Week 2 - Templates and Widgets

I learned about choosing templates other than bloggers, but I spent hours trying to find a template where I liked the design and had the parts to the screen I wanted. I also tried editing the graphic they had and it didn't work. Several of the templates I liked would download, but not upload to my blog. I gave up and used a very simple one. This was a very frustrating process. There are just so many choices and options layout. I was looking for a template that had tabs, at least 2 columns, and posts displayed the name, date and time. I wanted a clean look with a little flourish, but as I said above I just ended up with simple and will add my own photos to it later in a widget or Picasa.
The widgets were easy to add, but they will not keep the settings I want. For instance the weatherbug goes back to New York even though I put my zip and saved. The countdown will not keep the date/time and I have reset and saved it several times both on the Layout screen and on the blog Home page. The widgets can add a lot of fun and information to the blog. I don't see how you can change the layout on the screen of the widgets and other information in the sidebars.
Next week, how to improve the spacing/layout of the home page. I know there is lots more I don't know about blogs so anything y'all think we need to learn. I was a lot more comfortable with teacherweb blogs and edublogs than blogger for editing and changing the setup.