Need some direction, installing updated ROM

[freakintoddles]

Old phone is original Moto Droid A55. Currently have root, SPRecovery, and Sapphire 1.0.0 installed from about 1.5 years ago and havent looked at/stayed up to date with the custom ROM scene.

What I'd like help with is this:

1. If I want to update this phone to a newer/more stable version of this ROM or another, what is the best way to go about doing that?
2. Should I even be using SPRecovery anymore? If not, how do I uninstall it, if yes, should I update it?
3. Regarding SPRecovery, is there a way to delete the saved 'backups' that i've made? I'm afraid they are eating up a lot of internal memory space.
4. Current ROM does not play nicely with wireless tethering on this phone (A55). I'd like to update this to a rom that allows wifi tethering to work correctly if one exists. Does one?

I'm not worried about losing data/apps whatever on this phone. It is not my primary phone anymore but I use it around the house. I guess I;m just not sure what I need to do first. I'm open to completely resetting the phone to stock and starting over if that is what would be easiest.

Please point me in the right direction! There is a lot of information on this forum but it's hard to figure out what is the most up to date. Links to 'how to' threads would be appreciated along with any directions you'd care to share. I really would appreciate it!