Horizontal XMl menu with sub items - need help

hello boys and girls!
I’m currently working on a website for a client in which I want to use an horizontal XML menu with sub items. I’ve modified the xml menu of Lindquist that can be found here: http://www.kirupa.com/forum/showthread.php?t=93842
So far so good. The sub items postioning themselves horizontal but now I run into some problems I cant fix myself. What I want to achieve is the following: When the user roll over a main menu item, I want it to fade into a white color instead of the grey I use normally. When i change the menu item in the library in a extra movieclip, which contains a tween from grey to white, the XML doenst get parsed correctly into the file. How can I have a tiny animation into the main items in the menu?
Next thing I was wondering, is it possible to adjust the size of the sub item buttons so that they match the exact width of the text (with al small margin ofcourse). As you can see in the swf below, it doesnt fit in nice. Some subitems contain 6 characters, others 25.

Can anyone help me with these issues? Please? =]