Sweet Home Alabama: Trade # 3

The picture says it all! 

Welcome to Hoover Alabama! 

I am going to try and tell you about it this trade without writing a book. Traveling to Alabama was a last minute decision for Amy and I. We had been snowed in our home for over a week and a second storm was coming, we had to get out! We packed everything up and without hesitation I grabbed the Linksys Router. I'm not kidding you, as soon as we were on our way I was posting on Craigslist that I was wanting to make a trade while I was there. I had a few offers, but nothing really stood out to me.

I decided to surf around on Craigslist to see what I could find since I did not get many offers. I came across an ad that seemed intriguing. This guy and his family had moved from Tennessee and were trying to get rid of some stuff to make more room in their new place.

I had nothing to lose, so I tossed the router out as an offer. This is Jeremy and he has to be one of the coolest guys I have ever met. I told him about the project and he was all for helping out. His offer: One totally awesome Brinkmann Portable Propane Camping Oven! (Model # 842-0805W)

It was brand new and had never been taken out of the box

This is Jeremy's story 

Like many of us, Jeremy had many challenges growing, one being he was  diagnosed as a Type 1 Diabetic at a very young age. As the years passed he started a family of his own, adding a very adventurous boy to the mix. Life unfortunately took a turn for the worst.

Not long after Jeremy had his son, Diabetes got the best of him. He was slowly going down hill, ultimately losing the functions of his kidneys and his Pancreas. He would later have to be put on Dialysis. 

Jeremy wanted his boy to remember him, so he decided to get involved with the Boy Scouts. There was one big challenge though. How does one continue their dialysis and go camping? 

Thanks to the Boy Scouts of America, they have found a way! Jeremy was taught how to continue his dialysis in a tent! This opened up endless opportunities for Jeremy and his son to go camping together. 

Jeremy had been on an organ donor list for sometime now and it would soon be his turn for an opportunity at a new life. It was not long after his scout training, that he received a call that he had a kidney and pancreas waiting on him. 

He was rushed to the hospital to be prepped for a surgery that would change his and his sons life forever. That was November 2006. In just about a month he was able to come home and celebrate with the Boy Scouts at their Christmas party. 

Nearly 5 years has passed since his transplant! No longer is he a diabetic, and on top of that, he is in the best health he has ever been in.  He's now able to enjoy life more than ever with his son and wife.

All that to say, the camping stove was an extra stove that he and his son had bought for one of their camping trips they had gone on in the past, but never ended up using.

I managed to find a picture of the stove so I would not have to open the box. I altered the picture to protect the innocent. If you were thinking it was stolen, it wasn't. I just pulled it off a site and changed it up some :) The oven does not come with the fuel canister, but I will throw one in with fuel for the right offer!

P to the S: Were you able to find Dirty T? 

Don't forget about the contest! Read this post if you are confused.

Hiding Dirty: The Contest {Guest Post from The Wife}

 Hey y'all! Matt's letting me blog for this one! 

Remember Dirty Tyson? Of course you do! He's our "un-official mascot" for the project. 

He gets to ride in the Trade mobile with Matt when he makes a trade. 

Dirty T loves an adventure, but what he loves best is hiding!

 

Here he is trying to hide from us during Snowmageddon 2010.
He was pretty easy to find here...

 ....but on trade pictures, you will not find him so easily. 

Keep your eyes peeled to find Dirty T in the pictures from Matt's most recent trade he made in Alabama. If you spot him, shoot Matt an email at trademeoutofdebt{at}gmail{dot}com 

We'll have this contest with most every trade Matt makes from here on out.

The winner of the contest will receive a $25 gift card of your choice to either
Amazon.com, iTunes, or Chic-fil-a (a Loerke favorite!)

When you find Dirty T in the next blog post (and remember, the next trade, and the next trade, and the next trade as well) leave a comment saying you found him (but don't say where), and then email Matt Dirty's location (be specific) at trademeoutofdebt{at}gmail{dot}com If multiple people guess correctly, we will put your names in a hat and draw a winner randomly. The contests will last one week from the date the blog post is published. Let the games begin!

Billboard or Van?

     Okay, deep breath in....Here we go. 

It seems like forever ago that I've posted anything. That's because it has been forever ago! It all started about a month ago when I caught our little one practicing her "jump, wiggle, jump" skills on top of the lap top. My heart sank! All I could see was dollar signs adding up. 

I politely let her know that jumping on the computer is not something we do. From then on, the screen would intermittently work. Then one day a few weeks ago it just bit the dust. What a sad sad day. 

Imagine having to run your life off of your phone...not fun. We took it to our computer guy and he has gotten it to work for the time being until we get a new screen shipped in.

Lesson learned: Don't leave your laptop on the floor if you have little feet running around, especially when Sesame Street is playing!

      

Moving on to more not so great news. Remember the News on 6 interview I did? Thanks to the snow storm our story got pushed to the side. Someone in the studio accidentally deleted the interview footage in order to make more space in the system for their snow stories.

And last but not least of the bad news: The whole Whistler Advertising billboard deal fell through. Things looked good, then all of a sudden they decided they weren't going to extend the offer anymore. 

The money that we raised for that project will be applied towards one of 2 other projects we are working on.

   

The good news: We are currently working out a deal with Lamar Outdoor Advertising. They are one of the largest outdoor advertising companies in the country. The other deal we're working on is with a local independent decal/graphics company. The plan would be to spice the van up like no one has ever seen. 

Both projects are going to cost some money. It comes down to whether or not we want to spend a lot of money on something that will only last 30 days, (the Lamar sign) or on something that we can drive around that will last forever (The Trade Mobile). The van has gotten a lot of attention because of it's crazy colors. We should hopefully find out something within a week or so.