Updates and THE BOOK!!!

Life has been SOOOO busy! The book is coming out TOMORROW!  I can't believe it, it's so surreal!  The book is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Black Rose Writing NOW! We'll be going live on Facebook tomorrow at 8:00 pm EST to do a reading, talk about the book, answer questions, and do a giveaway of an autographed copy of the book!

Take cover! The book is here!

Our Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/positivevoice02/

Our book blog: https://www.wordpress.com/positivevoicewrites

The book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Edge-My-World-Kelly-Backus/dp/1612969046/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1499814715&sr=8-1&keywords=on+the+edge+of+my+world

 So exciting! 

Live has been very busy! Time is short, so I'll stick to some photos for now!

AJ wasn't a big fan of the noise of fireworks, so he wore my headphones

On the one year anniversary of my miscarriage, I went to the cemetery and left a little rock with his name on it. <3

The boys have discovered sprinklers and water balloons. They're in love!

Book Cover Reveal!

Our book cover is here!

Our publisher was very patient with us--we went through several drafts! We are very happy with it! One month until release!!!

Release Date and Pre-Order!!!!

It's really happening! 

The official release date for our book, On the Edge of My World is July 13, 2017! Even better, the book is available for Pre-Order from our publisher, Black Rose Writing NOW!

Just visit the link below to order. Use promocode PREORDER2017 to get 10% off. Copies will be shipped on or before the release date.

http://www.blackrosewriting.com/childrens-booksya/ontheedgeofmyworld

I'm an author! *mind blown*

Big Changes

Wow it's been like two months since I've posted. In my defense, my life has been CRAZY! In the last two months:

• We moved! It actually happened! We sold our house and bought a new one and everyone made it to the new place in one piece!  Moving is terrible! I can't find my stuff! I have a ton of unpacking and projects to do! My new neighborhood is great, though. The house is great too, although we've already had a few hiccups. On to the next bullet!
• We had a ton of rain and then water leaked into my mom's room in the basement. BOO! Our friend/contractor came over last weekend and he and Adam graded the ground on that side of the house--apparently it was somewhat sloped down toward the house, which isn't good. We've had a good 5 dry days but more rain in expected tomorrow so fingers crossed that it's fixed the problem!
• We had to have some electrical work that was supposed to be done after inspection repaired, which was super annoying. Then we had our friend/contractor fix it some more. We'd asked that all the ungrounded 3 prong plugs in the basement be grounded, but the replaced them with 2 prong grounded plugs, which these days are pretty useless! Since we needed to plug in computers and the like, our friend changed them out.
• Did I mention our neighbors are so nice? The realtor that sold the house lives across the street with her husband (who I recently found out is the dad of a guy I went to high school with). Two doors down from them is a guy around my age that works at Tyler's school. He brought over coupons for Macy's the first weekend. We also met the neighbors on both sides of us. There is an elderly lady to one side and a middle aged couple on the other. We are particularly fond of Mary (who is deaf and I'm fascinated by sign language)  and her husband Kevin. Kevin found out that our mower had died (literally the week before we moved) and I looked out my back window one evening and Kevin was mowing our grass. SO NICE!
• Where did I leave off with the book? I think I mentioned we were seeking out professional editing. Our publisher recommended a couple of people and we ended up working with a guy named Rob. His price was fair and he was very willing to edit without making huge plot changing suggestions. He cleaned up our technical writing a lot (God bless him, I hate that part) and made some great suggestions that we were able to incorporate with only minor edits and additions, but that I really feel make a big difference. And he's just all around a really nice guy and he really seemed to like the book and admire our writing. He was particularly impressed by our synergy writing together.
• Once we incorporated Rob's edits, we sent the book back to our publisher. About a week ago, we got the edits and their smart-edit report back. This publisher offers this report on all books they publish--basically, it's a list of possible grammatical errors, commonly misused words, works that are possibly overused, and other such things that their computer program can recognize. They are very clear that you can chose to make no changes based on the report. I thought it was pretty helpful and made a good deal of very minor tweaks, most of them on the repetitive word issue. The manuscript went back to the publisher late Sunday night and now we are OFFICIALLY in the production queue! A publishing date should be coming very soon, along with their proposal for our cover art!  So exciting!
• I got a promotion at work! I've done the same job for 11 years (at least in title, although the job has changed a lot over the years) and I've been searching for a new opportunity with my company for a long time. It's been difficult. We are a large corporation, but my office is relatively small and opportunities are very limited. About a year ago, my boss helped me make a big push to take on leading the group of people that do the same job as I did. The girl that coordinated the group ended up going on maternity leave (she was the one who was due around the same time I would have been with Gabe), so I performed a lot of her duties while she was out. When she returned, she didn't really go back to doing that portion of her job. They posted the job as a hybrid-type role--someone who would have regular shipping and invoicing duties (that's what I do (did)) and also act as coordinator and lead the team--train new associates, update work instructions, liaison with other departments, develop new process, etc. I am very happy that I got the opportunity and I had a lot of support. It's a lot of work, but I'm glad to be more challenged again.
• Unfortunately on the work front, I'm really juggling things at work now, covering for a coworker that is out on medical leave and preparing to cover for an invoicer that is leaving as of next week. Remember when I did the Canadian invoicing and then went to Ontario to train their new hire. Well, she's leaving. So now I'll be doing that again.
• Aside from that, there has been birthdays, field trips, and not nearly enough sleep!

