Please help - i'm clueless - can someone tell me if my plants are ready

You should buy a small pocket microscope. One that has at least 30x magnification. Inspect the trichomes for three main characteristics: clearness, cloudiness and amber tips. You want the trichomes to be a percentage mixture of all three. BUT there are varying views on what that mix should be. Mostly, it seems that the best balance is mostly cloudy. That's the THC at its most potent. I recommend reading up on trichomes and going from there.

@Czechems - Thanks for the suggestion. I went ahead and went to Radio Shack and found a pocket microscope for about $15 which worked out great. Thanks again.

So just a quick update about my plants. As posted - I cut down the Purple Cheese plant and hung it for (3) days. Day 4, which was yesterday, I took them down and placed them in a paper bag - still letting it sit in the closet - with the fan facing the open crack of the door & blowing on low. Couldn't wait any longer since I'm low in cash, I cut off a small stem and smoked it. I must say it was pretty bomb. At first I thought, maybe I'm just extea happy because I'm finally smoking my own shit. Don't have to go to the store to buy it. So I had to call over a friend just to try it and to give me his honest opinion.
He was stoned. It smokes clean - doesn't hit hard but you can get that coughing effext when blowing it out - nice taste. And that's just day 4. Well here a sample of what i've been smoking lately.

Here are a few pics of the Berry Juana plant that I cut down on Saturday. Was kinda worried about cutting it down until I got that microscope Czechems menteioned. From the Purple Cheese Plant - I ended up yeilding 110grams.