House Sitter in Benicia, California

*** Hello there! *** My name is Aileen, and Chris and I have spent the past year house sitting while we travel around Southeast Asia, the South Pacific and California. We're currently at a 6 month housesit in Fiji which is housesit #11! We use a few different sites to find housesit so you can find more reviews at the links below. Chris is a tech enthusiast and quit his job as an IT manager to spend all his time studying computer networking while we travel. I am a nonprofit Director-turned nanny who builds websites while we are on the road. We're quiet types who would much rather curl up with a book than head out at night ... but we are very friendly and always smiling. I love all things nature related and am amateur seed collector. Needless to say, I would *love* to take care of your houseplants or vegetable garden. We are thrilled when we are able to find housesits that have a pet that needs love while you're away. You can take a peek into our lives by checking out our Instagram accounts. :) www.....com www.....com We do not smoke and keep a very clean house, always making sure to leave a house in tip top shape (we wash sheets and 'reset' a house before we leave. We treat house sitting like living in a home, not a hotel.) You can see more housesit references on our MindMyHouse profile: https://....com as well as on our TurstedHousesitters profile: https://....com/ *** Why we want to house sit *** It all started one night when Chris turned to me and said "I sure do wish I could just spend all my time studying rather than working full time and having to study after work." I laughed at first but soon after realized we suddenly had a great excuse to travel. House sitting allows Chris to study full time and both of us to see new parts of the world. Long-term house sits are ideal because we can really get a feel for the area and Chris can really buckle down. And if you're a tech person and are interested, Chris is specifically studying for the Cisco CCNA exam with an emphasis on security. ;) Besides that we absolutely love learning how people all over the world live. We have spent time caring for different breeds of chickens and experienced different types of chicken houses too. We have lived in a house where 100% of the water came from a rain catchment system. We have hung out with pooches who take town cars to dog spas. We have maintained acreage as well as luxury apartments. Check out our references. We have had a blast so far and happily our houseit-ees have loved us too. :) *** Our experience *** - >> Oct-Dec 2017 Penn Valley, California // We will be caring for a friendly brood of chickens, two cats, and a dog too. >> Oct 2017 Napa, California // We have been asked back! We will again be house sitting for two dogs and checking in on elderly in-laws. >> April-Oct 2017 Fiji // Currently we are caring for a beautiful house overlooking the water. Since this house is partially 'off the grid' maintenance and observation are key. Additionally our presence is needed due to recent thefts in the neighborhood. >> March 2017 Hanoi, Vietnam // housesat for a cat "who liked to talk." :) >> February 2017 Chiang Mai, Thailand // housesat for a couple of cute pooches, one of which was an escape artist and the other who was a sweet old lady who was blind, deaf, and toothless! >> February 2017 Bangkok, Thailand // housesat for two kittens who, to our delight, were FULL of playful energy. >> January 2017 Bangkok, Thailand // housesat for a cute thai rescue puppy who had lots of energy and needed to be walked a lot. >>January 2017 Bangkok, Thailand // housesat, 1 cuddly diabetic Maine cat . >>December 2016-January 2017 Cobb, CA // housesat, 2 cats who needed pills daily, four chickens who needed eggs gathered and a good head pat, daily. >>December 2016: Camp Meeker, CA // housesat, 4 cats who needed to be fed twice a day. The youngest two needed to be brought into the house overnight because they hadn't yet learned that raccoons are not their friends. >>November-December 2016: Napa, CA // housesat, 2 dogs who needed to be fed twice a day and who (we were told) had a tendency to run away if they got spooked, elderly in-laws who needed a daily visit for conversation, a pool that needed to be swept a few times a week. >>October 2015-June 2016: Tahoma, CA // housesat at a cabin in the mountains. We battled mice! We drained the pipes to protect from frost! We raked pine needled to create a barrier in case for wild fire! We like to think we took really, really good care of this place. :) >>June 2015: San Luis Obispo, CA // housesat, maintained landscaping by manually turning the watering system on or off depending on the weather, raked leaves every week, alerted the homeowner about important pieces of mail.