Oh, one last thing! Kelly and I created a separate website for author/book stuff. If you'd like to follow us there, just visit positivevoicewrites.wordpress.com . All of our social media is linked there as well.

What a year I'm having!  The book, the job, and the house have been things I've wanted for a long time and they are all going to become a reality in the course of a few months! It's awesome and overwhelming!

10th Blogoversary!!!

10 years!  I have been writing (on and off, but I had posts every year) here for 10 years! Granted, I have very few readers, but still, I have to give myself points for longevity. Maybe I just like to hear myself talk?  LOL anyway, I'm still here and man, a lot has been documented here in the last 10 years--high points and low points.  I've documented the birth of my kids, my losses, my infertility journey, the joys of motherhood and marriage, the trials over everyday life, fitness journeys, new homes (more to this coming VERY soon!), and now my journey as an author.  There are posts that are merely funny and some filled with deep thoughts and self-exploration.  I know not many people read my ramblings, but I go back and read them sometimes and I'm glad I have them written here.


So if you're reading, thanks.  And past me, thanks for taking the time to document these memories.

Work in Process

It's starting to feel more real! After signing our contract to publish our book with Black Rose Writing, we started researching professional editors. Black Rose does some editing, but very minor, and the recommend you consider this. We decided it was worth it to put the best product possible out there. I contacted several editors for quotes and we settled on an editor who was really excited about our story. He's working on the book now and should have his edits to us this coming week!  We're setting up a call with him to discuss his suggestions--although we made it clear we were looking for grammar, punctuation, spelling, continuity, etc, not plot or character changes.  He mentioned that he felt we didn't need a lot of editing compared to what he usually sees and also that he was impressed by our synergy--being able to blend our writing styles together seamlessly. I'm excited to see what he thinks!

We also had some photos taken of use last week for our bio. A friend of Kelly's (my friend and co-author) did the photos and I really love how they are turning out so far (she took a ton and is still editing). Kelly and I both hate getting our pictures taken, but I think we got the best shots possible. Some of the shots were from a park right across the street from where I grew up. The rest were done at a business nearby that is covered with professional graffiti.

So by the end of the week we should have the edited manuscript back, then I need to start going over the changes. We also decided to change the setting from a fictional town in Ohio to a fictional town here in Indiana. We've been hearing so much about the issues from our book here where we live that we decided it was important to "bring it home" so to speak. I'm guessing the editing process will take me a couple of weeks. I'm hoping to get the final draft to the publisher by mid April or the first of May at the latest. That time line might have gotten more important (and difficult) as of this week, because we have an offer pending on our house. I don't want to say much yet, but things might get crazy very very soon so wish me luck to juggle all of this!

Once our publisher gets the draft back, they'll put it through their editing process and then we'll start talking cover art, publicity, marketing, etc. Wow, this is for real!

Here are a few of the best shots from our photo shoot.

Besties and co-authors.

Kelly - The creative mind that came up with our novel.

What a cool background!

Us in black and white

This is probably my favorite single shot

Just me

I'm going to be an author...for real, this time.

