Rutledge Flea Market

Sometimes being an older sister is tough.  You're the first to go through big life events.  You are your parents' guinea pig.  Life is hard.

It gets harder when your little brother wants to celebrate his 30th birthday in the middle of nowhere Missouri.  It gets really hard when he wants you to stay at some sketch motel and risk murder and scabies.

But I did it. And survived.  (I'm still waiting the scabies incubation period to see if I escaped infestation.  I'll keep you posted.)  All for little brother.  It's probably fair beings the kid didn't win a board game until about 5 years when he finally caught on to my cheating ways.  Sibling Karma is in full force.

My brother wanted to attend the Rutledge Flea Market.  This flea market is located on over 40 acres and has a ton of vendors.  Did I mention it is located in the middle of nowhere Missouri?   Rutledge, MO has a population of 109.  Sort of limits the amount of activities one can partake in on this "vacation".  Especially when the weather is a nice, steady, heavy mist following two days of rain.

Part of "birthday weekend" was that I couldn't complain, shout orders or plan things.  Did I mention how hard it is to be an older sister?  I slapped on my poncho and followed my parents into the muddy mess.

Our first trip to flea market was kind of a let down.  There were hardly any vendors due to the heavy mist/rain.  I did try to snap a few artsy photos to keep myself entertained....and quiet.

We decided to call it quits after a couple of hours beings it was sort of a let down.  Nate and I did manage to score this letter for $20.  (Yeah, it's upside down. I was faking excitement. Note my soaked TOMS.)

My brother's girlfriend assured us that Saturday is always better.  The weather had improved. We survived the night in the motel.  We decided to go for it.

Saturday was much more successful in the find department. The Rutledge Flea Market redeemed itself. And it was getting closer to the end of "birthday weekend" so I could mouth off.  Winning all around.

We bought this cute little camera for $3 to join our office collection.

We purchased this Pepsi crate for $10.  We love these crates for hosting parties.  It's an easy way to contain a mess and makes for easy disposal.  We liked the colors on this one.  It may even live on our living room built-ins.

Our favorite purchases of the day were these two signs.  They were marked $14/sign and we used our fierce haggling skills to get them both for $25.  Bam. $3 in my pocket.  (I hate haggling.)  One of them will continue to live on the copper console table.  We're not quite sure where the other will live but the deal was too good to pass up and we liked them both equally.

Overall, a successful trip to Missouri. Little brother had a great time.  We didn't get murdered. And we all found a few bargains.

Will I be making the 3 hour drive again any time soon?  Probably not but you just never know.  We did learn of a large flea market in What Cheer, Iowa.  Looks like the next one is in October and I think we just might be making the trip West!

Are you a flea market fan?  Are you the oldest, youngest or a poor middle child like Nate?