Okay, I have been hard at it.
I went back to Photoshop and cutout/joined/cloned/decreased

the height of the logo/header because to me it was taking up too much real estate. I wanted more room for info to show up "above the fold" on the pages.

I also changed the logo/header a bit besides the size.
I think I have the "homepage set to the homepage" problem resolved.
I added the Blog and I think it actually works (I have it open, so will need to change that when it is live). (If anyone wants to pop over there and comment on the lonely one post I have there in the blog area with a "howdy," that would be great. (That way I can dink with it further [they'll get deleted before I go live].)
Oy. I viewed it in FF and IE. In FF the menu up top looks funky to me because the font/text in the menu is somewhat "pixelated," but in IE that looks okay.
But, in IE the bottom test text area with the latin text in it goes over to the right, and in FF it stays in the middle where it should be. I'll be pulling my hair out over that one for a bit.
All-in-all I think it's coming along okay. Content is my next adventure!
Thanks y'all!!