Word is supposed to automatically create a new Normal.dot(m) template when the original is deleted, renamed or moved. I would suggest loading your original Office DVD and running Repair on Word. I believe Repair comes up as an alternative to Install once you enter the DVD's menus. This should restore the missing template. You may have to reboot.

Presuming this does the trick, remember, of course,that to open the template itself, and not a document based on it, you must use Open, not double-clicking.