Excessive Blue Exhaust

1991 Pontiac Firebird V8 189000.
Hello. Lately I have been having excessive blue exhaust pout from my tailpipes pretty constantly. The tail pipes are caked with oil and I 've researced enough to understand that this particular situation generally occurs because of leakage beyond the piston rings. So, I assume that it my basic problem. Not to mention that I've noticed some recent speckles of oil underneath my car. My true question isn't so much about my problem per say, it's about how it can be solved. I was told that the entire engine must be replaced to salvage the car and get the exhaust to stop pouring out blue smoke. But being that I'm a female and walk into an autoshop by myself I usually get the men that assume I know nothing and try to push as many expensive things on me as they can. Is replacing the entire engine the only way that such problems are being fixed these days? Shouldn't simply doing a valve or ring job generally fix the issue?