Having dealt with minor periods of burnout (nothing like that described by the parent poster), I can certainly affirm that what you suggest worked very well for me. I normally do home improvement jobs when I get into situations like that: painting a room, landscaping in the yard, etc. You get an immediate (or almost immediate) sense of accomplishment, and that small boost can have an out-sized effect on one's outlook towards software development tasks. It gets the ball (state of mind) back to moving in the positive direction...