Oh definately I have the code down, or at least I have the blinking working currently with if else statements but will most likely move to a case statement.
I just need to figure out how to operate the chip without the Arduino. Once I program the chip, the program is on it and if I understand correctly I can just take the chip out and solder even wires to the pins on the chip and directly to the LED's as PIN1, PIN2 etc and it should work as long as I connect the power properly. But I need to find a board similar to the bread board that I can hook all this up.