SWIMBO bought me a Trust TB2100 wireless tablet for my biffday, knowing that
I like to edit the odd photo & would like to do the odd drawing.
Very kind of her - but what the hell is a wireless tablet & what does it do?

Most of them can be used in "pen" mode as a replacement for a mouse
(some people prefer them for general use - but from a personal point
of view, gimme a trackball any day!)

For art orientated stuff, many pads have a pressure sensitivity which
can give you much greater control for editing - if you brush it
lightly, you'll get a minimal effect, but applying a bit more pressure
will heighten the effect of whatever you're doing (like blur / erase)

Most of the time, you can leave both plugged in and use what is most
convenient at the time.

If you haven't got Photoshop or Photoshop Elements, try looking at
Gimp (it's free)

Couple of options here - one you install "normally" from:

http://downloads.sourceforge.net/gim...i686-setup.exe

....or for a version that doesn't need to be installed (can be put on a
memory stick and moved between computers)

http://portableapps.com/apps/graphic.../gimp_portable

You can impress the missus with that one - a variant of Gimp was used
to create the effects on the movie Titanic (tweaked for movies /
motion)