As of September 2009 In preparation for installing the new LPH website we have moved all our Thanksgivnig living history project to its own website at www.IdeasThanksgiving.com . Installation of the new LPH site will be in progress through this month. Things may look pretty mixed up at first, but we’ll be burning the midnight oil to get ‘er straightened out and user friendly as quickly as humanly possible.
As of August 2009 Due to a huge, huge, huge family crisis in March involving my darling mother and mental illness, I was completely taken away from LPH for three full months. I am just now beginning to catch up to the backlog of work. At any rate, we paid our programmer for his services realizing it wasn’t fair to make him wait for payment… he is just waiting for our word to upload everything. We haven’t been able to give the go-ahead due to our overwhelming circumstances. When we got back to everything, low and behold our blog had been hacked and we were locked out. That took an additional month to learn how to hack back in ourselves (my husband is some kind of cyber nerd!) and clean things up. It looks like we should be able to move ahead with loading the new site within the next two weeks… then tweak, tweak, tweak!
As of January 1, 2009 Between the presidential elections and the economic nose dive, nothing was selling this holiday season. I am looking at expanding my art sales through online clipart, (portfolio at:) 
As of November 4, 2008 Website content has all been delivered to the programmer. We were set to go live on October 15th, but hit an impasse of error codes in the system. The programmer had to reinstall a newer version of our main website platform. Unfortunately this required rebuilding some of what had already been done. We expect any day now to be able to present most of the new website and features for public use.
As of August 30, 2008 Website is really coming together now. Programmer is more or less waiting on me to create the last blocks of content so we can go live. The only challenge we are having technically appears to be the directory system… we shall see how that turns out. Even if we have to start up without the directories, that will be OK. Calendars are in. Forums are set up. Haven’t heard about the classifieds, come to think of it. In this case it may just be that no news is good news. Have also sent final manuscript into publisher for the Thanksgiving guide. Hopefully the off-line marketing plan developed for the Thanksgiving guide will create some cash flow for LPH.
As of June 12, 2008 Things are coming along well. We finally found a calendar system that has all the features we need, plus it is Joomla! compatible… not an easy find. We have purchased the system and our programmer is putting things together. We spoke by phone on Monday and cleared up a couple items that were difficult to communicate by email. I still won’t commit to a completion date, but we’re close now. Very close.
As of April 8, 2008 We have a programmer working as I write. We’re still struggling with the calendar issues, though. In order to more forward we had to cut the fat. Still, the system should be fantastic for starters.
As of March 9, 2008 It appears our wanting to combine complex features - ”Rolls-Royce” calendars, a social network, self-post this-that-and-the-other – is a recipe for technical problems down the road. It also creates problems for “one-time” login, as compatible programs either don’t exist, or we haven’t found the magic combination yet. Programmers bidding on our project continue to be less qualified than we know we require. It would appear that the qualified ones know better than to take the project. We’re now looking at cutting back on the fringe services and simplifying the beginning system. Hopefully this well help make it possible to move forward.
As of January 22, 2008 It was sadly a scammer we fell pray to in October. He finally revealed himself 3 days before Christmas. Entered into contract through Scriptlance.com. Have used them in the past successfully. This time was a learning lesson. Have chosen a new coder (someone we’ve worked with in the past), but have not received a quote yet.
As of October 18, 2007 New site design is looking good so far. Overall it will have a WWII era look (or at least that’s where we’re headed). I am also ready to promote the “How to Re-create an Authentic 1621 Thanksgiving” at-home guide. Press release is in review today, and will go out next week. I am also working on the 2nd edition of the sewing and costuming guide, which I also am aiming to finalize next week.
As of October 6, 2007 At long last we’re making progress on the new website! We had two contracted coders back out of the project (before starting, but dragged their feet in telling us), which burned a lot of time. Finally, we have a coder who has been at it now for a week. As I explained to my newsletter subscribers, I’m done trying to force a launch date. It has been insanity to try. All I can give at this point is an estimate of sometime in November. The good news is, the site will be highly functional, and will include a community builder, the proposed calendar system, classifieds and forums. We are very excited! Thanks for staying tuned!
As of August 1, 2007 We have found a web consultant, and are in the process of troubleshooting site technical issues, and preparing for the addition of a Calendar system.
As of July 17, 2007 I am doing research on organization structure options. I am currently in the process of refinancing my home, and plan to use some of the cash out to hire legal and business counsel.
As of June 28, 2007, My husband and I are working on the calendar system, which I am super excited about. They will be the everything-fun-about-history “glue” of LPH! I am also making headway on setting up affiliate sponsors, which will provide an easy, mutually beneficial way to raise funds. I have also added Puzlet Gems to the Gallery offerings. They are so much fun! It’s nice to bring them back into the limelight, after all that has transpired (my personal family history, which I share briefly in the first Art & Spirit Chat). OH! And I sold my first art trio, which gave me a little bit of working capital for the Calendars; I have contacted several horse associations here in the US regarding the first American coast to coast Pony Express ride, and have set up a Yahoo group. Also, my local newspaper has done a write up. It may have gone out yesterday (I haven’t picked up a paper yet), but if not, it should go out next Wednesday.
As of June 2, 2007, I am working on promotions the next two weeks. Two projects: The first is a new squidoo lens on creating history-based events for fun or profit, and the second is a tutorial for greenhorn costuming and sewing with authentic touches. I elaborated a bit on History Fun Chat.
As of early 2007 I have created a loose business plan (copious notes with basic organization). I continue to solidify the business plan as I have windows of time.
I have created a complete website mock-up on paper
I have also purchased both domains: LetsPlayHistory.com and LetsPlayHistory.org
And created a seed-money generating plan (this art blog)
I have written and sent out press release(s)
My next big step is to set up the non-profit entity (approximately $3,000). In the meantime I am looking into the formation of an advisory committee.
