HELP!!! serious wiring problems!!!!!!

ok, so a few days ago the fuse for my tails/dash lights blew, so i got a bigger fuse cause this is the second time this happened, and i know its due to me having all 5 of my gauges power running off the same wire comming off the radio-light up harness so that when i turn the lights on then the gauge lights all turn on along with the dash lights like OEM. so last night im taking my GF home, i pull in the driveway and i go to shut the car off and take the key out, but the car was still running. so i put the key back in, then to ON, and back to OFF and took it out, still running. so im like WTF and quick pop the hood and disconnect the battery and the car dies out. so i wait a while and then hook it back up, get in to see if it will start. starts fine, so i see if it shuts off. shuts off fine......did it again just for giggles. so its running, i go to turn on the lights, no headlights, no tails. check signals, no signals, no brake lights either. all that works are hazards. WTF! so i get the GF and her mom to drive ahead of me and lead me home. peeked at fuses and that same friggen fuse is blown, and im guessing a few others cause normally when it blows only the tails dont work. so im going to take a look at it tomarrow and run the power for all the gauges on its own circuit directly from the battery with an in-line fuse and a toggle switch and put the right size fuses back in. hopefully that takes care of it but anyone got a clue what went wrong?

NEXT DAY:

ok, so today i go to work on the car and see what the hell is up.......7 or 8 fuses are blown....WTF.....fog lights, headlights, tailights, signals, rear defogger, dash illumination, etc. WTF....how so many???? so i replace all the fuses, and i re-do the wiring from my aftermarket gauges to have their own direct power from the batter with 12gauge wire with an in-line fuse and a switch, that way its not drawing extra power from the dash lighting/tail lights (same fuse). so i go to put in a new fuse for the dash/tails....blows right as im putting it in (2x the called for size), however no key in the ignition and no switches open, so theoretically no power should be going to that fuse correct? well for giggles i put the key in to check the rest of the lighting, two of the fuses previously blown blow right away as i turn the key before i even tried turning the lights on. so as of right now the three fuses flown are "light switch", "fog lamps", and another one also called "light switch" WTF!!!!!!!