I did all my initial testing with the NodeMCU boards and decided to try and program the chips themselves without dev boards. Although the boards are retired, Baoshi was kind enough to send me a few pcb's and smd components to build this myself: https://www.tindie.com/products/Ba0sh1/esp8266-esp-0712-full-io-breadboard-adapter/

I haven't ever worked with SMD components and I hand soldered 2 Baoshi breadboard adapters. Once I built the board adapters I wanted to start programming.

I had two FTDI adapter's from china and they both provided different results, and neither of them would successfully allow me to program my esp-12e's in arduino ide. I thought maybe my first-go at soldering the smd components had failed. I thought I would spend some extra money and get a better USB adapter.

I ended up purchasing this off tindie, https://www.tindie.com/products/ddebeer/usb-to-serial-uart-5v-or-33v-695-/, and it worked with my Baoshi adapter boards and a regular esp-12e with breadboard adapter (the white one commonly seen on eBay).

I lost a bit of time but I'm moving ahead again. I'll be starting my laundry notification setup shortly :)