Gimme a minute and I'll have a pic for you.

On the left is the front view of the t-stat, this is what you should see sticking out of the t-stat housing pointing toward the front of the car.

On the right is the back side, with what I call the "foot plate". This goes into the t-stat housing toward the cabin.

The arrow is stamped on the main body of the t-stat (just obscured in the left picture, and just barley visible in the right picture). The relative orientation of the arrow and the o-ring tab are roughly correct in the pictures.

okay. it's back in, the right way. I think I had it in the right way before except for the arrow pointing east. I took your advice and filled up the rest and then filled up the hose and connected to the radiator quickly, ran the heater. I haven't driven it yet. Tomorrow. Can I drive it a very short distance with the cap off or should I have that on? I could drive a few blocks. I hope this works. At least getting the tstat unbolted was a bit easier this time! I really appreciate all of your help. It feels great to be able to do things like this yourself and you learn to appreciate the good mechanics even more!

SOLVED: I think it really was the arrow issue (Special thanks to Douglas Sherida). I had it pointing east, not north, took it apart again and repositioned and refilled fluid from the upper hose, connected, ran heat until 60C and just drove (incredibly hot out right now in Miami) and it is keeping the temp perfectly!!!!

Thanks again to all of you who helped me resolve this issue! Appreciate it! Isn't the internet great? - Lance

Awesome!

Congratulations Lance.

Wow,
What a story
least it has a happy ending...