Try going to your user settings, thence your nodelet settings. Add the Node Status nodelet...that should show you the node's status -- including "approved" or "unapproved" (or something like that).

Update: an "unapproved" node will simply say "Node Type: *mumble*" where *mumble* is the section (monkdiscuss, perlquestion, etc.). Once it is approved, it will note who approved it. Probably likewise for being frontpaged.