Cousin One and Cousin Two and Baby I

Cousin Two Names and Cousin One Name are in town this weekend. As we speak, they are driving to the Napa Valley to visit Sattui Vineyards, stock up on cases of various wines, then rush back down to The Great Plotnik World Headquarters in time to get dressed and then fly back across the Bay Bridge to Smokeland in time for a wedding that starts at 4pm.

You've got to be really young to think this will be fun. But hey. They're newlyweds. Everything's fun.

What's interesting is that Cousins One and Two are doing well in their careers, he as an Assistant Principal in a K-12 school and she in the administrative office of Stiletto City Unified School District. And yet even they, with two handsome incomes, are unable to imagine buying a home anywhere near where they live now. As Cousin Two says: "Our entire generation is priced out of the housing market."

Plotnik is not so sure this is a bad thing -- because what they get in return is a strong degree of financial security, as their entire income stream is not sunk into an enormous mortgage and upkeep of an expensive home. This makes for less pressure, and less pressure is good for everyone's health.



The new news is that Plot and Duck are heading back down to S.City this week to fill in as Doting Grandparents while The Great Five Head takes on her first major job since Baby I was born. She'll be in Asia and Plot and Duck will watch their Highly Intelligent Granddaughter for a few days while PD is at work. Tough job, but somebody's got to do it.