Thanks so much for your reply KevinP
I am not overly worried about the loss of the apps from B&N. There isnt very many of them and none that I want that badly. It was just that I really thought I had read somewhere that someone found a way to have them on their HD+ after installing CM10.1 but I must have it confused with something else. The problem with doing so much research first is the huge volume of information can make it hard to keep track of what I read and where.
I have also just now stumbled on where to access the sd card in my HD+'s file manager. So at least I can now add stuff to the sd card and be able to find it - thats always a bonus..lol
I cant see me going back to the stock rom now. I like being able to sideload apps and have the freedom to do more than can be done with the stock rom, such as have the Amazon App Store.