Im using an existing widget from the jquery-ui labs call selectmenu. It has callback options for the events close and open. The problem is i need in these event to animate a node that is part of the widget but not what its connected to. In order to do this i need access to this node.

for example if i were to actually modify the widget code itself:

// ... other methods/properties

"open" : function(event){
    // ... the original logic

    // this is my animation
    $(this.list).slideUp('slow'); 

    // this is the orginal call to _trigger
    this._trigger('open', event, $this._uiHash());
},

// ... other methods/properties

However when in the scope of the event handler i attach this is the orginal element i called the widget on. I need the widget instance or specifically the widget instance's list property.

$('select#custom').selectmenu({
    'open': function(){
       // in this scope `this` is an HTMLSelectElement not the ui widget
     }
});

Whats the best way to go about getting the list property from the widget?