Shredded Brussels Sprouts with Basil and Pine Nuts

My hubby and I tried this recipe out at Thanksgiving last year and we liked it so much, we brought some to a family dinner. I thought it was time that I started using this blog more, and figured this was a great new post - sharing this recipe with all of you! it is a Weight Watchers recipe so I made sure to share all information, including point value per serving.

Shredded Brussels Sprouts with Basil and Pine Nuts
PointsPlus® Value: 2
Servings: 8
Preparation Time: 15 min
Cooking Time: 10 min
Level of Difficulty: Easy

See the recipe online here:
http://www.weightwatchers.com/food/rcp/index.aspx?recipeid=378391

Shredding and briefly sautéing the Brussels sprouts maximizes their crunchy texture and nutty flavor. It’s a terrific side dish to poultry or fish.

Ingredients
2 pound(s) uncooked Brussels sprouts, ends and brown outer leaves trimmed
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
3 medium uncooked shallot(s), minced
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup(s) basil, fresh, minced
2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
8 tsp pine nuts, toasted

Instructions
1. Working in batches, place Brussels sprouts in a food processor and pulse until shredded. If you don’t have a food processor, thinly slice using a mandolin. Or using a knife, halve each Brussels sprout and then thinly slice it lengthwise.
2. Melt butter over medium-high heat in a large nonstick skillet. Add shallots and cook, stirring frequently, 1 minute. Add Brussels sprouts and sauté until leaves are bright green and inner sections soften slightly, about 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in lemon juice, basil, salt and pepper; garnish with pine nuts and serve. Yields about 1 cup Brussels sprouts and 1 teaspoon pine nuts per serving.

Staying on track

It's been slow going, but I've been steadily losing at least 1lb a week. The one thing I've learned is that slow and steady is a good thing with weight loss. If its lost this way, it tends to stay away and I intend to keep with that trend.

To that end, I did a search and found a weight loss simulator at Model My Diet which gives you a few options to change the color of your swimsuit, the type, and your starting and goal weight. Below is the image I'll be using to help me stay focused to my goal:

This image is based off my current weight and not my starting weight. I think that in the grand scheme of things, the difference wouldn't make any real noticeable change to the image.

There is another simulator I found that I want to eventually try, but it requires that I have an actual photo of myself. If anyone happens to visit Weight Mirror and tries it out before I do, could you let me know what you think?

As always, thanks for letting me share and good luck with your own weight loss and health goals!

Progress

Last week I emailed my interim doctor and told him that I thought it was time for me to have my A1C checked. I asked him to please order the test so that I could go in the following day on my day off. My A1C results went down by a whole percentage point! My doctor wants me to get it below 7%, so I'm now .2% away from that goal.

He did decided to have me start taking a whole pill rather than a half a pill twice daily. I debated on ignoring that and just trying to take the pill as I'm supposed to, but my husband made the good point that I shouldn't stress myself out too much and just take it as the doctor suggests. If I end up taking it as often as I'm currently doing so, then I end up taking the original prescribed amount. If I get better at it, then it will only benefit me more.

It seems to be doing so. This morning I got right on track and took my pill before breakfast. I then made sure to take my other medication as I ate. Right before lunch, I checked my blood sugar and was shocked at the result. Before meals the suggested range for people with diabetes should be 70 to 130.

I tested my blood before lunch and it was 84!! Its never been that low before! This will be the meal today that I won't take any medication before, so it will be interesting to see what my blood sugar results will be.

Finally some improvement

I was diagnosed Type II Diabetic about two years ago. Its been a bit of a struggle for me because my family and culture eat a lot of carb heavy foods and I've always been someone who has had a difficult time remembering to take medication. An even harder time when I have to take medication on a specific schedule. Because I haven't been doing it as I should, a few months ago my doctor prescribed me an additional medication that I need to take with the ones I'd already been prescribed. This particular pill has to be taken a half hour before my meal. The problem with this is that I don't have a set time that I eat meals (I know, I need to have one) and often I don't know that I'll be eating in a half hour.

The past few days I've done my best to take this pill. I've been sucessful at least once a day a few times a week so far because I've been taking it just as I pick up my husband from work. Usually by the time we get home and a salad is prepared its been a half hour.

When I was only taking one medication for my blood sugar, no matter how well I did during the day and at dinner, my blood sugar levels were always too high for fasting. This morning, for the first time ever, my blood sugar was within the suggest fasting range. It was near the top, but it was still within the range.

