don't know of anything that might have caused this change.

I ran "repair" on all of Office 2003.  This did not fix it.
I installed all updates to Office 2003.  This did not fix it.
I have not yet uninstalled and reinstalled Office 2003.
Of course, I have restarted the computer several times.

Thank for your help.