An Answer

OK.
As you can see my posts are back. (all but one)
I spent a ton of time reading Blogger Help, searching forums, etc. I found a blogger here who has answered my question in a number of ways.

Not only can I now upload pictures, but I can do 5-6 at a time. I can't reposition them quite as easily, but I'll practice loading them first (before the text) in the future (per Laura's suggestion).

I do have one remaining error in one post: I get an HTML font error message when I try to republish Li'l Bit's Lament. I'm heading back to my friendly blogger for help on that.

*Fixed this in an amazingly easy way. Per a fellow blogger on Blogger Help, I just clicked on the box that says, "don't show me any more HTML errors for this page" and BOOM, it's all ok and published just fine, with NO errors. :)