im still working on doing the B&W with color photos, but i cant find desaturate in PSP...also, how do i make the next layer black and white?

After you've opened the picture that you're going to work with, go to Layer>Duplicate so that you now have two layers of the same image in your layers palette.

Select your top layer (it'll be the copy) and go to Adjust>Color>Channel Mixer. When that screen pops up, make sure you put a check in the box next to Monochrome. Then you can play around with the sliders so that you get the right color that you want. Then click on OK.

After that you'll have your top layer as B&W of your image and the bottom layer will be color. If you want to add some color back into the picture, select your eraser tool and erase the parts of the top layer (your B&W image) where you want the color to come through.

If you need screen shots, let me know and I'll get them for you tonight.