The columns and rows that are being pushed reside on the next page, and ought to stay where they are... the new table addition will not fill all of the "empty" space. I am about to google show/hide so I can see what is actually in the spaces.. thanks
the spaces are marked with a little flag; once show/hide is turned on they can be removed. While this provides a solution in a way, I guess what I'm looking for is along the lines of the "insert" key, where your new text no longer pushes the old, it simply swallows it...