Formattting Issues

I am having a terrible time making my pages due to fromatting problems. the WordPress editor seems to have a mind of its own. I thought maybe it was the theme I was using, but I have tried using several themes and find the same issues. Here are some examples:

I type the text ans hit the enter key to add line breaks in between paragraphs. After saving, the line breaks are removed causing the paragraphs to run into each other. In other cases, additional line breaks are entered causing too much white space.

I know html, and have tried coding the line breaks as I want them directly into the html tab, but that doens’t make a difference. the editor rewrites my html code.

The same issues happen with my bulleted lists.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I don’t feel at this poitn that I can use wordpress for my blogs,a nd I REALLY want to!

I know so many people have success with Worpress, so there must be some difference with my configuration.

Thanks,
Donna