OK, I figured out a solution but I still don't know why it was changing it to transparent.
Code:
body {
    background-image:url(/includes/templates/gscoffeeclub/images/til_1.jpg);
    background-repeat:repeat;
    color: #666666;
    margin-left: 5%;
    margin-right:5%;
    width: 90%;
    }
This does what I wanted it to do. For some reason the board is not accepting my carriage returns. Sorry for the format or rather the lack thereof.