Carol, have you still got a decent cassette deck hanging around? If so then you can either connect that directly to a Line-in (not mic-in on your PC - most modern laptops only have a mic input which is not suitable for line level signals). If you have no line-in you can buy one of the many USB soundcards that are available on the market which will digitize the signal and deliver it to the PC via USB - se this sticky thread: Sound Card Reviews
It would probably be worth giving the cassette deck a decent home service, cleaning the heads and transport mechanism (I had my Nakamichi professionally serviced before I converted my tapes - but I had a lot of irreplaceable tapes so that was worthwhile expenditure-wise). This article from the Audacity Wiki gives good guidelines: Missing features - Audacity Support
WC