my mom doesn't care what games I play though, she didn't even say anything when I chopped people up in Megaton and put them in that radioactive puddle
and she once told me that she understands I'm a boy and I need to do "boy things" and I'm pretty sure I know what she meant by that, but I'm also pretty sure she hasn't actually ever
found my research because if she had there probably would have been a lot more yelling and surprise over the research I have; that would be a problem
This is true. If you are under her responsibility, and a minor, she owns you and everything you have. Many, many arguments have been had over this but, this is is it; you are hers and what's yours is hers. When you become 18, then you are your own person but she still owns all your stuff. It's an unspoken agreement among most kids and their parents to let them take their stuff and gtfo the house, though.
legal doesn't mean that you can do it
legally, my mother can hit me as long as she doesn't use something to do it and uses an open hand, and legally she can take literally everything I have and make me sleep in a completely empty room on the floor without anything for warmth
but she wouldn't get away with that, and you and everyone else knows that