can not get my toolbar to appear on my desktop

Do you mean the panel?
Please try
Alt + F2
open a terminal by typing:
gnome-terminal
insert in terminal window:
gnome-panel
##in order to start the panel and in case to get some error messages.

You may also install the metapackage, in order to get back defaults.
CLI:
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop

In case reboot.

Unset and restore panel.
http://www.watchingthenet.com/restore-panels-in-ubuntu-back-to-their-default-settings.html

Reference.
http://library.gnome.org/users/user-guide/stable/
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AptGet/Howto
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UsingTheTerminal

About metapackage.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MetaPackages

in the terminal type
gnome-session
that will restore your panels

in the terminal type
gnome-session
that will restore your panels....remember to close the question by ticking on the appropriate tab
regards
Rajinder

Open the Terminal.
Once the Terminal window opens, enter the following command at the prompt:
gconftool - -recursive-unset /apps/panel
(Remember: There should be no spaces between the two dashes before shutdown.)
Then enter the next command:
rm -rf ~/.gconf/apps/panel
And enter one more command:
pkill gnome-panel

after you have entered the three restart your pc .that should fix your problem.