Hittest calls easing function

on frame 1 I am using easing functions to make a menu slide out.

on the menu I have the following code

[AS]
onClipEvent (enterFrame) {
if (this.hitTest(_root._xmouse, _root._ymouse, true))
{
trace(“icons hit”);
_root.buttonsOUT();
_root.labelsOUT();
}
}
[/AS]

for some reason the hittest calls the function. but the slide menu stutters out rather than sliding smoothly.

if I remove the hittest and replace it with a simple on release then it work fine.

I think that the hittest keeps triggering the function over and over as the trace is tracing loads of times in the output window.