Mini Art Enrichment Camps - great activities and just the right size – half a day – three days a week. Low teacher ratio too and everything you need included in the registration price.  Only $40 per week with proceeds benefiting Trees for Trails.

See below for a list of remaining classes available. Register at the WB MUD Rec. Center on Shoreline (251-9814). All classes are conveniently located at the MUD Annex on Wells Port Drive.

Ages 7-11

6/5-6/7 Wild and Wacky Art of Science 2012-(9am-Noon)

Learn about geodes and fossils and make projects based on a variety of natural science (and not so normal) messy ways. Try our hand at making glue and clay, create a multi-layer landform, and explore the physics of catapults.

7/24-7/26 Exploring Mixed Media Art (Noon-3:30pm)

We will experiment with a variety of materials. Just bring your imagination, we’ll provide supplies and inspiration. We’ll try our hand at using fabrics and found objects, foam core board and canvass, glass, tile and paper clay, beads and buttons, nuts and bolts, wrapping paper and wall paper, glitter, glue and glazes.

7/31-8/2 Modern Art Painting (Noon-3:30pm)

Students will begin by color mixing, then use methods from a number of modern artists to create a design to paint. We will do pastels, watercolors, and acrylics on all kinds of surfaces. We will look at art by many artists including Picasso, Dali, Chagall, Pollock, and more.

Junior Session – Ages 5-7 (K/pre-K/1)

6/5-6/7 Fantasy and Whimsy(1-3:30 pm)

We’ll explore castles, princesses, knights, unicorns, fairies, and super heros centered around books from our local library then create projects based on them.

Dianne Koehler
art mini-camps/facepainting

https://sites.google.com/site/woodenitbewonderful/
Arts blog:  http://wonderfulartsncrafts.blogspot.com/

Submitted by Dianne Koehler

The Wells Branch Garden Guild invites the community (and your friends) to join in a tour of gardens in the area.

The garden tour will begin at the Wells Branch Community Gardens around 9 am. We will spend 20-30 minutes at each garden on the tour and finish up at the WB Homestead in the park to see the results of our plantings in April and maybe sit in the shade a bit and discuss the gardens. The gardens include vegetable and flower, shade and sun, drought treatments, community and demonstration gardens.

Submitted by Michele Samuelson

As many of you know, Wells Branch has a great registered voter rate, but a really terrible history with voter turnout. In an effort to help alleviate this, I’ve written up some info on this year’s election cycle, pulling from both the county and the two major political parties. This year’s election calendar is kind of cluttered and complicated (early voting for the primary election has begun!), so I wanted to share some information with you all.

1 – Voter Registration Cards. By the time you read this, if you are a registered voter in Travis County, you will have received your yellow voter registration card.  If you did not, you should verify that you are registered here:  http://www.traviscountytax.org/showVoterSearch.do before contacting the Voter Registration office.

2 – Voter Registration. The deadline to register to vote in time for the primary election has passed, but there is plenty of time to register to vote in the general election in November.  If you or a neighbor is not a registered voter in Travis County (applies if you have moved to your current home since the last election from another county and you have not registered to vote), you can get it taken care of a few different ways. Also, these apply if you moved from elsewhere in Travis County and want to update your registration to reflect your current legal residence:

• The Wells Branch Library has voter registration cards at the front desk.
• You can pick up a voter registration card at the DMV or driver’s license office. Some grocery stores have them at the customer service desks. You can also get one (and fill it out there and mail it!) at the post office.
• Either of the political party headquarters in Travis County can help you out. Contact http://www.traviscountydemocrats.org/ or http://www.traviscountygop.org
• A few of your neighbors are also Volunteer Deputy Voter Registrars and can get you registered. I’m one; contact me at michele.samuelson@gmail.com.

3 – Election Precincts and Districts. You probably heard about redistricting on the news (indeed, it’s why our election calendar is so complicated); Wells Branch was affected by some of the changes. The major change is that precincts 215, 216, 217, 225, and 229 are all now in Congressional District 17, and we have a different congressman (Congressman Bill Flores) and will be voting in a new race than we have in past years. Those who live just over the Williamson County line (that’s WilCo precinct 138) are still in Congressional District 5 (Congressman John Carter). All of our other election districts remained the same as they were in previous years.

