Austin Blog

We have a 2-year old in the family and a new baby on the way so all things baby-related have been on our minds. We also don't have a lot of money to spend on all the cool things we want to buy for both of them. Here's an event where we can all feel good about buying things that are likely to be outgrown before they wear out. Fairytale Threads is a Round Rock consignment event for baby and children's new and like-new furniture, clothing and accesories. Alecia, Christa and Charlei also known as the "Mom-Preneurers" created the bi-annual event. The event is open to the public on Saturday, September 20 from 8am to 3:30pm with a half-price sale starting at 2pm. Located at the Brushy Creek Community Center at 16318 Great Oaks Drive in Round Rock.

Do you like making money while you shop? Volunteers and consignors who deliver their old baby items will get the opportunity to shop on the Friday night pre-sale. Consignors decide the price of each item they bring and can mark items as half price after 2pm. Volunteers will get 75% of the sales price on items they bring to sale. Consignors will get 65% of the sales price. Register by September 5.

Consignors and shoppers are also asked to bring a canned or pantry food item for the Round Rock Area Serving Center's Food Bank. Unsold items may also be donated to the Serving Center's Thrift Store.

Also see these About.com Sites: Baby Clothes | Baby Products | Kid's Fashion

^{posted by jacci and lyla}

Whether going to renew my own license or getting instruction permits for my three daughters, I've been at the North Lamar DPS Driver's License Office multiple times in the last year or so. That makes the process less of a surprise than for many of the others I've spoken with or overhead while in line or waiting. A lot of people show up on their lunch break thinking they can get in and get out within the hour. No. No. No. Maybe if you're one of the first 10 people in line at 8 am it'll happen. But after that, plan to spend at least an hour just waiting for them to call your number. And that doesn't count the time you're likely to spend waiting in line to tell the information desk why you're there and then actually get the little numbered ticket.

So, for the uninitiated, here's an informal run-down of what to expect the next time you're thinking of popping into the Driver's License Office. This is based on the North Lamar location. It could be better or worse at the North or South Congress offices.

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Chances are that you will pull "junk mail" out of your mailbox today, tomorrow and forever... unless you do something about it. Every Monday Matters Task #6 is to "Get Rid of Junk Mail". Start today and you should see a drop in junk mail and catalogs in 4 to 6 weeks.

The 3R's are Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. Start by reducing the amount of junk mail you receive. Reuse whatever is still showing up by cutting up mail and using it for scrap paper and notepads. And what you can't reduce or reuse -- recycle. With Austin's new single stream recycling it's easier than ever -- just put it all in the big carts (due to show up in the next several weeks) with all your plastic bottles, glass, and cans. No more sorting required. But first, try to reduce because...

Facts:

The average person receives 500 pieces & 41 pounds of junk mail a year.

You will spend 8 months of your life opening junk mail. (I want that time back!)

Only 2% of junk mail gets a response.

100 million trees are needed to produce the annual supply of bulk mail.

Paper will take up 48% of our landfills by 2010.

Tips:

Write "Please do not rent or sell my name" next to your name whenever you enter a contest, make a purchase, make a donation, etc.

Call the customer service number of the company that is sending you unwanted mail and ask to be removed from their list.

Contact each junk mail provider by email, phone, or postal mail.

Remove your name from the Direct Marketing Association's Mail Preference Service (DMAChoice.org) and Optoutprescreen.com, this will take your name off of multiple mailing lists.

It may take a couple contacts to get yourself off a mailing list and it can take from 4 weeks to 90 days to see a significant difference.

^{Source: Every Monday Matters}

Here's an About.com video on how to stop junk mail with more tips and advice.

Have you had success keeping the junk mail out of your mailbox?

^{posted by lyla}

We make frequent drives up to Hutto and often see the Hippos, but the other day we decided to take the back roads and found Zebras, Impalas and Deer.

On a more serious note, Hutto has been in the news a lot lately. Austin turned on their first red light camera on May 23 and now the City of Hutto will install their own in August and propose to expand the Williamson County Landfill.

