Y am I not getting it ?

OK, uploaded free version to practice, then deleted, then uploaded again then deleted, now uploaded again and I just can not seem to grasp WP ? Goal is to have a website theme wordpress site… but I cant even add a menu ? let alone understand terms ie attributes, menu, page, tag, how to link… is it really this hard or I am that far gone ? Just want to add menues to header ie Home ( which is default to site ) About, Contact, Products, Services and Contact …. then create cool boxes ( conventions with photo and category heading )… read Codex for almost a week and still do not get it ? Any suggestions ?

Mark