Exercise Woes

About 3 years ago my darling husband bought me an elliptical trainer for my birthday. It was something I really REALLY wanted and was ecstatic to get it. It arrived at our house in Cornelius while I was at the store and they just dumped it in my driveway. This was no wimpy trainer like the ones they sell on infomercials...this was the real deal. So, you can imagine how incredibly heavy it was. It arrived in several pieces, but the base was fully assembled. I can honestly say it was the heaviest thing I have EVER lifted. Adam and I had to carry it all the way upstairs to our bedroom. We put it together...I think it took 2 or 3 hours. There were several parts broken, mostly the superficial plastic parts, so I was still able to get on it. It sounded horrible...grinding at every step.

Needless to say, I was frustrated. The next day I called the company and they had to send out a technician to look at it. Over a week later a sweet old man came to my door smelling strongly of Ivory soap and carrying a tool bag. He was probably in his mid to late seventies and he was the ONLY tech within reasonable driving distance (Salem) paid for by the manufacturer. Of course, he had to order parts, wait for them to come, and come back another time. Two weeks later he came again and fixed it. It sounded like a dream...smooth and quiet.

After he left, I put baby Novie down for a nap and decided to start my daily workouts. I was sooo excited to finally shed some baby weight!! Ten minutes into my first stint it started to squeak at every other step. It was extremely annoying. I couldn't hear the show I was watching, couldn't concentrate, and was in fear of waking my sleeping angel. Heaven forbid! It bothered me so much that I had to get off and couldn't get back on till it was fixed. So, I called the company again and they sent the sweet little old man again. He came a week later, took it apart, and had to order another part. So, he came back days later and basically jury rigged it into not squeaking anymore (the part didn't completely fix it). He told me stories of his grandkids and raising his kids on a farm and becoming very handy fixing tractors and implements. He left, I got on, and it seemed to work fine.

I went on it daily for a few weeks...mind you, the squeak DID come back, but I tried to ignore it. Obviously, it was a chronic problem that was never going to go away. I looked online to find customer reviews on the same machine and everyone else seemed satisfied..."such a quiet machine that works great!" Why do I always get the dud!!?? THEN, it got a problem with the console and we had to order a whole new one...blah blah blah. Despite my efforts to continue my daily regime, the squeak got the better of me and I just couldn't do it anymore. Then I got pregnant again and got into the no-exercise mode.

That poor machine that cost us an arm and a leg just sat in our room collecting dust for 2 years! Thankfully, we didn't have to move it downstairs and into our new home....the movers had to. I was actually excited to get it into our new house because I could do a workout downstairs while the kids played and I could be in the same room with them. They could be a distraction to the squeak, and I wouldn't have to worry about waking either of them.

We finally got around to putting it together a couple of weeks ago, only to find that two major pieces were missing. We looked EVERYwhere for them and in every box packed by the movers. They were nowhere to be found. Of course, when the movers leave your home, they make you sign a form saying that all your stuff arrived safe and sound. Yeah right, like I could go through all the boxes in a few hours and take an instant inventory. Both the pieces were steel shafts that they probably stole to sell and buy meth with...who knows. Thankfully, you can still order parts for it, so $111 later we got them in the mail. Adam began putting it all together when he realized ANOTHER piece was missing...not to mention all the plastic that was broken off the pedals in the move. Another $35 later, it's finally all put together!

I had no doubt that the squeak would still be there...and for sure, it's there. And yes, the kids and the TV are a welcome distraction and it doesn't bother me as much. At least it works! And even though it cost me a whopping $146 to fix what the movers stole/broke/lost, I'm thankful I wasn't the one who had the move it =)