I'm also wondering if the pill might be helping with my appetite or if its just having my sugars starting to be in the suggest range, but I'm also not feeling the urge to eat as much at dinner time as I normally feel the need for.

I think this weekend is going to be one of the ultimate tests because tomorrow is my RDO and we are also having our weekly get together's for game night. There tends to be a fair amount of snacking on these days. I should make sure to have my food tracker handy at all times and see how things work out.

Nasty Stomach Bug

Its been an interesting ride the last few weeks since I started trying to bring more activity into my weight loss routine. I really shouldn't call it that because the truth is that I'm not doing what I'm doing to just lose weight. I've made the diet (as in eating lifestyle, not the more common use of the word) changes, and now I'm working on making those changes help me to become more healthy.

Since the Super Bowl I have been recovering from a rather nasty stomach bug. When I weighted in on Sunday, I had lost a total of 8 lbs! That brought my total to 17 lbs lost. I'm now only 5 lbs away from my first major milestone - to once again be under 300 lbs.

Being active is my most major hurdle right now. I'll admit it was a slow start from working out with a personal trainer at the gym to being active. The PT went a little easy on me because of how long it had been since I did any real working out. She pushed me as much as she could and gave me some great workouts to help strengthen the areas I need work.

Active link has been a great tool. Right now, because my activity level was so low, my goal was simply to do at least enough activity to earn 1 point back. This is a relatively small amount of activity - it equates to approximately 100 calories, so its really just a sneeze at activity. However, for me, it was a start. I spend majority of my day sitting at a desk in front of a computer. My days lately at work have been so busy that I'm lucky if I step away from my desk often. Most mornings, I arrive before 7am and its nearly 11am before I've realized how much time has passed. By the time I get home, do homework with my son, get dinner taken care of, and then get my son in his bath and to bed, I have maybe an hour before I should also be in bed. No time for much activity there.

I am happy to share that without any real conscious effort, the day before yesterday I reached four points and yesterday I was at two points. A good portion of the early part of the day was spent driving, but when we arrived at our hotel, we went for a couple walks. I plan to get several in this weekend.

Consistency

I'm nothing if not consistent. Trying again to get healthy and get enough of my weight down to reverse some health concerns that have come up over the last year. But unlike some previous attempts, this time I've started bringing out, and actually using, the big guns.

I've been on and off Weight Watchers for years. As long as I do what's needed, it works. Around August of 2012 they introduced Active Link, a way to track and monitor you activity level. I've decided to give that a try. However, I have also just joined a gym. I've actually signed up for three sessions with a Personal Trainer, my first will be this Friday.

And today, I ate a grapefruit *shudders*. A dash of Splenda helped with the sour bite. I don't know that I could do this very frequently but the dash did help bring out a nice bit of sweetness that cut a little of the sour back.

So all in all, I think I'm off to a good start. The hubby and I will be visiting the gym this evening too. I know having a workout buddy will make this a bit easier.

Weekly Weigh-in: week 5

Today I said goodbye to 3.6lbs! Keeping the pace and working toward another goodbye next week!

Awful A1C results

I'm dreading the follow up call from my doctor. Last year she told me that I needed to take my Type 2 diabetes serious. I agreed with her and told her I wanted to do what I needed to.

I apparently didn't want it enough.

My A1C came back the worse it's ever been. When carbs are a huge part of your life, it's hard to cut them back.

It's time to make real changes, even if it means my meals are different than the rest of the family's.

A Fresh Start

I let myself relax yesterday, but not go crazy. I just didn't write down exactly everything I ate and how many points/carbs they had. That's not to say I don't have any idea of what those values were.

Today is the serious day though. I weighed in and lost a small amount of weight since the last time I weighed in. I'm thinking I'll weigh-in probably every other day or so, but definitely once a week at the least.

So today, I'm at 320.8lbs. I'm starting my first goal at 10lbs, just to set things up. If I take a slow and steady approach, then I should lose that in 5 weeks (2lbs a week).

Part of my new routine/resolution is also to get back on track with getting my diabetes under control. Thankfully its at the stage where I can reverse it so I need to really stick to my goals this year.

The joys of technology

I'm playing with my Christmas present early ... An iPad2 ... And decided to try out how easy using blogger would be with the app. My hope is that this will help me post more to my business blog (inkabella.com), if nothing else.