4 – Upcoming Democratic and Republican Primaries. Texas has an open primary system, which means you do not have to “register” in a specific party in order to vote in their primary. You can only vote in one primary election in a given cycle, but you are not bound to vote in the same primary that you may have chosen in 2010.  You can find out who is on the Travis County Democratic ballot here: http://www.traviscountydemocrats.org/2012-primary-candidates/ and the Travis County Republican ballot here: http://www.traviscountygop.org/2012-candidates.html.  Early voting ends May 25.  Both the Democratic and Republican primaries will take place on Tuesday, May 29.

6 – Upcoming Precinct Chair Elections: The election for the office of precinct chair will be held concurrently with the July 31st, 2012 runoff, with a plurality vote required for election. Candidates for precinct chair may file, amend, or withdraw their application for a place on the ballot no later than 6:00 p.m., June 1, 2012. I’ve listed the current chairs by precinct number below. Also, here is the relevant information from both parties about becoming and being a precinct chairman (Travis County): http://www.traviscountydemocrats.org/get-involved/become-a-precinct-chair/ and http://www.traviscountygop.org/get-involved/be-a-precinct-chair.html

Pct 215:

Democratic: Vacant

Republican: Mary Petronis: mary.petronis@gmail.com

Pct 216:

Democratic: Vacant

Republican: Vacant

Pct 217:

Democratic: Marshall Mitchell: mm5959@yahoo.com

Republican: Vacant

Pct 225:

Democratic: Patricia Budak: politicsisit@yahoo.com

Republican: Joe Pojman: joe@pojman.com

Pct 229:

Democratic: Vacant

Republican: Randy Samuelson: rasamuelson@gmail.com

Williamson County Pct 138:

Democratic: unknown

Republican: unknown

Submitted by Michael Massie, B.A.A.S, C.P.T

(The following is an excerpt from Michael’s book, The Simplified Diet.)

If you’re looking for quick, easy-to-implement tips on losing weight, then this article is expressly written for you. For those of you who don’t know me or train with me, you should know that I’ve actually struggled to lose weight and keep it off. I used to be naturally skinny, but a string of injuries and a chronic illness wrecked my metabolism as well as my ability to exercise two to three hours a day (yes, I really did exercise that much, for years in fact).

As you can imagine, I had to learn how to control my weight in spite of being limited in my exercise options and despite having a slowed metabolism. This makes for a tough challenge when it comes to losing weight.

Although this list is not comprehensive, these are the best tips I know of for losing weight permanently. Some of these tips may be things you already know and accept as common knowledge. However, if you’re not doing them, then saying, “I know that already” doesn’t help. If you see something here that you already know but aren’t doing, start doing it!

Tip #1: Skip The Sugar

Sugar signals your body to release insulin, which in turn tells your body to store excess calories as fat. It also contributes to inflammation which elevates cortisol, another hormone that keeps you fat. Among all my tips on losing weight this one seems the most obvious, but the problem is that most people think they’re doing this but they aren’t. If you are trying to lose weight, skip all sugary foods except for a treat once or twice a week.

Tip #2: Skip the Bread and Pasta

This is another really important one among my tips on losing weight. You see, even whole wheat bread can be fattening. Why? For one, it’s calorically dense, but that’s not the end of the story. Starches are mostly digested in your mouth by ptyalin, an enzyme-containing compound in your saliva. In a nutshell, ptyalin breaks starch down into sugars, which leads us back to weight loss tip #1. So, save your breads and pastas for a treat once or twice a week when you’re trying to lose weight, or limit yourself to just one serving before or during lunch each day.

Tip #3: Eat More Fruits and Veggies… Especially Veggies

Fruits and veggies are just plain good for you. Also, due to their fiber content the carbs you get from them are much more slowly absorbed than those derived from sugary and starchy foods. However, you should enjoy only limited amounts of fruits and as much non-starchy veggies as you want; this means skipping the baked potato bar and that morning banana if you’re trying to lose weight.

Tip #4: Eat LOTS of Lean Protein

Among the tips on losing weight this one gets the most resistance from women, since they think eating protein will make them fat. It doesn’t! Protein is lower in calories per gram than carbs or fat, and it has a favorable effect on your insulin when ingested with carbohydrates. Basically, proteins, fats, and fiber slow down the absorption of carbs into your blood, blunting the release of insulin. Since insulin makes you store excess calories as fat, this is a good thing. In addition, protein helps build lean muscle tissue, which burns more calories than fat. So, load up on lean cuts of fish, white meat, and limited amounts of lean red meat.

