just a headsup for everyone out there, after a few hours of messing around on different droid sites and trial / error, i came to the conclusion running Panda home theme was just adding extreme ammounts of difficulty. after uninstalling, the steps were a breeze. here's another link that helped alot.
AllDroid.org - View topic - Installing Nandroid Backups (2.1 img) Easy Way UPDATED\PIX
if anyones having problems keep posting and i'll help to the best of my ability