Trying to learn photoshop.

So I have had the full version of photoshop CS5 for a long time now, and never learned how to use it.  I feel especially behind the times since there is a newer version available now (photoshop CS6). I never learned how to use it, because I have absolutely no experience with photoshop software, have never taken any classes, and am basically self taught with every thing I do, and photoshop just does not seem like the type of thing you can learn on your own without some sort of guide.

Well, I decided this summer was it, I am going to start using photoshop.  What was the major catalyst?  For me it was the closing of picnik.com earlier this year.  I had been using picnik to edit all of my photos for the past ... hmmmm .... not sure how long, but it allowed me to do stuff like this ...

... take a big so-so photo like this taken with a regular point and shoot camera ...

... and resize it, brighten/sharpen it up, and add some basic text like this .....

You can access this tutorial I made by clicking on the photo.

Pretty nice right?  And it suited my needs .... all I really need to do is edit my photos, and maybe add some text from time to time.  But one thing that picnik did not allow me to do (or I could not figure out how to do) was to add fun elements like pieces of washi tape to the corners of photos, or do fun effects like the faux embroidery in the picture below.

I took this photo at Greenfield Village a couple of months ago while I was chaperoning my son's field trip.

Additionally the fonts to choose from on picnik were rather limited, whereas with photoshop your font selection is nearly unlimited.  You can find cool free fonts all over the internet, and there are a gazillion more if you are willing to pay for them. 

So anyhow, once picnik closed I was at a crossroads.  I could look into google+ where a lot of the picnik features were moved to, find a new photo editing site, or just finally learn photoshop.  So, you know what my decision was.

But I really did/do not know  anything about photoshop, so I bought this book from amazon:

This book is like the ultimate beginners guide ... I mean it starts off with telling you how to simply open the program.  But I gotta say this, I have learned some basics and can now take this photo:

and turn it into this photo:

These will be available in my shop soon.

For me, it is a real accomplishment to even be able to do the simple editing above.  I still have a lot to learn, but I am really making some progress.  In addition to the book I mentioned above, I have found pugly pixel to also be especially helpful.  There are a lot of great tutorials on that site, freebies, and $5 will get you a membership for 30 days to download the premium content ... pretty cool. 

Do you know of any helpful sites to learn photoshop, or sources for cool elements?