We got a contract on the book!  On Tuesday (Valentine's Day), I got an email from Black Rose Writes, a publisher based in Texas.  They were offering us a contract to publish our novel!  I saw the email on my phone--I was at work at the time.  As a matter of fact, I spent the work week training a new hire, which meant long days and juggling the training while still trying to keep up with some of my work.  I couldn't do much until I got home in the evening, so I spent Tuesday night doing research on the publisher (I had done some research when we sent the query to them, but this time I was digging for anything that might make us wary of signing with them). They are a fairly young publisher and they're small--but really, that's fine with us. I read through the contract and asked a few other people to do the same. Kelly and I emailed back and forth and after much consideration, we signed the contract on Thursday.

So it's really happening. We will officially be authors. Our "book" will become a REAL book, with pages and a cover and our names on it.

Holy crap.

Once we signed on the dotted line, our publisher (eeek) sent us a bunch of documents going over the steps in the process. This will all lead to a publishing date of sometime in July-August.

So it's really happening.  I remember sitting in my creative writing classes in college, reading a rejection for the school's literary magazine, and vowing that someday I'd be a published author.  For me, it's not about royalties or best sellers lists.  It was a goal, and one I wasn't sure would be reached.  This is a big deal.

I'm sure I'll be documenting this process here, but I'm also including our social media information below.  A good author markets herself every chance she gets!

If you're reading this and have any experience in the professional literary field, we'd love to get a review or quote from you to go on our book cover!  You can contact me via our Facebook page listed below!

www.facebook.com/positivevoice02

Book Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Lwll2zu64A

Twitter: @positivevoice02

Rejection is a dish...

...best not served at all. We've gotten two rejections from publishers. It wasn't unexpected, the editors had some positive things to say, but still, it isn't fun. I still have high hopes. We should hear back from 2 more publishers before the end of the month, one in particular that I'm anxious to hear from. So we'll see.

In other news, I might finally have a lead on a new position at work. I don't have specifics yet, but hopefully something will be solidified soon.

The kids are doing well. AJ has to have some dental work done in a few weeks, and it's extensive enough that it has to be done under general anesthesia. After the horrible experience Tyler had two years ago, I'm pretty anxious about it. I know that it was a fluke that his throat got scratched up during the procedure, which caused his pain, but I'm still nervous. And it's two days before my birthday, so I really hope he doesn't have a hard time.

Tyler enjoyed spring break and is back at school. He is doing really well, all A's. He's become a big help around the house and he's so sweet with AJ. AJ is trying to do everything Tyler does. He jabbers all day long and says the funniest things!

We are still working like mad on the house. This weekend we are sanding and refinishing our kitchen cabinets. I'm really starting to feel like we are in the home stretch. We still have to paint my mom's room and we are having the carpet in the family room and upstairs hall replaced (the one and only project that we are not doing ourselves, though we will remove the carpet ourselves to save a little bit), but the rest of our projects are fairly small.  Right now, we should be done with everything by early June, so my goal is to list the house no later than July 1st. I really think we can do it, barring anything unexpected.  

So that's it for now! We've created a Facebook page and Twitter account for our book, feel free to check it out, we're slowly putting more information out there and hopefully some big things will be announced there soon!

https://www.facebook.com/positivevoice02/

https://twitter.com/PositiveVoice02

And now, I leave you with a random photo of AJ with raspberries on his fingers.  Because, why not?

 

Blogiversary

Nine years...I've been writing on this blog (on and off) for nine years.  Yesterday was my official blogiversary, but I was sick and didn't even touch a computer all day.  It's crazy to think of all the things that have happened since I started this blog. I'm glad I have this blog to look back on and remember!

We're keeping busy these days!  Like I mentioned in the last post, my friend and I submitted our novel to several publishers. We've gotten some correspondence back, but no official acceptance or rejection yet. We should start hearing back in a few more weeks. I realized after I wrote the last post that we had sent the first submission on February 29th, Leap Day. Rather fitting to take such a metaphorical leap on that day.

We're also back to working on the house every spare minute. We finally got all the (horrible, stubborn, God-foresaken) wallpaper off the walls, skim coated them and painted, so all that's left is to sand the cabinets and seal them and change out the hardware and then the kitchen will be done!  We're taking next week off of work and if the weather cooperates we're hoping to work on the outside of the house. Slowly ticking things off the list!

