I don't know for sure that Bubby will always live so far away.I have a confession to make: I read O - The Oprah Magazine. I don't watch her show -- although I did DVR yesterday's episode because the cast of Glee was on it -- but I do enjoy the magazine, for the most part.

Oprah's magazine is jam-packed full of articles on how to make your life prettier, happier, more fulfilling. I don't read those articles. I really just pretty much read the articles on books, especially the regular column titled "Books that made a difference to ...". Each month a celebrity of some sort lists several books that formed her (or his; she does feature men, too) core. It's one of my favorite places to get book recommendations.

Another regular feature in Oprah's magazine is the back page essay titled "What I know for sure." Oprah apparently knows lots of things for sure. She's quite the advice dispenser, and she uses this column to regularly inform her worshippers readers what she most recently figured out she knows for sure.

I'm not as wise and confident (or as rich) as Oprah. I do know that for sure. But there aren't a whole lot of other things I know for sure. So in this here daily rambling, I'm taking a different tact: I'm going to tell you a little of what I don't know for sure.

Let me first say that "What I don't know for sure" is quite different from "What I don't know." The latter is a more definitive statement; it applies to things I absolutely know for sure that I don't know. For example, I don't know how to use a pressure cooker. I know for absolute, positively sure that I don't know how to do it. I'm a grandma and I thought grandmas were supposed to know that, but I don't. I definitely don't. I don't own nor have I ever even attempted to use a pressure cooker. So that falls under the category of "What I don't know."

"What I don't know for sure" has a subtle but important difference -- it basically covers concepts and ideas that I'm not positive about, that I don't absolutely know are or will eventually be true.

Rather than try to explain, I'll just give you my list. That should make it pretty self-explanatory. (Although I don't know that for sure.)

Here goes:

1. I don't know for sure that our most recent snowstorm -- yesterday -- was the last for the season. It should be springtime, the snow should have stopped, I should be able to plant some pansies. But I don't know for sure that we won't get a massive blizzard at the end of April, as has happened in many years past.

2. I don't know for sure that I'm going to succeed as a freelance writer to the extent that I won't need a real job, another dreaded, soul-sucking office job. But not knowing that for sure keeps me on my toes, keeps me busy, keeps me trying my hardest.

3. I don't know for sure that Jim and I won't ever get another animal. Isabel (the cat) still has issues now and then with Lyla (the new dog) and prefers using the human bathroom instead of the cat bathroom/litterbox so she doesn't have to sneak to her box, crossing her paw nubbins the whole way that Lyla won't catch her en route. I'd like to say I'll never, ever, ever get another animal again -- which Jim does say every single time he finds Isabel's mess in his bathroom -- but I don't know for sure that we really won't. Especially after one of our current brood kicks the bucket.

4. I don't know for sure what I'm making for dinner. I do know for sure that I'm fed up with always having to figure out what to make for dinner.

5. I don't know for sure that I'll always be a long-distance grandma. Not knowing that for sure keeps me going. I know for absolute definite sure that I don't want my kids and grandkids all living hundreds and hundreds of miles away from me, as Bubby now does. But Brianna will eventually have kids, and she lives nearby now. Although she could move ... is considering moving the Pacific Northwest. Andie swears she won't have kids and is considering moving to a hot, desert-like climate. But ya never know -- she could have kids AND stay nearby so I could have little grandkids stay the night on a regular basis. And, of course, there's always the chance that Bubby's mom and dad will decide they should live in the mountains, especially once Bubby's little brother or sister comes along and Bubby's mommy realizes how very, very badly Grandma wants the little ones nearby. I don't know for sure that it couldn't happen. I do know for sure that I'm hoping it will.

There is lots more that I don't know for sure, but I got a tad verklempt with that last one, making it a little hard to type. And I do know for sure that I don't want these final sentences riddled with typos as I can't see through the tears, so the list ends here.

Today's question:

What is something you know for sure or something you don't know for sure?

My answer: I know for sure that today I will brush my teeth and shower and that's about the extent of what I know absolutely for sure will happen. The rest is up in the air ... which is a good thing. I'm open to surprises today.