Mondoman, Thanks so much for all your help.

after some inspection, I actually decided that my rear cassette is not that bad at all. However, my chainrings on my crank are well worn and torn up.
I have a 68mm bottom bracket size, and definately square taper spindle ends. I have to see if I can find a chainring bigger than 42t that's compatible with my STX crankset.

if anyone has any more suggestions for cranksets or chainrings, let me know. thanks alot for all the help so far.