iCloud password reset issue

I was in the middle of trying to reset my iCloud password today, and got interrupted right after typing it in... when I went to enter it for verification, it's rejected. Any and all combinations I *might* use are rejected, including the original password. Since I never got to confirm it (after having it finally accepted!), I can't find a way to reset it. Somehow, in the middle of all of this, I reset my Apple ID password, and I have made a purchase to confirm that worked, but I can't log into iCloud for the life of me. It seems like I've had a few issues with iCloud the past 36 hours, which is what prompted me to make the change in the first place... My computer acted like it updated the OS, and I had to log back in, and everything looked different, but then when I restarted my computer, everything went back to normal... weird. I'm almost computer illiterate, please hellllp! FWIW, I only use iCloud for messages, contacts & calendar.