Once I finish a project, I can take images and post right away, in theory. So I took a picture of my desk at lunch time to test with.

Legend of the Christmas Spider

Long, long ago, on one Christmas Eve, the spiders were banished from homes while the houses were cleaned for Christmas and their webs were broken. They just managed to survive and had to move to the farthest corner of the attic for the time being. However, some of the young spiders longed to see the decorated Christmas trees and the little Christ child that came to bless the homes in the midnight. The elders tried to make them understand that they were not allowed inside the rooms but the young spiders were quite curious and adamant. Finally, the oldest and wisest spider came up with a solution and suggested that in the night, when everybody went to bed, perhaps they could creep out of their corners and get a closer look of the magical Christmas tree.

Even the adult spiders felt the thrill of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for them and in midnight, when the house of a noble family was dark and silent and everybody was fast asleep, spiders crept out of their hiding place and slowly reached the Christmas tree. They were so captivated by the ethereal beauty that they spent all night in the tree, crawling up and down and examining its beautiful ornaments. They could not curb their urge to weave pretty and delicate spider webs all over the tree as they danced on its branches. In the wee hours of the morning, the little Christ child came to bless the house. He was surprised to find little spiders and their webs on the tree.

He knew that every creature was made by God and yet he knew how the mother who had worked hard all day to make everything perfect would be dismayed to find the spider webs on its tree. Thus, with a heart full of love and a lovely bewitching smile on his lips, the Christ child gently touched the spider webs and set them sparkling and shining in silver and golden colors that made the Christmas tree look even more beautiful than before. It is said that this is how tinsel was introduced to decorate Christmas trees. Some people also hang a plastic spider in remembrance of the devoted little spiders who worked hard that Christmas Eve.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

And so for our tradition, we have placed a spider in our tree...

Battling the Fat Fairy

My own going battle with the Fat Fairy took a major hit. I've had a lot going on the past year and I was trying to use the Weight Watchers @ Work meetings to get on track and lose the weight. I was successful and had lost some weight. However, things got stressful at work and home and I couldn't afford to keep going. I stopped going, stopped paying attention to what I was eating and didn't track and guess what? I gained all the weight I'd lost back (and probably some).

So today I decided it was time to get back on the horse and get rid of this extra weight. I'm tired of the way I look and feel - I just hope I can keep this feeling for motivation.

I  weighed myself this morning to give myself a starting point and came in at 323 lbs (down actually 2.6lbs from last week when I had slowly started getting back on track). Starting today I'm tracking and exercising again. I went for about a 40 minute walk. I didn't mean for it to be that long, it was actually going to just be 20 minutes as I walked to the Weight Watcher's Meeting Office nearby to get a new calculator. However, as I got back to work, I noticed that she waaaay over charged me for the calculator (a new model was just released so they were selling the old models at $3.95 - she charged me the regular price of $11.95). It was freezing when I set out at first and when I got back to the office I was sweating pretty badly. Thankfully my deorderant did its job. :)

The other great thing about my walk is that I get to add in 15 points. However, I'm only going to add back in six because while the book says that my walk was considered high intensity, I think it was actually moderate because of my lack of stamina.

So here is me telling myself that I will make it this time!

It might be time for a switch

The more I tinker with my iPhone, the more I love it. I'm seriously considering getting a 3G (4G when it comes out) iPad. Right now, I'm making this post via the blogger app. I'm thinking if the ease with which I could do this on an iPad with either a wireless keyboard or keyboard dock. I'd be able to take photos and post with ease (like this :D).

It's certainly something to consider. The only draw back is some things I wouldn't be able to do, like edit/upload HTML docs, but I can get around that.

Percy Jackson - The Lighting Thief

I've read the whole Percy Jackson series and loved it. I've always been
interested in the Greek and Roman mythos. I loved the twists that Rick
Riordan made to the mythos in modern times.

It's because of how much I loved the books that I was severely
disappointed in the movie.

First let me stress - these are MY opinions and there will be spoilers.
Do NOT read beyond this point if you haven't read the books and/or seen
the movies.

That's not to say that I didn't love aspects of the movie. Grover was
the best! I think they did a wonderful job with him.

I will leave out my nitpicks on product placements - those are now a
rather big part of movies.

