OK, how the heck do you arrange these pictures?!! I am so glad that I could get them on here, now I just wish I could move them around where I want them to be! That first picture is of Julie, the proprietress of Knit and Pearl, Santa Barbara's newest specialty yarn shop. She is a kind and sweet person with a sharp eye and good taste. She is busily working to get her shop up and running in September. Yesterday I spent the afternoon helping her arrange her Manos del Uruguay display, the one she is peeking out from behind. Here is another shot of it. Unfortunately, my son's rinky dink digital camera (the only digital camera in our household) just doesn't capture the depth and brilliance of those Manos colors. The next photo is of the "living room." This is the area of the store where we can sit and knit and chat and giggle and pore over projects and laugh and, well, you get the idea. The color of the walls is lighter than the picture and the color of the couch is darker. It is a lovely, light teal/sea green and it is suede! That last picture is of her really cool sock display. I didn't get the top of it, but she is going to hang sample socks from it! It is quite charming and sits in the middle of the store for all to come and admire. By the way, that's Claudia Handpaint Sock yarn in there. Yum! She has got all manner of wonderful yarns in there: Louet Sales, Debbie Bliss, Blue Sky, K1C2, SWTC, Colinette, plus the aforementioned Manos and Claudia Handpaints, to name a few. Our little knitting community is all abuzz. On the homefront, my sister Sharon and her daughter, Rosie came over from Venice (about two hours from here) and we spent the day CLEANING OUT MY KIDS ROOM!!! How's that for family support? We got rid of SO MUCH STUFF! It was so empowering. You guys have no idea. Y'see, I have a lot of good qualities - I am usually really nice and friendly. Love people. I'm a pretty good cook. I'm told that I am artistic, a good friend, loyal and in many other ways very competent. But folks, let me tell you: I am a horrible housekeeper. I mean bad. Messy, sloppy AND dirty. Sorry folks, it's true. When they passed out the "how to be a great, clean, organized person" handbook, I must have been out staring at clouds or something. I seriously missed the boat on that one. Didn't get the gene. I try, I really do. In fact, it seems like I am cleaning all the time. Or at least thinking about it. And I cover it up pretty good. Like, my clothes usually look OK (I think). And my kids are usually presentable. Just don't stare into my van as I am dropping the kids off at school. Or pop in at the house unannounced. So anyway you can imagine how thankful I was to my sister and her daughter for slogging up here to help me. Really thankful. I'm hoping to get through some more of the house tomorrow. It's gonna feel really good to get it done. I shoulda taken before and after pics. Perhaps that's on the agenda for tomorrow. Hmmm....It'll be a big risk, posting my slovenliness all over the internet...but it could help me be accountable. I'll have to take that into consideration. No promises, but I'm definitely pondering the idea.