Actions to dope sheet?

I am trying to come up with a character animation workflow that makes sense with
non repeating, complex character moves.  

In preparation, I create a series of poses with the poselib along with some minor actions like eye blinks, hand waves, etc.  

Using PoseLib i with the Dopesheet is easy and works well.  
The problem I have is that I don't want to work in the NLA editor since frankly, it confuses
me.  So the alternative might be to use the dopesheet as I normally do and then bring in the actions when I need them.  Is this possible?

It seems once you start using the NLA editor, you are committed to that from that point on. There
is some kind of priority involved between everything that I cannot figure out.  Sometimes my timeline
is empty, no NLA editor showing (only dopesheet) and my character stills ends up moving somehow.
I've viewed a few of the older CGCOOKIE training stuff & youtube video's and Google endlessly to no
avail.

Thanks, TH