Since I can't seem to tell the differnece between the CB and the consider box [...]

I feel your pain, having (repeatedly!) made the same mistake myself.

I ended up finding my salvation in CSS; adding the below to my stylesheet settings, which renders the Approval Nodelet in a distinctive (at least with my theme) pinky/red.

#approval_nodelet input { background: #cc9999; }
#approval_nodelet td    { background: #ffeeee; }
[download]

Perhaps something similar will work for you?

    --k.