Stem and Hoods questions

[GraysonKelly]

Hi all,
Thanks again for all your wonderful words and support when I was in a funk last week...I appreciate it. I'm fairly over the funk...at the moment. And I wish to pick your brains again...

I am almost perfectly comfortable on my road bike (incidentally I call her that but she's technically a touring bike, does that make a difference?), but I am still having issues with reach. I have moved my saddle forward, back, sideways (just kidding) I have raised it, lowered it but I am still uncomfortable with the reach to my handle bars, ie my elbows are almost always completely extended and I am not comfortable reaching the drops or even the brifters. The only way I can reach just the flat part of the bar with my elbows slightly bent is if my seat is all the way back but then i'm practically laying flat (this is not comfortable for me). My LBS has raised the handle bars as much as they can and have rotated the bars as far as they can. So my questions:
Do I need a new stem?
If I do, how does one go about finding one without spending oodles of money?
And does a longer stem mean that the handle bars will raise up? Or does that mean they they will be closer to me? like horizontally? I have no idea.

Hoods problem/question: Is it possible that my hoods are too thick? They feel huge to me. it could be because I have trouble reaching them but they do feel pretty big/thick. I don't have a problem shifting or anything, but it feels a little awkward for me. I don't know if this is right, but I feel that I should be able to switch from having my hands on the flat part of bar to the hoods to shifting and back again pretty flawlessly...I can't do that and feel comfortable as it stands.
Okay, that's enough for now. Thanks again for all of your help and advice. Have a great day,
Gray
PS I am most used to riding a mountain bike. If these issues I'm bringing up are a result of me just needing more time to adjust to a road type geometry, please let me know. I am comfortable on the bike, just think that I should be a little more comfortable...if that makes sense.