Back in the day, being thought of as skinny was not necessarily a good thing -
http://www.lepetitemania.com/uploads/1/1/9/0/11901180/9521713_orig.jpg
http://www.sizefabulous.com/2012/07/vintage-ads-pushing-weight-gain.html
http://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slideshows/199232/slide_199232_504774_free.jpg

I was at a charter school funcrtion with tie dying shirts - kids who definately did not fit in the large shirt ctegory, wanted XL shirts, because they like the loose fit... So some of it (not all) maybe fashion for loose shirts.

"80 weeks of unused vacation time", apparently she did do a lot of work, and foregone the vacation time during that period. The subject title and content is misleading. Most of it is probably attributed to older employment terms she was entitled to when she she started working for the city many years back.

I would have thought she'd be holding out a nice knit hat....

The most complex timepiece is the sky above, way more moving parts than an hourglass.