Tip #5: Eat More Fiber

As I mentioned in tip #4, fiber slows the absorption of carbs into your body. In addition, a certain amount of calories remain bound to fiber and are flushed out of your system without being absorbed. Finally, fiber fills you up without adding much in the way of calories. So when it comes to green leafy vegetables, eat up!

Tip #6: Eat More Good Fats!

Good fats are unsaturated fats, particularly omega-3 fatty acids of the type found in fish. We get way too many omega-6 fats in our diets, and too few omega-3 fats. Your body needs fat, but you want to replace unhealthy fats with healthy ones. This helps reduce inflammation in the body, which in turn helps reduce cortisol, and some researchers even believe it lowers leptin resistance as well (leptin being the hormone that increases the amount of fat you burn – being leptin-resistant is bad for weight loss). So, increase your intake of healthy fats and cut back on your intake of unhealthy fats.

Tip #7: Skip the Fried Foods

I just told you to cut back on unhealthy fats in tip #6, and this is how you’re going to do it. Fried foods tend to be laden with unhealthy saturated fats. Moreover, they are often stuffed with trans fats, which wreak havoc on your metabolism. Finally, fried foods are often breaded, which ends up being a double-whammy (fat + starch = calories going straight to your hips, thighs, and tummy). So, skip the fried foods, as well as margarine and other processed spreads.

Tip #8: Cut Processed Foods from Your Diet Entirely

Processed foods are filled with trans fats, added sugar, and added chemicals – we really have no idea how they affect our bodies. Show me a person who eats all processed food and I’ll show you someone with a high body fat percentage. Even “skinny” people who eat a lot of processed food have high percentages of body fat. Take the extra time to eat food that is as close to its natural state as possible. You’ll feel better and the weight will come off easier.

Tip #9: Eat Less, But More Often

Among this entire list of tips for losing weight, this one seems to be the best known but least done. Eating smaller meals and portions more often has a positive effect on your insulin, so long as those meals align with the previous eight tips above. Portion control = calorie control, and eating more often has a stabilizing effect on your metabolism. Plan to eat 5-6 small meals a day to keep your metabolism higher and to keep your blood sugar levels stable.

Tip #10: Drink Plenty of Water, Exercise Often, and Get Plenty of Sleep

Okay, so that’s three tips in one. Drink at least 64 ounces of water a day, as studies have shown increased water intake may assist with weight loss. And be sure to exercise at least three times a week; a study of 160 people who lost twenty pounds or more permanently showed that 70% exercised at least three times a week. Finally, get enough sleep. Lack of sleep leads to increases in cortisol, which I’ve already told you can contribute to weight gain.

And there you have it; my top ten weight loss tips. Follow them and you will find it much easier to lose weight. I sincerely hope this list helps you in your weight loss and fitness journey, and I invite you to contact me through my website at Staff@FitnessBootCampAustin.com or on Facebook @fightingfitbootcampaustin if you have any questions concerning the information in this article.

About the Author:

Have you ever wondered what our neighborhood would be like without the Wells Branch Community Library and all of the wonderful books, family and community events, child and teen activities and enrichment classes it provides?

Many in the community remember our neighborhood before the WB Community Library District was created.  Once residents approved the district with an overwhelming 98% vote, the Friends of the Library was formed to begin the book collection and volunteer drive.  The community response was amazing!  Within a few short weeks we had enough books on the shelves to begin lending services.  The Friends played an important role by continuing to recruit and organize volunteers and raise much needed funds prior to the district receiving local sales tax revenue.

Just as membership with the Friends of the Library played a critical role in the beginning of our library’s history, today your membership has a more direct impact on the future of our library due to the loss of the Lone Star Library Grant, cuts in the Central Texas Library System funding, a drop of 6% in sales tax revenue as well as cuts in other grant funding.  These cuts equate to a projected loss of $20,000.  this significant shortfall is why it is so important to re-energize the Friends of the Library.

All residents are invited to attend an open meeting for the Friends of the Wells Branch Community Library on April 29, 5pm in the Library meeting rooms, please watch the library marquee for the time.  Join us for an ice cream social with child care and activities for the kids while mom & dad attend the meeting.

We hope to see you there.