Take  tour to a few used bookstores, or phone them ahead of time to find out if they have a chess section. Pick up a few books written by past champions.  A couple I can reccomend are Chess The Easy Way - Reuban fine; Chess for beginners and How to Win at Chess bth by I. A. Horowitz.  These three should take your game to 1500 -- they are the kind that must be studied.

I am also in Blundersville right now. I'm just trying to have fun and learn from games (win or lose) and hope that the tactics and anything I read about will eventually sink in.

Hope you keep having fun with the game =)

Thanks alot for the advice, perhaps it is just a bit of chess impatience. It will happen, sooner and later...

Chess is a thing that comes with time and with age, so don't sweat too much. I'm 16 years old right now, and my rating is 1500 in bullet chess (1 minute games). I've been playing chess since I was very young, and I still make the most horrible mistakes sometimes. Chess takes ALOT of time and practice to get the techniques and patterns down. As you become more experienced, you will start to see more things such as pins, forks, and checks. My advice is to just pay more attention to your moves. Try and envision where your opponent is trying to go, don't just think about your own plans. Remember that your opponent is planning something to get under your defenses, just like you are. Every time you lose a game make sure you observe your mistakes; you can do that by looking in your live chess profile. Learn from your mistakes, and look keep learning to see things from your opponents eyes. And take your time with moves so you don't make mistakes. One day, you will get better at seeing the little errors in your opponents defense, don't worry about that. Good luck with your chess future!