Tyler's doing great, another report card with all A's. He had a playdate with two of his friends a few weeks ago and we went to the school carnival last Friday. AJ's got a cold right now so he's been cranky--honestly he's been a touch cranky lately anyway.  I think 3 is a tougher age than 2 for him!  He's had a few accidental successes in potty training, but we haven't had too much luck. Ah well, we'll keep trying!

So that's a tiny update and a post to mark 9 years of writing here.  I know I don't have a lot of readers, but I'm thankful to anyone who takes the time to look over my ramblings!  I still read, but can't comment much from my phone and everything is blocked at work now :(

But I'm still here, still following along, still wishing you all the best!

It starts

I don't usually post cryptic Facebook posts. They can be irritating. It usually seems like the poster is looking for people to press them for details, like attention-seeking. I broke my rule of no cryptic statuses yesterday, though.

Here's what I posted:

I did something very cool today. No matter what the outcome, I'm proud of myself!

Yesterday my friend and I submitted our book to a publisher for the first time. More than two years of work, with the last two months spent getting feedback and preparing submissions documents. I just feel so accomplished, to have actually co-authored a finished product.

We sent a short synopsis, bios, marketing olan, and query letter. The response time is 3-6 weeks. So imagine shock to receive an email this morning from one of the editors! She said they would love to see the final manuscript and that the synopsis was very interesting.

Whoa.

This is happening. No matter what, and editor is going to read and consider our work. I can't really decide if I'm more excited or terrified by that prospect!

We interrupt this challenge for an update...And Photo Challenge: Three Things

I feel like I've copped out a little on ACTUAL blog posts.  I did the "Infertile Enough" Post last month, which I worried might have gotten lost in the shuffle, but I haven't really posted much else lately.  While I'm having fun doing the challenges and it's certainly more content than I have posted in the past, I certainly want to keep things current and personal too.

So, without further ado, an update!

Tyler
He'll officially be 4 1/2 at the end of this month!!  Where is the time going?!  Updates on Tyler aren't abundant, since he's older, but the main things are that he is pretty much officially potty trained!  It was way delayed, due to his constipation issues, but on good days he uses the potty every single time!  We only have issues if it's a bad day and he's constipated.  We're battling it and hoping that as things become more and more consistent, the issue will improve.  He is super into Hot Wheels right now and he's got quite a collection, probably in part because they are $.99 each and we're big old softies about it.  He has a fair amount of tracks too, including his four-lane-elimination-race given to him by my mom (super cool, it flips cars of the track at different places so that only one is left to "win") and Shark Bite Bay, which Adam discovered in a bin at Goodwill.  He knows the names of tracks and cars, mostly from watching videos on You Tube (Yes we let him do this, and yes we are careful about what subject matter he watches).  He loves to imitate the announcer voice and create his own little scenes, it's quite adorable.  He still has moments of jealousy and acting out, but he is great with AJ and loves to make him laugh!

AJ
My "baby" is a big almost-nine-month-old!  I should have an official weight in the next week or so after his next well-child visit, but I'm guessing over 20 lbs!  He is now a champion roller and really is using it as a true mode of transportation these days.  He loves to be on the floor rolling around.  He can sit up, but he rarely tolerates it for long, because what fun is there in sitting still?  He's spending more time playing in his high chair now but we try to give him time on the floor when we can.  He is (of course) the puts-everything-in-his mouth-child.  Leave it to me to have the baby that never puts things in his mouth first and the one that does second, when First has little toys that get left on the floor.  Tyler is getting better about picking up his cars and small toys but it's a struggle and we have to be vigilant when AJ is down.  A friend is giving me their playzone system and if I can find a space for it, it may be able to help give AJ a safe place to play on the floor when Tyler has his toys out.  Man, do I wish we had a bigger house right now! AJ has six teeth, two on bottom and four on top and is almost certainly working on more!  He is loud and rambunctious and silly and adorable!  He's getting really good at using his fingers, even just one finger to poke and touch things.  He isn't very interested in sitting up--he CAN, he just chooses NOT to for very long.  He is showing an extreme interest in crawling. He isn't do this yet, but he's getting pretty darn close.  He's up on all fours or on his tummy trying to pull himself forward. He can scoot backwards a little bit.  I think he will be officially mobile VERY soon and much sooner than Tyler, who didn't crawl until 11 months!  Lord help us!

