Naomi p.
About Naomi p.
self-employed
I am a very responsible small business owner with a great deal of animal care experience, and I am looking for some extended housesitting opportunities. I am a triple citizen of the US, UK, and Australia, with family in all three countries. I'm a bit of a nomad, but a slow nomad, one who likes to nest and spend time getting to know a place.
I'm a non-smoker* and, though I do like a good day hike or hiking weekend when I have the chance, I tend to be more of a homebody.
* I'm actually quite allergic to cigarette smoke. Because of this, I'm sorry, but I can't do any sits in smoking households.
I always enjoy getting to know a new location while helping the owners out with care for their homes and pets. I also run my business from home (If you have a reliable, strong internet connection, yahtzee!), so I appreciate a quiet location, as opposed to a busy hotel or such.
As of July 2016, I have been housesitting full time, seeing wonderful places, meeting fascinating people, and caring for some amazing animals. Prior to housesitting full time, I also occasionally sat for friends or friends of friends.
In terms of pet or animal care, I have had pets most of my life. I grew up with dogs, cats, birds, as well as some more unusual members of the menagerie. I have also spent a great deal of time volunteering at Vauxhall City Farm in London, a city farm with a wide variety of large and small animals. It is such a wonderful place!
Animal care is also a big theme in my family. My sister and sister-in-law are both veterinarians, and, on a recent call, mum had just taken some freshly baked dog biscuits out of the oven. :-)
For more details, more references, and my specific availability, please see my sitting website at gingerandtrouble.com.
In terms of languages, I am currently only fluent in English. I am moderately conversational in Brazilian Portuguese and am working to get it back up to higher levels. I have a very small amount of French & Spanish (more reading / writing than speaking at the moment) and am working on learning more (as well as a couple of other languages).
Language(s) spoken
English
Compliments received
Community opinion
Usak, Turkey - December 2017
Naomi stayed with our 1 dog, 6 cats, and 2 (outdoor) cats in our home in a small village in Italy for 6.5 weeks. We couldn't have been happier with the experience, from our first communication to the evening that we said good-bye to her. Naomi is organised and meticulously prepared; for our first Skype conversation she had thoroughly reviewed the requirements for the sit, knew all of the animals' names and had detailed questions for us about the animals' temperaments, schedules and feeding. When she arrived for the sit she bonded with our dog George immediately, and with the cats as they allowed themselves to become acquainted with her. While we were away she kept us up-to-date on goings-on in the house, sending lots of photos of the pets. Naomi also took good care of our garden cats, making sure they had access to shelter as the evenings got colder, and that they were well-fed. She experimented with food for our dog (with our agreement) and came up with a cooked-food solution that is both easier for us to prepare and that he loves. When pet and household supplies ran out she restocked; she picked up packages at the post office and communicated about other mail. When the cash we left behind for necessities ran out she covered the gap from her own account until our return. We also appreciate that she made the best effort to get a good deal on a rental car (which we reimbursed her for as part of the housesit). Naomi communicated easily with our landlord (who does not speak English) when problems with our older house arose, and gamely dealt with his comings and goings as he repaired a plumbing issue over the course of 10 days or so. We returned to a tidy, happy household. The day after she left our dog sat in front of the door to her bedroom for an hour or so. We take this as a sign that he enjoyed his time with her. We recommend Naomi without reservations and would consider ourselves lucky to have her sit with our pets again.