chishi

If you are referring to the selection border (sometimes called "marching ants" because it 'marches' around like a column of ants) then just hit cmd-D to deselect it.

Every once in a while, one of my objects get "selected" with this flashing, dashed white line. I don't know what it means, how I did it, or how to undo it, other than hitting undo until it goes away. It usually occurs when I am selecting multiple objects using the command key.
 
I can now not select or move anything newly added, all I seem to able to do is transform or resize this "selection," and I can't delete it.
 
Unfortunately, this time, I had I've done significant work I am not willing to undo to get rid of this, any ideas?
On a side note, I've lost the bar at the bottom of the window that displays shortcuts for the active tool, can anyone tell me how to get it back?
I've searched the forum and tutorials with no luck thus far.