Aside from updates on my little guys, nothing much is happening!  Or rather, quite a bit of nothing special, LOL.  Current goals: Figure out an exercise routine that will actually work for me, figure out how to style my hair curly, get back to working on the book, start home improvement projects, get mani/pedi before gift certificate expires at the end of the month!

Onto the photo of the day!  Today's prompt: Three Things

SISTERS!!

 

 Sisters!  I have three of them, they get mentioned on this blog pretty often.  Nicky is the oldest, shown on the left.  As I have mentioned before, she died at 5 months old from cancer.  Michelle is in the middle, she is three years younger than Nicky and  five years older than Angie and I.  Angie (aka Twin) is on the right.  I adore my sisters and can't imagine life without them. Even Nicky's memory has always been a big part of our lives.  Thinking of my sisters makes me happy that Tyler and AJ have each other!

She lives!

Yes I'm still alive!  Wow, I have been so insanely busy!  I can't even tell you!  I had a wonderful time reading new blogs for ICLW and then I basically vanished!  I hope my new visitors stuck around!

Quick updates:

• I leave for California on a business trip on Monday.  I'm excited and nervous.  I hate being away from my boys.  Traveling can be stressful.  But it's California and I'm looking forward to the experience!
• The trend of illnesses and injury continues!  The family was stricken by a horribly nasty stomach flu bug AGAIN!  Yes we just had one in February/March.  UNFAIR!  This wasn't the throwing up kind (thankfully) and both kids were spared the worst of it.  Mom and I both had it pretty badly, complete with awful fever, body aches, and an extreme attachment to the bathroom.  Good times.  Then poor Mom broke her big toe yesterday, thanks to Tyler's hot wheels.  Not good.
• I turned 31 last Tuesday.  Hooray for another year older!  Happy birthday to Twin, too!
• We traded in our gas guzzler for a Ford Focus.  Hopefully it will save some money and it's much newer and more reliable so yay for that!
• I have been beyond swamped at work, thus leaving me no brain cells for writing in the evenings.  Plans to return to the book progress soon!  Going to have to set a deadline if I'm going to make any marked progress I think!

More to come soon, I promise!  I'll have a full CA report soon!  And I have had several posts in mind, just no time to write them!

Once and infertile, always an infertile

 First of all, welcome to any readers that might venture here from IComLeavWe!  Thank you for reading and commenting!  I'm Melissa, also know as Mel (especially in the online IF community).  I've been writing here for (holy crap, I just checked and I missed my blogversary!) seven years. This started out as just a place for random thoughts, very lighthearted and probably pretty boring!  Over the years, I've documented my life as a young (ish) married average woman in the Midwest, to a new mom, and more recently I wrote of my struggles to conceive my second child.  After over a year and a half of unexplained infertility that included an early miscarriage, I gave birth to my second son.  Now I continue to write about the joys of parenting my two amazing boys, Tyler and AJ and other random things, including current project--working on a book of infertility stories.

Now on to today's post!

The other day, I was reading a blog that I was linked to from another blog I read faithfully.  The post can be found here and it really struck a chord with me.  She is in the early stages of pregnancy after having struggled with infertility for several years. She talks about an encounter with her boss, who has just told her that another of their coworkers had just announced that she was pregnant after a struggle with infertility. She commented that it seemed as if starting work there triggered fertility trouble. Her boss pointed out that she was now pregnant, as if the fact that she had achieved pregnancy erased what she had been through trying to get there.  Read the full post for the whole story. 

I left this comment:
Once an infertile, always an infertile.  Even when you reach that goal and get that take home baby, you can never forget what you've been through, how it felt.  And that dark time isn't diminished, even by the joy of the birth of the baby you longed for.  There are so many different "degrees" of infertility, everyone has a story, but even with all the happy endings, we all still know a pain that can never be understood by anyone else but another infertile. No one can take the journey away from you. It's made you who you are.


I really feel that way. A few weeks ago, while jotting down an intro for my chapter in my book, I wrote that I had some reservations about including my own journey. After all, I had a child before I came up against infertility. I "only" struggled with infertility for 19 months. I "only" had one early miscarriage. And now I have my second healthy baby.