Hutto Fire Department Struggles to Keep Up with Demands of City

Hutto Residents Asked to Conserve Water After a Water Main Break, Request Lifted Next Day

Red Light Cameras to be Installed in Hutto

Proposed Landfill Expansion Upsets Hutto Residents

A family friend moved to Hutto last year to get away from the "big city" while still being close enough to get to work downtown. But this little spot is growing up fast.

Do you live in Hutto or another small town on the outskirts of Austin? Is it experiencing any growing pains? Share your experience living just outside Austin.

^{posted by lyla}

The City Council wants to raise property taxes. Oh joy. Residents can have their say on the matter at two public hearings coming up this month.

• Thursday August 21, 2008 at 6 p.m.
• Thursday August 28, 2008 at 6 p.m.

  Both hearings are in the Austin City Council Chambers at 301 West 2nd Street

According to the Notice of Public Hearing on Tax Increase (PDF) the new proposed tax rate of $0.4012 per $100 of taxable value would increase the average home's tax to $988.36 from an average of $927.02 based on this year's current tax rate. Of course any individual homeowner's taxes may go up or down depending on any changes in the value of their property.

Travis County is upping their property taxes too -- a proposed a $24.53 increase per year for the average homeowner they say. According to the Statesman article:

The increase would pay mainly for a new county criminal court, increased fuel costs, a 3 percent pay raise for most county employees and 31 corrections officers to staff a new detention building at the Del Valle Correctional Complex.

How do you feel about it these increases? Do you plan on making a trip to City Hall to voice your opinion on the Austin tax proposal? Why or why not? Talk about it.

Late Summer and Fall are a festive time of year here in Austin. But I'm just curious about how many festival-goers read this blog? Take the poll...

Austin 360 has a gallery of photos from Saturday's Ice Cream Festival at Waterloo Park. Lots of people I don't know eating ice cream. Captions would have been nice. My favorite was a picture of a t-shirt with a scoop of ice cream shaped like the State Capitol.

Now the pictures I want to see would be from the Hot Sauce Festival coming up on the 24th. In the description from our August events page Lyla called it a "spectator event." Yeah, watching people's reactions as they take a big ol' swig of hot sauce could be entertaining. Better than an ice cream brain freeze.

Reading the humorous description from a judge at a previous Hot Sauce Festival I noticed that they gave out little cups of ice cream as an anti-salsa. Perhaps they should consider combining the Ice Cream and Hot Sauce Festivals next year? In a twisted way that reminds of the sign near Amy's Ice Creams on Guadalupe -- stressed is just desserts backwards. Forgive the randomness of this blog posting. Perhaps I do need some stress-relieving dessert.

What's your favorite upcoming festival?

Did you know that the Texas School for the Deaf is the oldest public school in continuous operation in the State of Texas? Just a little "Back to School" trivia for you gleaned from a nice interactive presentation put together by the Austin American-Statesman. And for you budding history buffs, there's another nice write-up in the Texas Handbook Online.

It's also a hard place to spot in the dark. That's a bit of oddball trivia for you. I had to take the girls to the school at 6 am Tuesday morning because Friday Night Lights was filming there (they're extras) and although I've passed the place dozens of times, in the dark it's hard to spot from S. Congress - despite being a large campus. Nothing was lit up and we missed the entrance on the first pass.

Driving home this afternoon during the "no watering" period of 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Lyla and I spotted a City official parked in front of a home taking notes on a clipboard. It was the only really green lawn on the street and the automatic sprinklers were going strong watering the lawn and the street as well. Oops. They gotcha!

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There are a lot of different criteria you might use for choosing a place to live. Here's one more: Restricted Parking. If you have more vehicles than will fit in your garage, carport, or driveway then you better check out the availability of street parking in your neighborhood. The City of Austin has a No Front Yard / No Side Yard Parking Ordinance that individual Neighborhood Associations can choose to adopt for their area.

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Are you afraid of the dark? Do you live for being scared half to death? Or, are you the one who likes being the reason for the Halloween season? The House of Torment has always been one of the most popular Halloween haunted houses in Austin, filled with dark, creepy corners and scary monsters. This year will be no different, but in a whole new way.

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