Sam, I agree with you, especially in light of not being a programmer.
I confess I've used a bunch of different uP products in my career, and I'm seriously considering the PIC for such projects. However, I've programmed in assembler and C for most of my life, so it's a bit different than someone starting from scratch! I have a good friend that is up to speed on the PIC, so I'm going to consult with him first.
The programmer and debug system for the PIC is pretty cheap, and you can get a free assembler and C compiler, so those aren't really stumbling blocks.