How do I find my way back home in Minecraft?

Okay, so I had an awesome home an all that, and I wanted to find some brown mushrooms, so went looking for some, when I went back the way I thought I had come, I didn't recognize anything. I wandered around in circles for hours, real time, but still didn't find it. I built dirt up as high as the game would allow but could not see my home. My home is on a hill, and is 24 spaces high, and has a torch covering every square inch on the outside, but I still can't find it. I don't have a compass, though, in my base, I do have the materials needed to make one. SO, in a nutshell, I have dirt, and yellow flowers, and a pickax. I cannot find my mountain of a home that is lit up like the Fourth of July, and I don't want to die, because I've also got gold, diamond, iron ore, coal, and sugar cane. Most of which I never find otherwise. So what do I do? Please help, this is current, like, I had to stop looking right now to type this, so help asap would be appreciated!