My first nitpick with the movie was the introduction of Poseidon and
Zeus in the beginning. While I was all "squee" over their choice of
actors for Poseidon, It didn't feel right to me that he was already
introduced and that Percy finds out immediately who his father is. But
after thinking about it and how they could bring the book to the big
screen, I stepped away from this and realized that in order to set up
the movie the way the book was in regards to this, it would have taken
too long. So therefore, I was okay with it. This is probably the only
thing I later became okay with.

Annabeth - The movie took her character and meshed it with Clarisse La
Rue, the daughter of Ares from the books. Annabeth is very intelligent
and has a fascination with architecture. They lost all that when they
made her to more Clarisse than herself. This annoyed me because I loved
the arrogant, hot-headed Clarisse. In the books she was exactly what I'd
have expected of a daughter of Ares.

At camp, there was supposed to be a period of adjustment. Accepting the
fact that you're a demigod and waiting to find out who your parent is -
or if he/she will acknowledge you. If your parent accepts you, you get
shuffled into your cabin with your siblings. Until that time, you get
taken in by Hermes' children. While I said I was later okay with him
arriving at camp and finding that Poseidon build a cabin just for him,
etc. I was sad that they didn't take the opportunity to give the other
campers more of character development. There were so many other
characters that could have had one-liners or brief introductions to make
his transition into demigod-hood smoother.

The capture the flag scene - Both my husband and I were like "really??
You're just going to let him walk past you and pick up the flag?" A
friend said that they had to show him coming into his power. Yes, but it
would have been cooler if the other team kept TRYING to keep him away
from the flag. That would have been much cooler in showing his coming
into his power than letting him walk past them all just because he had
defeated their leader.

The oracle of Delphi - why did they leave this out? Was it because it
would take too much time for them to make a visit to the attic to see
it/her? Was it because the book referred to her as a green mist that
would come out of a mummified corpse in a hippie outfit? There was a
story behind that. She gave them the quest to find the lighting bolt.
But instead, they'd rather that the kids just sneak out of camp one
night.
(having said that, I can see why they did it, to save time for the movie
- but I still didn't like it)

I was actually okay with their trip to finding the way to Hades -
mostly. I loved that they got Uma Thurman to play Medusa. I did have a
nitpick for that scene though. They found the fountain with the golden
coins in them, and Annabeth indicated that it was a sign that they were
in the right place. WHY was that a sign?! Couldn't take the few seconds
to explain that? (I know why, but the other viewers didn't)

The Hydra scene was cool. :)

I was annoyed that they had to use the "drugging" story hook in order to
keep them in the casino. I understand that they probably couldn't stay
true to the book in this respect either, but drugs? Couldn't just stick
with the - don't eat or drink or else you're stuck. In the book they
kept them there by telling them about new games, etc. Keeping them
distracted every time they thought about leaving.

Why couldn't they just use the entrance to the Underworld from the book?
I loved that Charon, the ferryman was a "guard" and that you had to pay
him for passage, aka get permission to enter the elevator. But no, they
couldn't use the entrance from the book because then they couldn't have
Charon ferry them across the cgi scene of lava and tormented souls. He
even makes a comment "all life ends in suffering". HELLO, in Greek
mythos Elysium is also in the Underworld and there is no suffering
there!

Which brings me to my other nitpick about that. They made Hades a plain
and simple bad guy. That really really annoyed me. Just because he has
dominion over the dead does NOT mean he is evil! I liked that they
brought Persephone in the movie, but I think they went over the top.

One of the items that Luke gives them for their trip, and then plays
into the scene with Hades, is a shield. That really annoyed me because
of where Percy actually gets that shield and the significance behind it.
(I won't share more than that - you need to read the other books to
learn)

In a nutshell, *I* think they destroyed any chance of making the other
books into movies. I'm so disappointed that I don't know if I'd even
want to give it another chance and see how they are able to make the
second book if they decide to try.

I just feel like they took the wrong things and kept them for the movie
and left out some important things to the story.

I read a review that thought the movie was "awesome" and that anyone who
went in expecting the movie to match the book would be disappointed.
This is partially true for me - I didn't expect the movie to match the
book. I'm always willing for the books and movie to be different - I
just expected them to keep certain elements that were integral for the
story.

/ steps off soapbox

Just another Manic Monday...

