"我花了太多时间做这个事情。"
Translation:I spent too much time doing this task.
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608
There's no connection. 花 is just used for "spend" because the modern Mandarin word for "spend" happens to be pronounced the same way as the word for "flower", so they've been assimilated. See page 19 of this thesis, which mentions this: http://www.tekstlab.uio.no/michalkk/WhyAreChineseCharactersSoDamnHard.pdf
608
Generally 事情 is an event, circumstance or process and 东西 is a material thing, so "making this thing” would be 做这个东西
The Chinese literally means "too much", i.e. an amount that is somehow unjustified or detrimental, and usually it should be translated directly, particularly where there's no further context.
"So much", on the other hand, is an emphatic way of saying "a great amount" (i.e. "a lot"), which might still be the right amount, and not a bad amount, even as we recognize its magnitude.
In some cases, idiomatic usage in either language might mean that "a lot" or something similar is a good translation of "太多", but usually the direct translation is better.