Jill...
Glad to see your posts since you and I are driving down the same road right now. For recording, I've been using PowerTracks Pro. Great low cost program. It's a full-featured 48-track MIDI and audio sequencer. Probably not the most sophisticated audio editor in the world, but the newest version provides real time DirectX plug-ins, direct recording from any source, good effects, edit, master, 32 bit, burn to CD... not bad.
My plan is to record several songs, save them as wav or mp3, and then make a custom CD or tape according to the situation. Shouldn't be that hard to do after several songs are nailed.
What kind of venues have you been performing at... and what kind are you seeking?
BTW, seems like we're almost "neighbors"... I'm in Medina. Good luck.
Glenn