I feel like Garfield right now - hating Mondays. Not because it's bad or
anything, it's started out rather well actually. But because, despite
the great start, I'm tired. The last few years I've been overwhelmed
with a host of feelings - betrayal, hurt, anxiety and fear. The fear is
what has been haunting me the most ... fear that my choices weren't the
best and that I'm being lied to.

The past six months I'm happy to say have seen a lift of that load of
feelings. There are still several little spots of those same feelings
lurking deep within, but they are mere shadows of themselves and hold no
real power over me when they rear their ugly heads. Time does heal all
wounds, and I just need to keep casting light in those dark places so
that the shadows diminish and soon fade to nothing.

FW: A Little Pre-Holiday Humor!!!

Happy Holidays! J Enjoy some Holiday Humor.       Company Memo   FROM:    Patty Lewis, Human Resources Director TO:         All Employees DATE:    October 1, 2008 RE:       Gala Christmas Party I'm happy to inform you that the company Christmas Party will take place on December 23rd, starting at noon in the private function room at the Grill House. There will be a cash bar and plenty of drinks!  We'll have a small band playing traditional carols... feel free to sing along.  And don't be surprised if our CEO shows up dressed as Santa Claus! A Christmas tree will be lit at 1:00 PM.  Exchanges of gifts among employees can be done at that time; however, no gift should be over $10.00 to make the giving of gifts easy for everyone's pockets.  This gathering is only for employees! Our CEO will make a special announcement at that time! Merry Christmas to you and your family, Patty   Company Memo FROM:    Patty Lewis, Human Resources Director TO:         All Employees DATE:    October 2, 2008 RE:       Gala Holiday Party In no way was yesterday's memo intended to exclude our Jewish employees.  We recognize that  Hanukkah is an important holiday, which often coincides with Christmas, though unfortunately not this year.  However, from now on,  we're calling it our "Holiday Party."  The same policy applies to any other employees who are not Christians and to those still celebrating Reconciliation Day.  There will be no Christmas tree and no Christmas carols will be sung.  We will have other types of music for your enjoyment. Happy now? Happy Holidays to you and your family, Patty     Company Memo FROM:   Patty Lewis, Human Resources Director TO:        All Employees DATE:   October 3, 2008 RE:          Holiday Party Regarding the note I received from a member of Alcoholics Anonymous requesting a non-drinking table, you didn't sign your name..  I'm happy to accommodate this request, but if I put a sign on a table that  reads, "AA Only", you wouldn't be anonymous anymore.  How am I supposed to handle this? Somebody? And sorry, but forget about the gift exchange, no gifts are allowed since the union members feel that $10.00 is too much money and the executives believe $10.00 is a little chintzy. REMEMBER: NO GIFTS EXCHANGE WILL BE ALLOWED.     Company Memo FROM:  Patty Lewis, Human Resources Director To:        All Employees DATE:   October 4, 2008 RE:        Generic Holiday Party What a diverse group we are!  I had no idea that December 20th begins the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which forbids eating and drinking during daylight hours.  There goes the party!  Seriously, we can appreciate how a luncheon at this time of year does not accommodate our Muslim employees' beliefs.  Perhaps the Grill House can hold off on serving your meal until the end of the party or else package everything for you to take it home in little foil doggy baggy.  Will that work? Meanwhile, I've arranged for members of Weight Watchers to sit farthest from the dessert buffet, and pregnant women will get the table closest to the restrooms. Gays are allowed to sit with each other.  Lesbians do not have to sit with Gay men, each group will have their own table. Yes, there will be flower arrangement for the Gay men's table. To the person asking permission to cross dress, the Grill House asks that no cross-dressing be allowed, apparently because of concerns about confusion in the restrooms.  Sorry. We will have booster seats for short people. Low-fat food will be available for those on a diet. I am sorry to report that we cannot control the amount of salt used in the food .  The Grill House suggests that people with high blood pressure taste a bite first. There will be fresh "low sugar" fruits as dessert for diabetics, but the restaurant cannot supply "no sugar" desserts. Sorry! Did I miss anything?!?!? Patty   Company Memo FROM:   Patty Lewis, Human Resources Director TO:         All F*%^ing Employees DATE:    October  5, 2008 RE:         The F*%^ing Holiday Party I've had it with you vegetarian pricks!!!  We're going to keep this party at the Grill House whether you like it or not, so you can sit quietly at the table furthest from the "grill of death," as you so quaintly put it, and you'll get your f*%^ing salad bar, including organic tomatoes.  But you know, tomatoes have feelings, too.  They scream when you slice them.  I've heard them scream.  I'm hearing them scream right NOW! The rest of you f*%^ing weirdos can kiss my *ss.  I hope you all have a rotten holiday! Drive drunk and die, The B*tch from H*ll!!!   Company Memo FROM:  Joan Bishop, Acting Human Resources Director DATE:   October  6, 2008 RE:        Patty Lewis and Holiday Party I'm sure I speak for all of us in wishing Patty Lewis a speedy recovery and I'll continue to forward your cards to her. In the meantime, management has decided to cancel our Holiday Party and give everyone the afternoon of the 23rd off with full pay. Happy Holidays! Joan

