Thanks for the response and the link to the list of libraries!
Looks like you have some useful ones in there 
couple of questions,
do you have any example code you could show me for handling the library?
is there a way to use the library if I don't have the HC595 IC? (I don't have any 72 series ICs, only some 74 series and a 4026, which I honestly haven't figured out how to combine, which is why I am trying to do this without the ICs at the moment.)
if I am understanding this correctly, your code uses the HC595 shift register to handle the output. The ICs I have are all TTL, and I don't know if they will do the same thing. I am nearly as new to electronics in general as I am to Arduino.
I can take a schematic and make it a working circuit, but I don't always know what is happening within the circuit.
Sorry for my lack of experience, I am learning as fast as I can, but the amount of available information can be an overload at times. Especially when you are trying to make a simple project like this. Many options, but none seem to fit the exact project design I have come up with.