Tim Allen Meets Later-in-Life Dad Mishaps with Humor; Rags-to-Riches Tea Mistress Saga Picked Up By Mark Wahlberg's Company

We talked the other day about the plethora of older actors with young families around Hollywood these days. Tim Allen is certainly one second-time-around, later-in-life dad who is keeping his sense of humor about having a young child at the age of 61.

Admits Tim, "I'm very fortunate to have a 5-year-old, but it's kind of scary to go to school. I'm grandpa's age, you know? But we're in Los Angeles. We're very accustomed to what's-her-name's got two moms and that kid has two dads, and there's single dads, single moms, so old is pretty normal. Out here you can get away with it. It's a pretty eclectic mix.

"Still," he adds, "it's intimidating to see how little I can sit cross-legged on a floor."

Tim's extra promotional push on behalf of his "Last Man Standing" ABC sitcom last spring certainly didn't hurt. The show heads back into production for its fourth season later this summer, which makes him glad. He'd like to see it go eight seasons, ala "Home Improvement," or even longer.

Meanwhile, apparently he's prepared to meet the challenges of AARP-age parenting with laughter. "It's all hysterical to me. I'm a little bit older so I don't take it so seriously," says the beloved funny man, whose wife is 47-year-old actress Jane Hajduk.

In fact, he riffs on aging in his stand-up act. "I just can't believe it. It's like mom says, 'Just wait. You think this is bad?' My God, it just never stops."

INSPIRING: Mark Wahlberg's production company has taken an option on "Life by the Cup: Confessions and Life Lessons of a Tea Mistress" — and no wonder. The true life story of Zhena's Gypsy Tea owner Zhena Muzyka is steeped in color and drama. She went from being a young single mother with no money and no health insurance, battling to get care for her baby son's life-threatening kidney ailment — to running a thriving company that provides tea to stores nationwide, to giving back as a fair trade buyer who goes out and helps women in the tea fields of Sri Lanka and provides laptops and scholarships for children there.

"No one would hire me, so I had to create a business," recalls Zhena, whose son is now 13. "I needed to have my son, Sage, with me. That's when I started making the tea, but I had other jobs. I babysat other people's kids, cleaned houses — anything I could to make ends meet. I worked in a boutique. It was a couple of years before I was able to make enough money with the tea business to not do any other job. What is it they say? The average overnight success takes 15 years. Hopefully I'm a testament to that power of persevering. It was daily plugging away at a dream. I was throwing tea parties with belly dancers and having street shows with tents. I worked with a woman who designed interiors for East Indian-style homes. I had belly dancers, palm readers. I learned to be an unexpected force for creativity."

Now, having hired a CEO to oversee daily operations of the business, she is devoting more time to her efforts to empower other women as well as to writing. She has a book called "A Modern Gypsy's Guide to Life" in the works, including bits of wisdom from her Gypsy grandmother.

What brought her through the hardest times?

"Definitely my faith — it brought me closer to my faith in the divine. And I just became a fighter," she says. "Because my son had a pre-existing condition, I couldn't get him a health insurance plan. I was really fueled by not having any other options."