You're "pinging" guy! We're a very helpful group of people and like to get newcomers going with Elements. It seems, though, that you need to start with some really basic stuff. Each question you've asked could become a mini-series in its own right, and having several different threads going is just making this more complicated.
Pick a project, and make it pretty basic, like getting one page printed out with two pictures on it. First, tell us where these pictures have come from (digital camera? scan?) Let's take this step by step, or you'll experience mounds of frustration and likely take the rest of us along with you!
Now, tell us about one of your pictures. If it came from a camera, what format is it in? JPEG? That would be the most common. You can tell by looking at the extension after the name or number of the image file as it's listed in the folder on your hard drive. Open the picture on the screen and then to go Image>Resize>Image Size. Write down all of the information about the image and then post and give it to us - the size in pixels, the size in inches, and the resolution of the image that's given toward the bottom of the screen.
Once we get that, we'll go to step 2.