diff --git a/axes/__init__.py b/axes/__init__.py
index df00547..498db06 100644
--- a/axes/__init__.py
+++ b/axes/__init__.py
@@ -1,4 +1,30 @@
-VERSION = (0, 1, 0, 'pre')
+VERSION = (0, 1, 1, 'alpha')
 
 def get_version():
-    return '%s.%s.%s-%s' % VERSION
\ No newline at end of file
+    return '%s.%s.%s-%s' % VERSION
+
+try:
+    from django.conf import settings
+    import logging, os
+
+    LOGFILE = os.path.join(settings.DIRNAME, 'axes.log')
+    logging.basicConfig(level=logging.DEBUG,
+                        format='%(asctime)s %(name)-12s %(levelname)-8s %(message)s',
+                        datefmt='%a, %d %b %Y %H:%M:%S',
+                        filename=LOGFILE,
+                        filemode='w')
+
+    fileLog = logging.FileHandler(LOGFILE, 'w')
+    fileLog.setLevel(logging.DEBUG)
+
+    # set a format which is simpler for console use
+    formatter = logging.Formatter('%(asctime)s %(name)-12s: %(levelname)-8s %(message)s')
+
+    # tell the handler to use this format
+    fileLog.setFormatter(formatter)
+
+    # add the handler to the root logger
+    logging.getLogger('').addHandler(fileLog)
+except:
+    # if we have any problems, we most likely don't have a settings module loaded
+    pass
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/axes/decorators.py b/axes/decorators.py
index 3d86e60..c244c53 100644
--- a/axes/decorators.py
+++ b/axes/decorators.py
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
-from axes.models import AccessAttempt
 from django.conf import settings
+from axes.models import AccessAttempt
+import axes
+import logging
 
 # see if the user has overridden the failure limit
 if hasattr(settings, 'LOGIN_FAILURE_LIMIT'):
@@ -16,21 +18,38 @@ else:
 def query2str(items):
     return '\n'.join(['%s=%s' % (k, v) for k,v in items])
 
+log = logging.getLogger('axes.watch_login')
+log.info('BEGIN LOG')
+log.info('Using django-axes ' + axes.get_version())
+
 def watch_login(func, failures):
     """
     Used to decorate the django.contrib.admin.site.login method.
     """
 
-    def new(*args, **kwargs):
-        request = args[0]
+    def decorated_login(request, *args, **kwargs):
+        # share some useful information
+        if func.__name__ != 'decorated_login':
+            log.info('Calling decorated function: %s' % func)
+            if args: log.info('args: %s' % args)
+            if kwargs: log.info('kwargs: %s' % kwargs)
 
         # call the login function
-        response = func(*args, **kwargs)
+        response = func(request, *args, **kwargs)
+
+        if func.__name__ == 'decorated_login':
+            # if we're dealing with this function itself, don't bother checking
+            # for invalid login attempts.  I suppose there's a bunch of
+            # recursion going on here that used to cause one failed login
+            # attempt to generate 10+ failed access attempt records (with 3
+            # failed attempts each supposedly)
+            return response
 
         # only check when there's been an HTTP POST
         if request.method == 'POST':
             # see if the login was successful
-            if not response.has_header('location') and response.status_code != 302:
+            if response and not response.has_header('location') and response.status_code != 302:
+                log.debug('Failure dict (begin): %s' % failures)
                 ip = request.META.get('REMOTE_ADDR', '')
                 ua = request.META.get('HTTP_USER_AGENT', '<unknown>')
 
@@ -39,15 +58,23 @@ def watch_login(func, failures):
                 # make sure we have an item for this key
                 try:
                     failures[key]
+                    log.debug('Key %s exists' % key)
                 except KeyError:
+                    log.debug('Creating key %s' % key)
                     failures[key] = 0
 
                 # add a failed attempt for this user
                 failures[key] += 1
 
+                log.info('Adding a failure for %s; %i failure(s)' % (key, failures[key]))
+                #log.debug('Request: %s' % request)
+
                 # if we reach or surpass the failure limit, create an
                 # AccessAttempt record
                 if failures[key] >= FAILURE_LIMIT:
+                    log.info('=================================')
+                    log.info('Creating access attempt record...')
+                    log.info('=================================')
                     attempt = AccessAttempt.objects.create(
                         user_agent=ua,
                         ip_address=ip,
@@ -61,5 +88,8 @@ def watch_login(func, failures):
                     if FAILURE_RESET:
                         del(failures[key])
 
+                log.debug('Failure dict (end): %s' % failures)
+                log.info('-' * 79)
+
         return response
-    return new
\ No newline at end of file
+    return decorated_login
\ No newline at end of file