But you know what I realized? There is no such thing as a little bit infertile or a small loss. I will never forget that part of my life and I am a different person for having experienced it.  Even if I never try for another child I still remember what that felt like.  I realize that I am "lucky" in terms of infertility.  It can be so much worse.  That's why I want to write the book.  But what has driven me to want to write it all goes back to my own struggle. I never would have heard and read so many stories and met so many incredibly strong women if I hadn't gone though it.  I love my kids in a different way.  It has made me appreciate my time with them even more.

We all have the same goal.  Some of us reach the finish line and some don't.  I wish it wasn't that way.  But the lucky ones weren't always lucky and we've all felt the pain associated with IF.  It's not something that we could leave behind.  And, though it seems strange, I don't think I would want to.

Updates, tibits and, mayhap, an announcment

Am I the only one who occasionally enjoys inserting a Shakespearean-esque Old English word in modern conversation?  Yes?  Okay then, moving on.

First off, the boys are thriving.  Tyler got a clean bill of health at his check up and they were happy with how he is growing and of course agree he is so smart!  AJ still wants to eat ALL THE TIME, which now includes baby food.  He likes sweet potatoes, accepts squash, GAGS on peas, and adores all of the fruits so far (peaches and apples).  He's seriously hilarious, mouth gaping open frantically for the spoon.  He is still having bottles pretty much as often though, so not much progress there.  I think (shh!) he's getting closer to sleeping through the night. He's had a few nights that he woke up at 1 or so and we tried to see if he'd go back to sleep for awhile and next thing you know it was 4 am!  The last night, we didn't wake him at his usual 10 pm, so he ate at midnight (why?  Oh just wait, story coming) and didn't get up until 5:50 am, thank goodness!

 So why did we vary our usually religious nighttime routine?  Because at 10 pm last night, my dear husband was coming down the stairs, his nose buried in his cell phone screen, missed the bottom stair, fell and rolled his ankle.  He popped up, said "I'm okay" moved to his chair and proceeded to remove his sock.

Not okay.

In a matter of seconds, a huge (like think tennis ball sized) swollen bump appeared on the side of his ankle.  Not okay.

So off we went to the ER.  Mom stayed with the kids, thank goodness.  Xrays showed that it's a bad sprain with a tiny little chip off of the bone from where the tendons and ligaments pulled away.  He has an air cast and he's using my old crutches (nice bonus of only being a inch taller than your wife).  Apparently sprains can take longer to heal than a broken bone, but luckily it doesn't seem to be hurting him too much, so hopefully with some rest and if I can keep him from being his crazy distracted self, it won't bother him too much for long.

So it was after 1 am before we got home.  Tyler was sleeping on mom's bed--he's been having some bad dreams at night lately and when he does he wants Daddy right now, and no one else will do.  He woke up while we were gone, so she just kept him downstairs so he could see us when we got home.  AJ was asleep in the pack n play.  By the time I got Adam settled and the kids to their rooms, it was after 1:30.  Then I was keyed up, so it took awhile to get to sleep.

So there wasn't much sleep to be had for me last night. Exciting stuff.

Now, on to the announcement...this is one of those things that I am hoping if I put it out there, it will become a reality.  I am working on the very early stages of a book.  I have written many things over the year and I'm finding that my fiction isn't much of anything special. However, I think I could do some decent non-fiction.  I'm drawn in particular to the stories I read on forums and blogs, stories of infertility and pregnancy loss.  So I have decided to do a collection of personal stories of woman who have struggled with IF or losses.  Several friends on my favorite forum have already volunteered to contribute and I plan to reach out to some of the blogs I read as well. Hopefully some of them will be interested.

Obviously this will be a long process.  I have to gather the stories, then write them in my own words. I also want to include a collection of advice/words of wisdom/encouragement from members of the online IF community.  I'm thinking of doing a questionnaire and then probably interviews.  I'm realizing there are so many stories I want to tell, so many perspectives, it's overwhelming!  I want something every woman can relate to.  I can't quite estimate how many stories I'll have room for.  I may have to edit more than I'd like or heck, maybe it'll be a series!

If you are reading this and interested in sharing your story, please contact me. Identities can be kept anonymous if desired.

And now I am going to doze on the couch until bedtime and pray that wannabe snowpocalypse 2013 is cleared up by morning