Don't use PayPal to make purchases. Use the credit card directly. Most people with PayPal accounts can accept cc payments. When paying just click the "dont have a paypal account" link and it will take you to the cc payment page. You are protected for your purchase way better with a cc than with pp. I would suggest that if you don't NEED pp don't use it.
The problem is that you won't get Paypal's Buyer protection unless you have an account with them.
It's pretty easy to set an account up - I'd suggest that your mom do it. Just tell her to ALWAYS, always, always, sign into her account directly from her browser, NEVER from link in an email, no matter what the email says, and she should be safe.
