If your mother earns more than the personal exemption for the tax year in question ($3,900 in 2013), then she is not eligible to be claimed as a dependent by another individual. Keep in mind that income from Social Security does not count for this purpose.
A lint roller in use. A lint roller or lint remover is a roll of one-sided adhesive paper on a cardboard or plastic barrel that is mounted on a central spindle, with an attached handle. The device facilitates the removal of lint or other small fibers from most materials such as clothing, upholstery and linen. Once expended, the roll can typically be replaced with a refill roll. Invented in 1956 by Nicholas McKay, Sr., his most well-known (and first commercial) product was the Lint Pic-Up, the world's first lint roller. Reusable lint rollers use elastomers, including silicones and polystyrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene as a reusable tacky surface.
There were other kinds of resilient materials used as flooring before vinyl was invented in the 1920s. Around the 1100s to 1200s we see rubber tile style flooring start to come into use. They mostly fade away by the end of the 1600s. In 1845 came the invention of linoleum. It was industrially manufactured in Scotland 12 years before a linoleum plant first appeared in the United States in 1872. Linoleum would be a staple in flooring for the next 70 years.