Yesterday I was at the store looking for a few tasty non-alcoholic options for Easter dinner, and I came across a brand of flavored sparkling water called Sparkling Ice — and it was on sale. Score. I decided to purchase the Black Raspberry and Pink Grapefruit and see if they were as amazing on the palate as the packaging was to the eyes.

Delicious, indeed!

It was a suitable stand-in for something more adult that I’d normally prefer to enjoy, but since I was hosting Easter dinner, I figured it best to steer clear of the libations so as not to ruin the entire meal. Nobody likes leathery ham or veggies whose texture is more along the lines of a puree.

Earlier in the morning — around 7am, to be exact — I decided to not repeat my usual Lowe’s song and dance. That being, I go to the garden center, buy plants, bring them home, go inside to do something and entirely forget, usually until the next weekend, that I have plants that need planting.

Yesterday I decided that the freesia and kangaroo paw I planted a month and a half ago needed to be in the backyard instead of the front, but that I also needed something to fill up an empty area that begged for something larger and more substantial than delicate spring blooms. I went to Lowe’s and found a white iceberg rose bush and an Indian hawthorne plant — both of which would be joining previous generations that already graced the front of the house, but that weren’t fully continued around on the side.

Until this weekend.

I also snagged a couple of geraniums — not my favorite flower in the world, but they’re hardy, so I caved after months of vowing I’d never buy them. I brought the loot back to the casa yesterday and decided to watch some TV. And when I went to bed last night, I realized I had stuff that needed to be hanging out in the dirt — not on my patio. Ugh.

I woke up early to not only transplant the freesia and kangaroo paw to the backyard, but also to properly weed the area that was going to be getting the rose bush and Indian hawthorne (I did a solidly half-assed weeding job the first time around, so now it was time to make up for my slackerdom). While I was out there, I also decided that a previously planted Indian hawthorne was looking a little anemic and needed to hit the trail, so I dug it up.

With things transplanted, geraniums in the ground and the flowerbed in the front of the house finally filled out, it was time to speed clean the house, prep the pre-dinner munchies and get dinner on deck.

I also managed to get ready in less than one hour, and if anyone here knows how long my routine normally takes, you’ll realize that this fact alone is reason why mention of my primping time gets its own line.

To think I was digging, planting and transplanting things 15 hours ago seems incomprehensible. But let me tell you…my back feels everything that this morning had to offer. Sitting down here to type was a chore in itself. Why I saved so much work to do until the day of Easter when guests would be arriving six hours from when I started playing in the dirt — as well as the day before work (I’ll be feeling this tomorrow, I guarantee it) — is beyond me. I seem to do this a lot lately. Veg on Saturday, then bust a serious move on Sunday…which leaves me feeling like I’ve busted or sprained something on my person, and it stays with me most of Monday, Tuesday and sometimes into Wednesday.

Oh, Advil PM, how I love thee.

At any rate, after guests had departed, I cleaned up a few remaining dishes and glassware and realized that I still had a little pink grapefruit Sparkling Ice left. I finished it off, and took a moment to admire the packaging.

“As in life, chill for best results” was written along the side of the bottle.

Ah, so true.

Note(s) to self: don’t save the cleaning o’ the casa until the morning of a gathering.

Don’t decide to dig massive holes the morning of an afternoon gathering.

And don’t decide to remove a gnarly shrub while I’m at it, either. Chances are, the head-spinning from too much crammed into one day will catch up to you.

As it did to me.

Tonight I am thankful for the bottle’s reminder to me that for as much as I didn’t want to repeat my usual Lowe’s routine of buying then forgetting to plant my flowers/bushes/etc., a better reminder is to properly plan ahead, space things out, tackle things a few at a time and to leave time to enjoy parts of the day or weekend, for Monday comes all too soon.

In other words, chill for best results.