Trust your OTO/Phenol Red kit over the test strips. Order the Taylor K2006 or 2006C (better buy) from the link that Ben provided above as soon as you can. It will make things much easier.

As long as you have a pH reading between 7-8 and some chlorine in there, you can swim. We'll need some numbers that the K2006 can provide to better be able to advise you on needed levels. Chlorine is dependent on CYA readings. Take a look at the chart at this link for more about this relationship:> http://pool9.net/cl-cya/

With your OTO kit, if your chlorine is over 5ppm, you can use this chart to interpret off the scale colors:> http://pool9.net/oto-chart/
Your pH will be inaccurate if your chlorine is over 5ppm (or over 10ppm with the Taylor kit). So, if you have high chlorine, you can dilute your test sample 50/50 with pool water and distilled water and then test pH with that mixture.