 

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving!!

MAY YOUR STUFFING BE TASTY, MAY YOUR TURKEY BE PLUMP.
MAY YOUR POTATOES 'N GRAVY HAVE NARY A LUMP,
MAY YOUR YAMS BE DELICIOUS,
MAY YOUR PIES TAKE THE PRIZE, AND
MAY YOUR THANKSGIVING DINNER STAY OFF OF YOUR THIGHS.
Happy Thanksgiving!

Inspiration Quote...

In light of all thats is currently happening in CA politically, this quote I felt was very appropriate.

"Being defeated is often a temporary condition. Giving up is what makes it permanent." - Marilyn vos Savant

Trying to figure out why my cat talks so much...

As I shared in an earlier post, Puckk passed away earlier this year. A couple weeks later, we adopted a beautiful gray, long-haired kitten whom we named Boo. My husband wasn't too thrilled with another cat, but he wanted a little boy to play with (he said he didn't feel right rough-housing with the girl kitties ... *shrugs*). Boo is growing up into a very gorgeous cat.

Anyhoo, my friend who fosters kittens until they're ready for adoption (and who we got Monster and Boo from) came to me a couple weeks later asking if I wanted another kitten. Shortly after she turned Boo over to us, she got five kittens that had been abandoned at the shelter. The person who left them there had piled the five kittens into a box with their mother ... the mother's neck was broken. She referred to the kitten as "dipstick" because it looked as if someone had lifted him up and dipped his rear into a can of black paint just till the tip of his tail. When they shaved him to fix him, there was a perfect line down the middle of his sack, one black, the other white. We chuckled about this for a few days.

Well, I had to work my husband around to accepting another cat. He said he didn't want us to become the "crazy cat couple" because this would bring our tally up to four. Eventually he gave in and we adopted another boy kitty. We struggled with a name and I ended up letting him choose. At first his name was Chauncey (the nickname for a demon in Fool Moon by Jim Butcher, a Dresden Files novel). I tried to work my way around the name, but it wasn't working for me. During this time, the kitten was starting to show us signs of his personality. He had figured out the stairs within hours (took the other kittens a couple days) and was already sleeping with us the first night. Then at like 2am, he woke me up by yowling in my face. I couldn't get him to stop. I finally got fed up, picked him up and took him downstairs. When I placed him on the ground he went straight for the food bowl. I shrugged and went back to bed.

The following day we were downstairs watching TV and he was sitting on my lap purring. He then looked up and started yowling again. Remembering the previous time he did this, I picked him up and put him near the food bowl. He went to the water dish for a drink. He did this to me two more times that afternoon. Finally my husband commented that we should have named him lazy bones... and so he became Bones.

And so now the reason for the lead in ... We've now had him for about 2 or 3 months and he STILL wakes me up by yowling in my face. So this morning I did some googling and came across some interesting things. The first of which was:

Love Songs
Cats are expressing their affection when they use a call that sounds like a high pitched meow mixed with their purring. Queens use it to call their young; males use it when approaching a female in heat; and altered cats will use it to call their masters when the cat is lonely. For humans, use the tip of your tongue to "roll your R´s" combined with a "high, low, high" vocalization with a sing song quality.

I can tell you he's not lonely, there are two other cats piled on me when he's sleeping on me. All I can guess is that he's expressing his love because he is purring at the time he's yowling (and I say yowling instead of meowing because it is a high pitched meow).

I guess we just got a talker. None of our other cats meow that much; although Gwyn's little conversations when she first wakes up are cute. It's like she's telling us about the dream she just had.

The Sims 3 - Official Star Trek Teaser

Star Trek Fans and Sims fans need to check this out!