first, thanks for following this up in such detailed fashion and getting back to me.
I got the issue resolved. I took a break and then decided to get on my laptop [I had used my desktop previously, but I have no idea if that made a difference] before I went to sleep. I deleted everything and decided to reenter the data, as I had the numbers. Voila! this time it worked correctly. I noticed the refund/owed numbers changed drastically after I answered the final conditional question that was needed.
On my screen, the buttons you referred to were stacked as small buttons, one on top of the other. When I was done with that question, I was asked to hit the "continue" button, which I did. I had answered "no" to it. that's one of the reasons I was going nuts, as I thought I had answered all the questions correctly. Interestingly, though the results of this exercise indicated I was entitled to the entire capital gains exclusion, when the comparison sheet for last year and this year appeared after I had finished, it showed the entire capital gain from the sale of the house for 2019, not the taxable part of that gain. Hopefully, this is not something to be concerned about, but it makes me worry a little. Does turbotax keep this data for future use? As I progress in filling in the data, I'll see if any other problems arise.
again, thanks for your help.
