Onward!

So, I've ordered the parts mentioned in this post: http://steeliceandstone.blogspot.com/2013/08/tic-toc.html and have gotten to work on assembling them.

Good news: This is going smoothly. I'm currently following the documentation on this page: http://hem.passagen.se/communication/speach.html to program and test out our recording chip, the  ISD4002. I'm going to be using the Arduino as the USB to Serial adapter for programming. I have a USB to Serial adapter, but the Arduino is already set up for easily plugging wires around, and my adapter is not. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/40601652/2013-08-23%2015.45.23.jpg I'd either have to buy/make an adapter to have longer leads going from my adapter, or take it apart and solder in some wires.

Once that's programmed and working we'll program the second chip (same circuit, different sound), and code the Arduino to control both chips via SPI. Make a button to start one, make a button to start the other, they work as desired and we move along to the motion sensing and remote control calibration.

Current state: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/40601652/2013-08-23%2015.21.34.jpg
The chips on the breadboard, going top to bottom are the ISD4002, the LM386, and the PIC16F84A.
The two green wires are place holders. One is for the second chip to interface with the LM386, the other is the output sound to be connected to a speaker.
I'm aware that the resistors have rather long wires. Once this is working, I'll consider snipping them. I'm fond of reusing old materials in new projects though, so I'll put thought into it later.

Bad news: My assortment of resistors and capacitors does not provide me with all of the same things in the diagrams found on the site documenting their use of the ISD40002. More specifically, I have none of the capacitors with the uF and nF values labeled (except 4.7K), and I don't have any 1.5K resistors. I'd rather stick to a setup that seems to have already worked instead of deviating/tweaking it more than I already have before I find a need to. So programming is stalled until I get my hands on those.