hmm.....mathgirl32 gave me this link, http://www.nocrash.com/ncbbs/msgs/935.shtml , which says this:

Normal.dot is the default template for Word when it first starts. It typically saves all the default settings in Word in the file. At times, this file can become corrupt or have conflicting settings. Therefore, it is necessary to delete the file. Word is programmed to write a new Normal.dot file when it is unable to find it. Therefore, the deletion of this file should not cause problems with Microsoft Word
im currently trying to find this file...